My smokin’ hot wife, Kay, and I were having breakfast downtown when this happened. What would you do?
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My smokin’ hot wife, Kay, and I were having breakfast downtown when this happened. What would you do?
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Steve,
Wow, that is spooky. Yes, I’d call 911 and let them determine the appropriate response.
Steve,
In answer to your question, I would NOT have called the police. Although I understand why you may have felt uncomfortable with the equipment being abandoned in front of the restaurant in light of our current world climate, you did make a couple of statements that tend to make me think the worker may have been called to another area for maintenance and did not want to take the equipment with him. First, you said he did look like a city maintenance worker. You also mentioned that he put on gloves before he left (if it was an explosive device; I’m thinking he would have been wearing gloves to hide his identity. If I had opted to call the police, it would have been to make sure no one walked off with the sweeper, which I’m sure is fairly expensive and paid for by the tax payers.
Merry Christmas!
Hi Steve,
Happy Holiday to you and your family.
I suppose I would call the non emergency line for the local police department after exhausting every possible local question; asking the waitstaff, if this had happen before, or do they recognize the machine or municipal worker (if they had seen him prior to walking off). Situation is everything…I tend to be very aware of my surroundings (not because of the threat of violence). It is just something that interests me. So I read body language and react accordingly.
Thank you for contributing your V blog every week.
Alan Wormser
Barry’s Let’s Rent It
West Bloomfield, MI
Hi, Steve. Happy Holidays!
Yes, I would have called the police. I agree with you. We simply live in uncertain times and you don’t know when an unusual circumstance is a cause for concern. In this case, there was no signage on the vehicle to alert anyone that the operator was on break. I would think that an expensive vehicle like that would have been rolled into a service van if the job was done.
If anything, I would tell the police that I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a temptation for some thief. After all, my taxes paid for it! 😉
Good to be vigilant. I would have just chalked it up to the guy going on break, but I liked Alan Wormser’s response.
Steve, Yes I would have called it in.
Have to admit it’s creepy that he would just leave it. My spouse who is amazing when it comes to procuring things that no one really needs would probably put it in the back of his truck. However you probably should let the authorities deal with it. Is it still there? I can send Jim to pick it up if you’d like. I have a whole garage of stuff that no human person should own. est to you and Kay and Kelly for the holiday season.
No I would not call the police certainly not the 911 number if anything call the city maintenance department and ask them if they are in the habit of leaving $30,000 sidewalk machine cleaners unattended
I don’t think this is any more dangerous than a common parked car on the street in front of the restaurant but I do applaud you for thinking about it
Did you call the police or 911?
I certainly suggest you should have. Their personnel at 911’s response center are equipped to get answers and have suspicious items investigated. We’re past the point where we can take chances. It’s better to have 1000 investigations that turn out to be false or imagined dangers than one bomb planted that ends up killing & maiming people.
Having a bomb go off near you certainly would have ruined a lovely breakfast for you and your wife.
The most likely response by the 911 operator would have been to dispatch a police officer to look at the device. He or she would have noted the ID on the cleaner and contacted the owner (either a municipality or possibly a nearby shopping mall).
We do live in strange times and in a country that behaves very irrationally in the face of threats. (i.e. Having legal assault weapons in civilian hands after the horrific string of mass shootings with these weapons-of-choice by nut jobs.)
You honestly never know where danger can come from. This past weekend my 11 year-old granddaughter and her sitter/caretaker were at the Aventura Mall in South Florida. Suddenly, dozens of people were running past them toward the mall exit. It was a stampede. The sitter decided it could be a loose shooter. So, they went into a shop and hunkered down with the staff rather than taking the chance of being trampled by the rushing mob.
It turned out that someone had pulled a fire alarm…most likely to create a distraction so they could steal merchandise. It could have been worse. But, the girls were terrified.
That said, here’s some personal advice. A bomb will kill you very quickly. But, eating bacon, eggs and pancakes, which are the cornerstones of a typical American breakfast, will kill you slowly. In moderation, your dietary preferences are fine. Just don’t make a habit of eating toxic foods like bacon and cold cuts. I’m writing a book on reverse aging (As a process control guy I’ve found a back-door regimen that actually works to drop a 70 year-old’s functional age by 25 – 30 years…my own). The keys to a long life and not getting senior ailments like diabetes, heart disease and obesity is by not poisoning yourself with the foods you eat, taking in certain key chemicals that NASA has identified (which are partially responsible for the long lifespans of people in Blue Zones) and having a special exercise regimen. You’re welcome to call me on my cell phone if you’d like to hear more.
it definitely warrants some attention. Prior to calling 911, I might have drawn the attention of the manager or personnel at CJ’s to ask if this might be a regular occurrence or routine. Then depending on their answer or reaction I would call, or ask them to call the police. As mentioned in one of the responses above, let them then determine the appropriate response.