An anonymous wood flooring installer had one of the biggest surprises of his life after his two employees had one of the biggest screw-ups of their lives. He had warned them that on this job, they should unload in the driveway but park on the street. Also, the homeowner would be gone while they were bringing material into the house, and they should not let the dog out. He got a phone call from one of the installers. It went like this:
“We have bad news. The dog got out ...”
“I told you not to let it out! Did you find it?!”
“That isn’t the bad news.”
“What?”
“When I backed the van up to park on the street I ran over the dog and killed it.”
“Oh my God, where is the dog?”
“In a black garbage bag in the van. We rinsed down the driveway.”
The contractor rushed to the job site and got there just as the homeowner was getting home. Figuring it was best to be straightforward, he told her what happened and braced for the aftermath. To his shock, “She got a big smile on her face, leaned over and kissed me on my cheek. She told me that was the best news she had ever heard—she hated that dog because her husband’s ex-wife bought it for him right before the divorce.” She told him she would handle telling the news to her husband. “I drove home bewildered, and that was the end of that.”
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