By now, all of you should know that my actions have pitched me a bit off course a few times. Most of the time, these things happen out of my control, but occasionally I’ve deliberately and single-handedly been a total bone-head.
But hey! Every new year allows us to clean the slate and start fresh. An amnesty of the soul if you will. How refreshing. How inspiring. How delusional.
Instead of setting myself up for failure with resolutions to lose weight, call my mother more often, and being more organized, I thought that this year maybe I’d just try not to do the same stupid stuff I’ve done in the past. That seems more realistic.
With that in mind, and with a nod to the 12-step programs, I thought I’d share some of these less-than-stellar moments of my life so that you, dear reader, can help me to steer clear of the shoals, make amends for my past indiscretion’s, and maybe avoid them yourself.
BUT, just for the sake of plausible deniability, one of these things did not involve me (unfortunately though, they are all very true).
WHAT’S THAT SMELL?: I once conducted a business review with an owner, all the while standing there with a big pile of dog poop on my shoe.
TALES FROM THE DEEP: For a stunt, I once ‘borrowed’ a ceramic swordfish off a front lawn, threw it in the lake then nearly drowned myself trying to get it to swim to the surface….alcohol and peer pressure may have been factors. And I brought the fish back.
OOPS!: While doing work at a grocery store, I completely tipped over a 40′ aisle of groceries by mistake. The crashing merchandise missed a mother and child by a couple of feet. I never went back there again.
THE PURGE: After a night of celebrating for the completion of my job training, I arrived bright and early at my first customer sales call and threw up at their front door…while they were standing there to meet me.
CAREER SUICIDE: Golfing at a company event, one of our executives would hit the ball into the woods and immediately run in after it while the rest of us waited to tee off. Late in the game, when this happened for the 15th consecutive time, the others assured me it was okay to go ahead and hit while he was rooting around in the foliage. Just as he stepped out of the woods, I sliced the ball hard, directly at his head. Only a small branch saved his life and my job.
FLAME-OUT: For Christmas one year, I accidentally caught the yard on fire after throwing a flaming turkey about 10 feet into a snowbank.
DID YOU GET THE LICENCE OF THAT JACUZZI?: I ran myself over with a bathtub on the lake. We were entering it in a ‘bathtub’ race and while testing it, the front dipped in a wave and threw me over the front. It kept going, right over me.
YES, DEAR: At a convention, I accidentally pocket-dialed my wife while a group of us were making ‘comments’ about a model search going on in the adjoining hall.
BYGONES: I took my best friend snow skiing once. It was his first time, but because I was such a jerk, I took him down the double-diamond run. He still talks to me.
9-11: When I was training for a low-risk sales job, I was admitted to the hospital 3 times on 3 separate occasions – once for severing an artery.
WHAT AN ICE HOLE!: One winter when I was a kid after a freezing rain storm, my friend and I strapped on our hockey skates and raced around our block on the frozen sidewalk. As we got to one stretch, I saw that one of the driveways had been cleared of ice. I stopped but didn’t warn my friend, who raced past me. You could see the sparks for miles. He had to buy new skates.
EXPLETIVE EXCUSE: Coaching a kids soccer team, I had one troubled player who had a real potty mouth. At a tournament, I told the other coaches that he had Tourette Syndrome so we wouldn’t be disqualified for swearing.
INAPPROPRIATE GIFTING: Yes I did. For either Valentines Day or Mother’s Day (I’ve blocked out much of it), I bought my beautiful bride a………wait for it………gym membership.
Whew! That feels better already. Achieving my New Years goals should be dead easy with that kind of history. Can you guess which one if these true stories didn’t happen to me? No fair for those of you who were victimized in one or more of them…I will block your responses.
Wish me luck!
PS: The statutes of limitations has expired for most of these, so don’t call the cops.
The Lighter Side of Life 