And you thought you had a bad day...

[White Lightning]

I haven't decided yet whether to add or to this thread. (I was ROTFL, but who knows, maybe us Israelis have a weird sense of humor...)

Anyways, here goes...

[This was a real post to an internal Atari Games mailing list, from 1983.]

From: KIM::ZIEGLER        21-DEC-1983 11:21 

To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK

Subj: And you thought you had a bad day...

Dear Sir:

  I am writing in response to your request for additional information in

block

#3 of the accident reporting form.  I put "poor planning" as the cause of

my

accident.  You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I

trust that the following details will be sufficient.

  I am a bricklayer by trade.  On the day of the accident, I was working

alone

on the roof of a new building.  When I completed my work, I discovered that

I

had about 500 pounds of bricks left over.  Rather than carry the bricks

down

the stairs by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley

which

was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.

  Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel

out and loaded the bricks into it.  Then I went down to the ground and

untied

the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of

bricks.  You will note in block #11 of the accident reporting form that my

weight is 182 pounds.

  Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my

presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope.  Needless to say, I went

at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building.

  In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was proceeding

in

a downward direction at an equally impressive rate of speed.  This explains

the

fractured skull, minor abrasions and broken collarbone, as listed in section

3

of the accident reporting form.

  Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the

fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley, which I

mentioned in paragraph #2 of this correspondence.

  Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind and was able

to

hold tightly to the rope in spite of the excruciating pain I was now

beginning

to experience.

  At approximately the same time however, the barrel of bricks hit the

ground!

The bottom fell out of the barrel.  Now devoid of the weight of the bricks,

the

barrel now weighed approximately 50 pounds.

  I refer you again to my weight in block #11.  As you might imagine, I

began a

rapid descent down the side of the building.

  In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This

accounts

for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth, the severe laccerations of my

legs

and the lower body.

  Here my luck began to change slightly.  The encounter with the barrel

seemed

to slow it enough to lessen my injuries when i fell into the pile of bricks

and

fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.

  I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the pile of bricks

in

pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I

again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.

[rockefeller center]

A nice urban legend.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blbricks.htm

[Man with the Golden Arm]

guess those other two piggies were right.

[WD45]

Gerard Hoffnung does a killer version of this bit.

Its on this two disc anthology I picked up: Hoffnung

[Claude]

This reads like a Laurel and Hardy script