Keeping the blogosphere posted on the goings on of the world of submarines since late 2004... and mocking and belittling general foolishness wherever it may be found. Idaho's first and foremost submarine blog. (If you don't like something on this blog, please E-mail me; don't call me at home.)

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Zamboni In The Boise Burger King Drive-Thru -- A Guy's Perspective

A story from Boise that's making the rounds of the national "News of the Weird" circles caught my attention today:
Two employees have been fired from the city of Boise's ice skating rink after making a midnight fast-food run — in a pair of Zambonis — earlier this month.
The ice-groomer jockeys, both temporary city employees whose names and ages weren’t released by Boise Parks and Recreation, had to negotiate at least one intersection with a traffic light on their late-night creep from Idaho Ice World.
An anonymous caller who alerted a telephone hot line set up by Boise Mayor Dave Bieter was gassing up his car at a nearby service station at about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 10 when he saw the Zambonis roll through a Burger King drive-through, order food, and then return to the skating rink.
The rubber-tired vehicles, whose top speed is about 5 mph, drove about 1 1/2 miles in all, said Parks Department Director Jim Hall.
“They were fired immediately,” Hall said. “We’re pretty sure it was just the one time. When we interviewed them, they didn’t seem to be too concerned about it. I don’t think they understood the seriousness of it. Even if they had felt bad about it, they’re not going to be employed here.”
The incident was reported on a Web log, www.boiseguardian.com, whose author, David Frazier, has fought City Hall over such issues as whether the city must ask voters before going into debt to build an airport parking garage.
A manager at the Burger King contacted Wednesday confirmed the incident happened, but declined to comment further.
While these guys were being stupid, and they were punished for it, I actually support what they did. Why? It's because I, too, am a guy. Not a man, like Boise Guardian author Dave Frazier, whose post made sure this story got public attention for the purpose of trying to stifle further guy creativity. Seriously, who would you rather be in 30 years when his grandkids ask him what he did in the Naughties? Which would you rather say: "I exposed inefficiencies in Boise City government", or "I drove a Zamboni through a Burger King drive-through"? Speaking as a guy who once wasted government resources by paging my boss six times in two hours with "Low Battery" pages (resulting in the discarding of two sets of perfectly good pager batteries), I'd chose the latter. I think most submariners who were never ORSE Board members would chose the same.

Hopefully the Internet's defender of guy-dom, Dave Barry, will give these guys the props they deserve.

Update 1808 22 Nov: This just in -- an actual, totally non-photoshopped picture of the incident! Must credit Bubblehead!


Why would anyone want to harsh these guy's mellows?

Update 1819 22 Nov: Speaking of Burger King, how long did it take you to notice what was wrong with this picture?

10 Comments:

Blogger Chap said...

Looks like the update photo site doesn't like hotlinking. You may want to edit...

11/22/2006 7:18 PM

 
Blogger Bubblehead said...

I don't think it's a hotlink when you link directly to their picture. If they don't like it, though, I guess I'll just steal it without attribution.

11/22/2006 7:26 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not the same BK.

11/22/2006 7:33 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm 105% behind you Bubblehead. This is ridiculous. When Dave Bieter and the rest of Boise City's "officials" aren't banning taxi cabs from picking up drunks and pushing around the hot dog guys, they're expressing righteous indignation over a harmless midnight Zamboni run! Personally, I'd like to give these guys a medal! I'm growing more and more despondent with the direction of Boise City government. Wow. How gay.

/s/

JAMES BOND

11/22/2006 8:49 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

1) The BK logo and slogan have been different for some time, now. Time to change the signs.

2) If that's supposed to be a drive-through window, it's in a really stupid place. You have to drive right up to the window before deciding/placing your order (thus backing up the cars behind you onto the street). Or maybe the flow goes the other direction, but then the window is on the passenger side.

From the looks of the place, though, they don't have a "backing up traffic" problem. Looks closed. Like, closed-for-good-type closed. Aren't there any fast-food junkies in Idaho? (or maybe it's just after 6pm, if I remember my sentence in IF right.)

11/23/2006 1:40 AM

 
Blogger reddog said...

Guy things can be good things. I was on the Paul Revere, a reserve troop transport, on the Summer cruise in '79. We took some soldiers to the Big Island for maneuvers and then were done for ten days. The CO could have gone back to Pearl and parked, thereby being able to hobnob with his future Flag Grade buddies.

He drove the ship to Lahaina Harbor and dropped anchor. He wasn't really that nice a guy but the action was a guy thing. I got the chance to thank him for it. Lahaina beats Pearl any day.

11/23/2006 8:46 AM

 
Blogger geezernuke said...

Guy things have no real value if there's no risk of condemnation. Guy things gain double bragging rights if there was documented retribution. These two guys owe their superstar credentials to the anonymous caller.

11/24/2006 10:04 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

one of my friends works at the iceworld where the zamboni was driven to burger king. when i asked him who did it he said he legally wasn't allowed to tell lol

11/24/2006 12:48 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a mom, I would have paddled them. However, and this isn't a legal issue as much as it is an integrity issue.

Borrowing without permission is Not A Good Idea.

No, punishing them for this isn't 'gay,' it is the employer's right to do so when his property or the property he is in charge of
is used inappropriately.

Yeah, I am wrapped around the axle.

Get over it. I said they deserved a spanking.

11/30/2006 4:02 PM

 
Anonymous Stephanie said...

This can't work as a matter of fact, that is exactly what I believe.

9/01/2012 6:35 AM

 

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