I live in a rural area. I try to allow plenty of time for stuff that happens -- flat tires, emergencies, you know, STUFF. I'll stop and help a stranded motorist, stop at a ranch house to tell them their cows (or goats!) are on the road. Common happenstance in the country.

I wish I could post pictures, because I have them: twice in ten years, I have been stopped because of cattle drives.

What happens is every cop/trooper/sheriff in Western Nebraska is lined up for miles, with flashing lights. No traffic till all the cattle cross the road.

I really enjoy it. Did you ever watch the John Wayne classic, The Cowboys? Some of the "cowpokes" on these drives look about 8 years old, in their stetsons and kerchiefs and on their cow ponies. I always have my camera, and always take pictures. Some are absolutely stunningly beautiful women or young girls. (Nothing like a pretty girl on a horse, LOL!)

Oh, yes, why don't I detour? We are in the COUNTRY, folks! There's ONLY ONE ROAD FROM HERE TO THERE!!! There are no "side roads", no alternate routes, no shortcuts
(well, maybe if you have that 4WD stuff, LOL). You just sit there until those cows are across the road, or down the road, or where ever they are headed!

What's your best one?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2019 05:00AM by ceasesmith.

I'm not too far from you, I don't think. I'm in Northern Colorado and I often go to the mountains of Colorado, which is where my parents still live. Once, just after I got a shop done and headed toward Mom and Dad's house, an avalanche closed the road, right BEHIND me.

Lots of road closures going into the high country/ski areas....storms, etc. But doing shops in Summit County and Eagle County (Frisco, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Vail....=$$$ most of the time)

That was close! I stay in the flatlands, thank you!

I've not completed stores before. Always the same reason. She was just too fine.

LOL!

I did not complete a report once, I was just completely flirting with the target. I explained to the scheduler I could not give an impartial report, and why.

I think she's still laughing about it.

I had to reschedule because just as I got to an intersection the police stopped traffic to let out a funeral procession. Cars backed up quickly behind me so there was no way to turn around or back up to the nearest intersection for an alternative route. The funeral procession was about 1000 vehicles including lots of police cars and fire engines because it was for a police dog who had been 'killed in the line of duty'. I wondered how they decided under the rites of which faith the dog should be buried. In any event, I missed my shop window.

I needed to get to a bank that was enroute home from 120 miles away, where I had spent most of the day doing MS. Main road closed, with emergency vehicles making a blockade. Looked at my GPS and saw neighborhood streets that looked like I could snake my way around the road block to the bank. While helicopters searched from above, I made four different tries at promising routes. All blocked by police cars with flashing lights. When I finally got close enough to an officer to leave my vehicle and walk forward (with my hands visible) she told me that they were trying to flush out someone who "we really need to talk to." I asked if there was any way that the bank was outside of their perimeter and she told me that it was definitely inside.

I do not take pictures of people wearing or holding large guns, so when the scheduler asked for a picture to prove my "tale," I had a few choice words to say. Later, the MSC project manager did go to the trouble of confirming that that location was not accessible in the time frame for the shop. I have to admit that this episode was much scarier than when I arrived at a bank that had just been robbed. At least, that time, they knew that the perps were as far away as they could get.

Funny you should ask...my instinct told me not to do my job today, felt a bit woozy and the freeway and heat made me go home. I go home and 20 minutes the bell rings, my open house signs are up....a couple comes in, loves the house and will call the broker. Had I not come home, we may have missed this couple or they may have found something else.....maybe my lucky day...do open houses work, you tell me.

I was scheduled to do a shop at Yves Saint Laurent. I went to the store and the store was taped off and the whole storefront window/wall was completely destroyed. Did a google search and saw the news that robbers drove their car right into the store early in the morning.

I had to adjust my security interaction (walk me to the car in the parking lot) to a "How did they handle an active murder scene with a DB on the lobby floor?" I got an escort through the back of the house by security in security in full tactical gear. A+ for them that night.

I've done 1000's of shops. I rarely miss any due to unforeseen circumstances. Maybe 10 shops in 20 years? I try to plan ahead for traffic, long waits, etc. I got to be pretty good at planning after shopping Disney for 13 years, every two weeks or more. Casino and cruise ship shops need to be over-planned as well.

Some years ago (before my "French Farmer" partner came along), I was doing shops on a part time basis (weekends, after work). I had a route of 3 gas stations to do that day.
The first one on my route turned out to be closed and for sale. Easy pay! The shop was bonused enough to cover fuel and in store costs.
But, there was a police car in the lot.
I boldly came up to the station, got out and promptly spilled my coffee.
The officer rolled down the squad's window and asked what I was doing.
I said I was inspecting the site for the company and had to take a few pictures. I showed the LOA or whatever it was then that we used.
With a nod of the head, the cop rolled away.
I took the pictures and got back into my car.
The police car came back.
Uh oh, I thought.
Window rolled down. Cop leans out the window.
"I'm off duty in a few minutes. You spilled your coffee. Wanna get a coffee at the DD down the street? My treat!"
I thought for a moment, "Okay".
Well, one thing led to another.
I had to go back the next day and finish the route.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2019 09:13PM by French Farmer.

I cancelled an apartment shop at a very upscale community because my mani-pedi was for the following week.

Yeah.

When I was a relatively new shopper I had a bank shop to do and obediently and naively pulled into the lot that was filled with police cars and got out to enter the branch. An officer politely told me the bank was closed. So I still hung around the lot thinking it was going to miraculously open any minute...but no. Googled it later that evening and found yep..it was robbed along with another bank in the same town around the same time. Haven't had anything like that happen since, thankfully.

This is one that I should have cancelled or rescheduled but did not. I was meeting friends for dinner and knew I would have an hour to kill before dinner after the shops I had scheduled in the area. I took two gas station audits in the area to fill the time and make some bucks. It was a pretty distant drive so I could only do those two that day. All day long the weather was good, but there were dark clouds rolling in and I knew I might be in trouble with the gas stations. I pulled into the first one and the skies opened up. Chatted on the phone until the rain stopped, went inside and did the inside part and boom....all hell broke loose. I was committed at this point. So, I took out my flimsy little, half bent umbrella and proceeded to do the audit trying to stay under the canopy best as I could. Now, I am soaked and must have looked pathetic. A gentleman getting gas opened his car trunk and took out his large golf umbrella and offered it to me. I was almost done at this point and declined, but he really wanted me to have it. I really must have looked totally pathetic. Did I mention the cars driving down the highway through the flooding roads and splashing me as they drove by? So, I did the second station the same way. Finished the shops and got a cup of hot coffee..It was near 100 when I left that day and now I'm drinking hot coffee to warm up. I somehow managed to look halfway presentable at dinner thanks to a scrunchie and my half bent umbrella, but I was wet all the way to my unders.
Next day, I get the email that the shops could not be accepted due to inclement weather and photos being too dark. Hey, I tried. I can laugh about it now. But I killed the time quite well. bahaha

French Farmer, LOL!!!

@Irene_L.A....I've bought two of my houses from going to their open houses. According to my realtor, it really doesn't happen often, only about 3% of the time. But since I'm sort of in the real estate biz., I make it my habit to go to open houses. So maybe since I go more often than most, I find what I'm looking for more often...dunno.

@Jill_L wrote:

@Irene_L.A....I've bought two of my houses from going to their open houses. According to my realtor, it really doesn't happen often, only about 3% of the time. But since I'm sort of in the real estate biz., I make it my habit to go to open houses. So maybe since I go more often than most, I find what I'm looking for more often...dunno.

I agree, many are looking, but you never know....many years ago (when married) my ex was a developer and had open houses both Sat/Sunday. We sold only on open houses, having one Broker sitting on houses, that was a different time, now pic's are on computer (Zillow), but you still have to see it. I'd rather know the day it will be shown and be out for a few hours then being bothered. Brokers have to call if they have a showing. I found this house looking at the models at their open house and bought it that day (17 yrs ago).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2019 12:47AM by Irene_L.A..

Irene, I have been rummaging around in Zillow for a few weeks now. I do not have money to purchase a house (or one of the massive estates that are so appealing and would easily house my books), but I like my dreamt-up themes. I can go to, say, old old Denver and find the row houses (or whatever they are called). I can click over to Hawaii and find the Jim Nabors estate. I can also "go" to the other parts of Hawaii and find the shacks that are listed for hundreds of thousands of dollars. If time permits, I might go to another place and another theme. What interests me is looking at houses I once knew and seeing theirZilli-fied appearances now. Also, I like architecture and seeing how what seem to be people's belongings and effects fit into their spaces compared to what seem to be staged properties. And among the staged properties, I found a few notifications that the staging was computerized. Is this legal???

I would say that it is a supremely good idea to be a) careful with the images and b) willing to travel to possible places.

I have not been so immersed in my little aesthetic musings that I have forgotten to complete a shop or a report. But these little virtual journeys are more interesting that shops.

I am not sure what you mean by "staged properties". The company selling my property sent over a professional photographer with my consent to take a few pictures for the computer as they are partners with Zillow. Everyone today looks at Zillow when buying, it saves time and is not against any law. I as well love Architecture and last year took the Chicago Architectural boat tour. Having worked with an Architecture when building our home, I have a appreciation of planning your ideas and watching them grow into a reality. This is a real growth experience and very creative. Zillow is fun and an escape.

Mine is sad though, not funny. On my way home from the city, I was doing some shops. One gas station was out of the way so I phoned several times. Not getting an answer I carried on home. On the radio came the news that the owner of that gas station had tried to stop someone from driving away without paying and been killed.
Now we prepay in Alberta

I had one where I had to cancel because we found a goat and a yorkie in the middle of the road right in front of my house. They were best friends and apparently, according to the owner,they liked to explore together.

The other time was a gas station audit. I got to the location but I was not about to go inside. There were probably 10 people hanging out in different areas. The girls were dressed scantily, the men were loafing. The weirdest part was all the pumps were occupied with cars but nobody was pumping gas. To this day I think it was a front for something. I called the scheduler and said nope.....not going in there.

Reading all these comments, I have nothing that matches anything here. I tell you I have had my laughs this morning. I love to cowpokes to the barricades all over the city.

I am in Knoxville so my shops are pretty simple. However, I was completing a shop one day at a fast casual food stop. Someone walked in, picked up a 50 lb bag of potatoes and walked out. Another customer reported it to the manager.

One would think that management and the crew would be more astute to a large bag of potatoes walking out the door. It was not seen my management nor crew. The guy was long gone before they got out the door.

Thank you for sharing your laughs. I enjoy reading the discussions.

I was doing a gas station audit at night in Stockton, taking photos. The cashier was outside sweeping and told me to get out of there, it wasn't safe. I tried to continue to finish the photos but he insisted that I leave. I left and checked my photos and notes later. I managed to get the last of the photos before I left.

I live in a town of 65 people. One road i. And out is correct. I have to really drive distances to do shops, and i see a lit of things. Pigs running down the road after escaping is my best moment.

I was driving a route through CO, UT and AZ in March, heading to SLC along I-70. A huge avalanche of snow and rocks closed the interstate about five miles in front on me.

Ended up driving an alternate route through backcountry roads in a snowstorm all night. Got to SLC at 10 am, just in time to quickly shower and do my video shops... only to find that the builder had closed all the local sales offices that day due to the snow and road conditions.

*groan*

Wow, Kate, just wow. You couldn't pay me enough to drive through those mountains on I-70 at any time of the year.

And if I had, I would have turned around to go home, and called or texted the schedulers.

To me, road closed due to avalanche would be an adequate reason for allowing a reschedule!

@Spotnnotfarm wrote:

I had one where I had to cancel because we found a goat and a yorkie in the middle of the road right in front of my house. They were best friends and apparently, according to the owner, they liked to explore together.

This is the cutest. Now I'm imagining the adventures they have together. LOL

At a storage facility, while taking pictures, the owner threatened to have me arrested. He assumed that I was there to scope out the place to come back at a later time to rob them because only the day before they had gotten broken into. It took alot of convincing with a backstory in order to calm him down.

There was the time my husband and I were heading to a restaurant shop and found a llama walking down the center of the road, heading for a busy highway intersection. We don't live in a rural area - this was right in the city! No idea where the thing came from. We decided we ought to do something about the random llama before it wandered into traffic. Luckily it was pretty friendly and happily followed us into a parking lot, where we called the police. We missed our shop window, but we got some fun photos. The scheduler let me reschedule for the next evening.

Another time I was scheduled to do a motorcycle shop (inside only - no test ride) the morning after a huge ice storm hit our city. There was an inch of ice on every surface outside. I called the scheduler, and he told me to do the shop anyway! I called the location and got a message saying they were going to open late because of the weather. The opening time was still inside my window, but late enough in the day that I hoped the sun would melt the worst of the ice. I had my husband drive me because I wasn't comfortable with the road conditions or how other drivers were handling them. We got over to the motorcycle shop in time to see the manager locking the gate and hanging a "closed due to weather" sign. Oh well. I got photos of the sign.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2019 04:21PM by ryannah05.

Ryannah, welcome to the forum. Love your llama story! And I hope you got paid for the "closed location" shop!