Recently I mentioned a left-handed shovel. Of course there is no such thing as a left- or right-handed shovel. Some tools are built, or are configurable, to be used with either the left or right hand, but a lot like hammers and shovels are not. I think it\u2019s always been popular, in construction jobs especially, to send the new guy off to get a left (or right) handed hammer or shovel or something like that. It\u2019s all part of the initiation to the job. A lot of people don\u2019t fall for it, but an amazing number do. Of course, the construction industry isn\u2019t the only one that uses these kinds of practical jokes. There are certain initiation rites in just about all offices, workplaces and professions.<\/p>\n
One place that I worked for a while was located next door to a teletype repair shop. In case you\u2019re so young that you don\u2019t know what a teletype is \u2014 it\u2019s a machine that\u2019s kind of like an automatic typewriter and was just about universally used in communications until the early 1970\u2019s. Anyhow, these machines use a roll of paper to print out the messages. The rolls where packed 6 or 12 to a box and to keep the ends from getting crushed so they wouldn\u2019t fit into the machines, there was a little round metal disk inserted on each side. When a new roll of paper was inserted, the littles disks were just tossed in the waste basket.
\nSo almost anytime a \u201cnew guy\u201d came into our shop, it wasn\u2019t long before he was sent next door to get a couple of LRMDs. Of course when he showed up in the teletype shop, everyone rolled their eyes and depending on how busy they were (and possibly how gullible the new guy was) would give him a long story about how they had run out and send him on a wild goose chase, or have him look in the back room, or question him as to what size he needed or \u2014 well, you get the idea.
\nLRMDs were the Little Round Metal Disks that were always discarded with each new roll of paper\u2026 sometimes the victim figured it out, sometimes he finally just had to be told that he\u2019d been \u201chad.\u201d I suppose most workplaces still operate pretty much the same way, but probably have much more sophisticated ways of initiation.<\/p>\n
I guess we\u2019ve all had times that we searched for LRMDs\u2026 it\u2019s probably not important whether we found them or not, it\u2019s important that we learned from the experience\u2026.
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n
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Recently I mentioned a left-handed shovel. Of course there is no such thing as a left- or right-handed shovel. Some tools are built, or are configurable, to be used with either the left or right hand, but a lot like … Continue reading