another "childhood" memory
First of all, thank you so much for the wonderful ads. I could look at stuff like this all day.
That Duomatic reminds me of an incident at work when I was about 14 or so. I loved working on Saturday's because I had the entire service department to myself where I was "supposed" to be cleaning used refrigerators and ranges for resale. I could spend hours out in the back part of the parking lot "testing" the ton of washer trade-ins since I discovered a hidden 110 plug in the base of a light pole. I borrowed a very long heavy-duty extension cord and had a ball ocassionally blowing a breaker or getting a shock from a metal timer knob.
The challenge were the combinations, most of which required 220, so one Saturday I decided to sneak one of those same Duomatics inside. I loved that control panel and wanted to see it light up. I remember how difficult it was to pull that thing back on the handtruck since it weighed a ton.
I managed to sneak it in through the warehouse and into the service area up to the "trough," which was an 8 foot long narrow laundry sink with about 6 hot/cold water connections, a dozen 110 plugs, gas and a 220 receptacle. I plugged the Duomatic in, gave it a quick touch to see if I was going to be electrocuted, and then started pushing buttons and turning knobs. The timers were lighted from underneath...pretty enough for a Christmas card. I was no dummy back then so I had a "decoy" fridge near by that I was "working" on just in case I got caught. I had that Duomatic connected to the water supply and was having great fun. When it went into a spin it shut on and off several times which sounded like someone playing with the engines on a 727. Later I was told this was the machine's clothes separator to balance the load for the final spin. One of the nasty salesman, a greedy guy named Bob Bergan came in the back, took one look at that machine and demanded to know what it was doing inside...like that was any of his business (my dad was the service manager and this guy was not my boss.) He told the sales manager (another slime bucket) who in turn told the owner the following Monday. The owner, a really fine person, along with his wife were personal friends of my parents. He told Bob Bergan and his boss that it was none of their business what I was doing and they should mind their own and sell appliances. After that I felt a real but obviously false sense of power...oh the power!
I post a few of these silly stories now and then. Please tell me if they are "space wasters."
