January 5, 2011

AS I SEE IT

By Neal A. Shipman

Farmer Editor

As we go through life, we hear about people who definitely do some pretty strange things. And up until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t know that anyone really kept track of these sorts of things. But apparently they do because I received an e-mail highlighting some of the most stupid things that people have done over the course of the year.
While the e-mail was entitled the Idiots of the Year, you can draw your own conclusions.
Number One Idiot:
A medical student currently doing a rotation in toxicology at the poison control center was called. This woman who called was very upset because she caught her little daughter eating ants. The doctor quickly reassured her that the ants were not harmful and there would be no need to bring her daughter into the hospital. She calmed down and at the end of the conversation happened to mention that she gave her daughter some ant poison to eat in order to kill the ants. The doctor told her to bring her daughter in to the emergency room right away.
Number Two Idiot:
Early this year, some Boeing employees on the airfield decided to steal a life raft from one of the 747s. They were successful in getting it out of the plane and home. Shortly after they took it for a float on the river, they noticed a Coast Guard helicopter coming toward them. It turned out that the chopper was homing in on the emergency locater beacon that activated when the raft was inflated. They are no longer employed at Boeing.
Number Three Idiot:
A man, wanting to rob a downtown Bank of America, walked into the branch and wrote this, ‘Put all your muny in this bag.’ While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, he began to worry that someone had seen him write the note and might call the police before he reached the teller’s window. So he left the Bank of America and crossed the street to the Wells Fargo Bank. After waiting a few minutes in line, he handed his note to the Wells Fargo teller. She read it and, surmising from his spelling errors that he wasn’t the brightest light in the harbor, told him that she could not accept his stickup note because it was written on a Bank of America deposit slip and that he would either have to fill out a Wells Fargo deposit slip or go back to Bank of America.
Looking somewhat defeated, the man said, ‘OK’ and left. He was arrested a few minutes later, as he was waiting in line back at Bank of America.
Number Four Idiot:
A guy walked into a little corner store with a shotgun and demanded all of the cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of Scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the cashier refused and said, ‘Because I don’t believe you are over 21.’ The robber said he was, but the clerk still refused to give it to him because she didn’t believe him. At this point, the robber took his driver’s license out of his wallet and gave it to the clerk. The clerk looked it over and agreed that the man was in fact over 21 and she put the Scotch in the bag. The robber then ran from the store with his loot. The cashier promptly called the police and gave the name and address of the robber that she got off the license. They arrested the robber two hours later.
Idiot Number Five:
A pair of Michigan robbers entered a record shop nervously waving revolvers. The first one shouted, ‘Nobody move!’ When his partner moved, the startled first bandit shot him. The two geniuses were arrested moments later.
Idiot Number Six:
Arkansas: Seems this guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he’d just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back knocking him unconscious. It seems the liquor store window was made of Plexiglass. The whole event was caught on videotape.
Idiot Number Seven:
A city-slicker who moved to rural Wisconsin told his new neighbor to call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: ‘Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! - I don’t think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore,’ complained the city-slicker.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER