You mean to tell me, there's no Stompin Tom fans here? This is classic ****
I associate Stompin Tom with unions. When I was a summer student, one of my jobs was to program a programmable logic controller (PLC) in a control panel. I had to use ladder logic which I had never used before, but it was pretty easy. Anyway, this panel was going to control the pumping of oil (technically orimulsion) from oil tankers into the power plant to be used as fuel for generating power. Oh crap, that reminds me of a funny story. I was programming this big panel on my desk in the office before we shipped it to the plant. The panel had big buttons for stop and start, lights, siren, etc. With ladder logic in this situation, I had to address the states of each button, etc. for the various scenarios plus messages the panel would receive from valves and sensors on the pipeline and it's a little screwy because sometimes things happen when the state is open (like button not pushed)....not just when it's closed (button pushed). Anyway, I was messing with the siren and there was a scenario where something was in an open state, but the siren had to go off (or I got confused about the state lol). Well, you should have seen the people in the office jump when I tested that logic and the siren immediately started going off LOL You gotta remember, this siren had to be loud enough in a plant for people to hear....my boss jumped up so fast came running to my desk and was like 'wtf' 'how the **** do we turn it off'....I was just stunned by the noise and he eventually pulled the plug out of the wall LOL That was pretty funny....moral of that story is to be careful with your ladder logic eh
Anyway, back to my Stompin Tom and union story. I had to go to the plant to get the panel installed after I had it configured properly. Anytime you had to touch something at a plant, you had to get union people to do it for you. When I showed up at the plant the panel was already installed....all that had to be done was to connect some wires from the pumps for the pipeline to the panel (the panel controlled the pumps). Pretty easy stuff.....I had to take two electricians with me (not one, two). We got to the panel and I explained what needed to be done and the guys started working. Well one guy did and the other guy stood there and smoked because it was really just a one person job. I drove over to the panel with these guys and I had heard Stompin Tom playing in the truck. So, I made some small talk with them about Stompin Tom. Apprently one guy (the guy doing the work) just loved Stompin Tom and he started singing some songs as he worked. He asked me to name some songs so he could sing em. So we did that while he worked lol. I probably sang some too idk. Anyway it was getting to be about 3:40 and quitting time for these guys was 4pm. The guy that was doing nothing said 'well, that's it, we're done for the day. We'll have to come back tomorrow to finish'. My jaw dropped because I was supposed to have it done that day and was driving back with my boss at the end of the day (it was about a 5 hour drive). I looked at the panel and there was like 2 wires left to connect....probably a 2 minute job literally. I said 'guys, I have to finish this today and it's not even 4pm yet'. The guy said 'well, it's about a 10 minute drive back to the plant, we have to pack our stuff up and by that time it'll be 4pm, so we're done'. I was pissed obviously because they were super slow in the first place getting there and stuff (I didn't really say that earlier, but they were). So I said to the guy doing the work 'man you gotta finish this, I have to go back tonight, I can't tell my boss that I have to stay until tomorrow to connect two wires.' The guy thought about it for a minute and then he said 'ok, tell me where to connect these other two' He did the work for me while the other guy (who did absolutely nothing but smoke) stomped off swearing. It's because of the whole Stompin Tom and singing songs that I bonded with that guy and he did the work. If it wasn't for that, he probably wouldn't have finished the job and my boss what have been really pissed off.
So, that's why Stompin Tom reminds me of unions
