Hats Off To Such Karma

I was a ride operator at a theme park. We had rules about loose items, but they only said that if a loose item flew off, the park was not responsible for the loss.

One day, a man got to the front of the line wearing a hat.

Me: “Sir, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to remove your hat and secure it. It could fly off your head and you could lose it.”

Hat Man: *Mockingly* “‘You’ll have to remove your hat!‘ Look, kid, I’m older than you and smarter than you, and I don’t take orders from snot-nosed summer workers. Me and my hat will be fine.”

I raised my eyebrows as high as they would go, gave him a prim look, and shrugged.

Me: “Well, okay, then.”

The coaster took off with the Hat Man riding along. It should be a surprise to no one that the wind swept his hat right off his head. If luck had been in his favor, it would have just fallen to the ground, but no. The hat was blown directly under the coaster cars, jamming his hat under the wheels. The coaster was brought to a rather hard stop.

Supervisors were notified, mechanics came, and they had to help the trapped people off of the ride. When the man was told that his hat was jammed under the wheels, he flipped out.

Hat Man: “Are you kidding me?! My hat is a collector’s item! You’d better get it back to me in one piece or you’re going to be buying me a new one! My lawyer will be involved!”

The man received his hat back all right, but it was torn in pieces because it was so badly mangled by the wheels.

I told my supervisor that I had warned him about not wearing it but he had ignored me.

The Hat Man was not happy to get both ears full of how it was his own fault entirely that he had lost his hat and that the park was not responsible for lost items. The higher-ups in the park told him that they were willing to let him off with a lesson learned about his hat, but if he wanted to ARGUE, he COULD be made responsible for any and all damages to the coaster due to his negligence. The superiors were sure that the courts could happily subtract the cost of his hat from the millions of dollars worth of roller coaster his hat could have potentially damaged. (Obviously, one car and a small section of track was not the full cost of the entire coaster, but it was a good scare-him-straight warning.) They also said they would be happy to charge him personally for the lost revenue due to the coaster being closed down.

Hat Man shut up and slunk off, and the coaster was down for a while as they checked to make sure everything was okay. The rules changed within a day or two so that the rules were safety regulations and staff had the authority to override a non-compliant guest of the park and refuse to start the ride until items were secured.