LIMO LINES: Wrong GAS!

29 May, 2014

Osaka, Japan

There was a time when the limousine company I was working for got a contract to do minibus shuttles between various locations of Loyola University and a huge parking area behind Audubon Park. 

I did my share, and it helped pay the bills when limo jobs were slow. Just like the other vehicles we drove, each driver was responsible for leaving his assigned car or bus clean inside and out, and gassed up ready for the next use. Most of the minivans we ran were gasoline, but a couple were Diesel. 

One day, at a chauffeur's meeting, 

our company president brought up a situation that occurred a few days before: someone had put the wrong fuel into one of the buses.

I had had some time already with the company and we had quite a few new hires. Most of the new recruits were hired specifically to drive for the Loyola Shuttle.

When I heard of the fuel mixup, I laughed out loud. It was hysterical, I thought, that anyone could have made that kind of mistake. 

After making the announcement about the fuel problem, the Pres. asked who it was that did it.

Nobody answered. Complete silence was all that was heard. The

meeting was adjourned, and we began the weekly ritual of picking up our weekly pay checks. This ritual always involved a brief, usually cursory meeting with el presidente.

When it was my turn, he asked me: "Hey, by the way, do you have any idea who mixed up the diesel and the gas on that minibus?"

Again I laughed. "Yeah," I answered, "I sure do! It HAD to be one of the newbies. Whoever it was is probably too embarrassed to fess up at a meeting. He'll probably tell you in private when he comes in here. Go easy on him, will you?"

"So you really DON'T know, do you?" he asked, smiling.

"Haven't a clue!" I told him. "Just see who was assigned that bus, and that's who most likely made the mess-up."

"What if I told you it was YOU who put in the wrong fuel?" he queried.

I suddenly got very serious. 

"ME?" I challenged, "Wait, I'll tell you exactly what I was driving that day."

I looked up the date and job, and to my chagrin and acute embarrassment, there, in my trip log, was the very vehicle in question...and I was the last person to drive it.😱

"I knew you would have spoken up if you knew it was you," he said, "but when I saw your spontaneous laugh at the meeting, I knew you hadn't the foggiest idea who the culprit was!"

That stupid little blunder cost me a few hundred dollars to fix, but I learned to be a bit more careful. And when it comes time to address a big mistake, I should never rule out anyone - even myself!!