Love Me Tender

Reminiscing about a prank I played on my employer many years ago.

Return to the daze of my youth.

One morning back when I worked for a local salvage yard, my boss and owner of the company said to me, “Billy, would you please replace the turn signal flasher in my Cadillac?”

It was an easy job anyone in Tom’s employ could have done as our core business was buying wrecked late model cars, disassembling them, and selling the used parts. Even the older lady who kept the books knew how. I wouldn’t even get dirty. He only asked me because I was the first person he saw as he came in the door.

“Right away,” I smiled at Tom my mind already scheming, knowing that while Tom was expecting me to grab a flasher unit off the shelf, in the tool box on the back of my Ford Ranger pick-up was a musical turn signal flasher that played the Elvis Presley song, Love Me Tender, as it flashed the turn signal, and knowing the boss was not a fan of rock-n-roll.

Quickly I made the exchange so Tom could get on the road. “Ding ding, ding ding…ding ding ding,” the signal loudly rang in time to the music.

The next morning as we came walking into work I heard Tom say to the shop foreman, “Teddy, please fix the turn signals on my Cadillac.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Teddy asked.

“Never mind,” Tom answered. “Just get them fixed.”

Nary a word was ever said to me about it.

Please continue with Blowing Up Goldfish.