Where Did They Get Their Heavy Equipment Operator License?!

My family and I went on a vacation to visit friends out of state. During the trip, my dad got a call that our electrical company had to replace our power lines. No big deal, right?

We got home a few days later and found no power in the house. Not only that, but it was hot and all the food in the fridge had spoiled. We checked the circuit breakers and found nothing wrong.

I then went outside to inspect the power lines and found our entire electrical meter with the pipe forcibly ripped off the side of the house and lying on our lawn. The impact had also broken a three-foot section of the new vinyl fence we had installed a few weeks prior.

The next morning, my dad and I picked up the police report to see what had happened. There was some construction happening at the school across the street, and one of the contractors had tried to drive a cement mixer under our power line.

We then called our local electrician.

Dad: “Hello. This is [Dad’s Full Name].”

Electrician: “Mr. [Last Name]? That name sounds familiar. I think we’ve done work on your house before.”

Dad: “You have a very good memory. Anyway, we have a job for you.”

Electrician: “How can I help?”

Dad: “It’s a long story, but basically, we got back from vacation yesterday… and we came home to find our entire electrical meter and pipe ripped off the wall. Apparently, some idiot in a cement mixer broke it.”

The electrician immediately begins laughing.

Electrician: *Still laughing* “Are you serious? I can safely say I’ve never heard of that happening in my many years in business.” *In a more professional tone* “I’ll send someone out right now. We’ll get your power back on as soon as we can, Mr. [Last Name].”

Two electricians showed up about an hour later. They immediately saw the meter and pipe lying on the ground and stared at it in disbelief for several minutes. They fixed everything a few hours later. The fence was also repaired a few weeks later.

We also went to our insurance agent. We told him the same story and gave him all of the documents and some photos. He was trying to hold back laughter when describing the situation to the claims department.

Insurance Agent: *Trying not to laugh* “This is definitely one of the funniest claims I’ve had to file in quite some time. It’s so comedic. It’s like something out of a cartoon.”

That one cement mixer ended up doing more than $3,000 in damage.