The Gas Nozzle

My wife reminded me that maybe it is not old age. Thirty years ago I was an outside salesman for a wholesale heating and a/c firm. I had a Galaxy 500 as my my company car in which I made weekly sales calls. One day I had a  dentist appointment later in the day in Mt. Pleasant. I had been to Walterboro making sales calls that morning. That afternoon I decided to go by my office on the way to the dentist. I needed to pick up some brochures on Scotsman ice machines to take with me to my customers in Hilton Head the next day. We had a gas pump behind the office and you would pull up  and give the secretary your mileage over an intercom. I gave the secretary my mileage and told her I was going to run in and get some brochures for the next day. I explicitly told her not to
 give me any phone calls as I would nearly have time to get to my dentist seven miles away. He was a stickler for being on time. I left the nozzle in the gas tank and ran in to get the brochures. When I got to my desk the phone was ringing off the hook. I regretfully answered it and their was an irate plumber on the line. I was told that we had delivered ten one piece white tub and shower units earlier that day. They were supposed to be bone in color which is an off-white to match the toilets and sinks he had already set. He was furious and rightly so. I finally calmed him down and assured him that the right ones would be sent the next morning. Then I raced to my car and drove off knowing I would be late. As I drove down I-26 towards Mt. Pleasant, I noticed several people in the right lane laughing and pointing at my car. When I got almost to the Cooper River Bridge it hit me like a ton of bricks. I pulled over in the emergency lane and went to the other side of the car. I was dragging six feet of gas hose and the twisted nozzle was still in the tank. I took the nozzle and hose out of the tank and slammed the door shut. Then I threw the nozzle and hose on the back floorboard of the car. It was reeking of gas fumes. By now I was not far from the dentist but stopped at a pay phone booth which are now extinct. First I called my dentist and told him there had been a death in my family. Then I called my company and the secretary who also gave me the phone call answered the phone. She in a frantic voice informed me that their was no emergency cut off on the gas tank and 54 gallons of gas was heading towards a storm sewer. That three fire trucks were on the scene and two sand trucks with guys throwing sand on the gas as fast as they could before it reached the storm sewer. And she said the Manager was outside talking to the fire chief but told her to call me and tell me he wanted that nozzle back now. If I had been in my car I would have told her to tell him I quit. But I headed back and when I came to a stop light a block away from the office, all I could see were red flashing lights. As I drove past the sand trucks  and fire trucks into the parking lot. the Manager was still talking to the fire chief. He was so mad he would not look at me. There were three salesman standing behind him, wiggling there hands in there ears and laughing. I gave the warehouse manager the nozzle and hose and went home after such a horrible day. The next morning I went by the office to hear my fate. There was a plumber at the counter asking me how much was I asking for the sand on the parking lot. Smart Ass. The manager had simmered down and surprisingly told me he knew it was an accident and thought about me paying for the gas and sand but thankfully he never did. Two weeks later we had our office Christmas party and exchanged gifts. Guess what I got? The gas nozzle. It was too screwed up to reuse.