Appreciation post: The time a customer's pet parrot tried to help me run cable

I was crawling through an attic in Phoenix last Tuesday, trying to fish a line down a wall, when this bright green parrot hopped off its perch, waddled over, and started pulling on the coax with its beak. The owner just laughed and said 'He thinks he's helping!' I had to gently bribe him away with a piece of my granola bar. What's the weirdest 'assistant' you've ever had on a job?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_williams19d ago

Call that weird? Sounds like a standard Tuesday to me. I've had squirrels chew through my lines, cats trip me on ladders, and a goat that ate a roll of electrical tape. That parrot was basically a trained professional. At least it was trying to help, unlike most "helpers" who just make a bigger mess you have to fix later.

felix_lane819d ago

Hold up, you're missing the point. That parrot situation is a huge liability waiting to happen. A random animal messing with tools or wires isn't a helper, it's a danger. What if it chewed through something live or caused a fall? Calling it professional just makes light of real safety risks. Your goat eating tape probably caused a delay and a cost, and that's not normal either. Weird job stories are fun until someone gets hurt because an animal was where it shouldn't be.

martin.margaret11d ago

Honestly, I read a thing once about how animals on job sites are way more common than people think. Like, there was this whole article about plumbers dealing with "helper" cats and electricians having to work around curious dogs. Tbh, @felix_lane8 has a point about the safety stuff, you can't just ignore it. But ngl, sometimes those weird moments are the only thing that makes a long, hot day in an attic feel a little less awful. That parrot probably made a boring job kinda memorable.