The night I encountered the baby deer, I was searching for my missing techs. It had been dark for a couple hours and still no sign of them at camp. Because no one cares about us, but us, we didn’t get radios. We got a buddy system. Because they were not working together, but neither had shown up, I was a little concerned.
As I drove toward their assigned areas, I wondered which way I should go when I got to the intersection. Right would take me toward one tech. Left toward the other. Fortunately, my lead tech was a bright boy. He’d left a camp chair at the intersection with a note attached, letting me know I needed to go left. Left would not normally take me toward him. It would’ve taken me toward my idiot tech—the one who tried to drive my truck off the side of a cliff—which told me my lead tech had somehow crossed paths with the idiot.
I drove up the side of the mountain until I ran into both guys and their trucks. One truck had a flat. And not just a flat. A stick, about an inch and a half in diameter, had speared the tire. I’ve driven a lot on back roads and I know what it takes to do something like this.
STUPID ASS DRIVING!!!!
Maintaining my cool, I asked what had happened.
Idiot Tech, who shall now be referred to as IT, said, “I got a flat.”
“Uh huh,” I said while thinking, duh. “How’d it happen?”
“I don’t know.”
You were driving like an idiot, I thought, but said, “Why didn’t you change it?”
“The truck doesn’t have a spare.”
Okay, not his fault. The state agency that leased us the truck should’ve supplied a spare, but they didn’t. They didn’t give a shit about us. I should’ve checked to make sure it had one, but I didn’t. My bad.
“How much work did you get done?” I asked.
My lead tech cringed and shook his head. Apparently, he too had asked, and knew I wouldn’t like the answer.
“Nothing,” said IT then quickly explained why. “I got the flat first thing this morning. I didn’t want to be stranded so I ran down the mountain and waited at the intersection for Lead Tech to come by.”
“I see,” I said, blinking rapidly while screaming in my head: You truly are an idiot! You’re not more than 500 feet from the station at the top of the mountain. You could’ve checked and set it. Then you could’ve grabbed everything you needed for the day, hiked down the mountain to the three other stations that are within an easy walking distance, and you still would’ve have had plenty of time to sit at the intersection and wait. If you were concerned about getting left behind, you could’ve posted a sign. It worked for the lead tech! Worst case, we would’ve come looking for you…like I just did! But no!! Instead, you chose to sit on your ass at an intersection for twelve, yes TWELVE hours!!!!!!!!!!
