short version: Needing to unload a truck using a forklift with indoor tires I get stuck on the ice . . . more than once.
long version: We still get Cuban scrappers looking for metal at my company even though we've had our own roll-off recycling container for months now. I think they usually leave with something too. One guy we've known for years. We know recycling is probably his only income, as it more than likely is for the others we see around there too.
The Cuban was one of the first to offer help pushing the forklift I was on yesterday. I got stuck just outside the garage door on an icy sidewalk. I was told by a co-worker, "Stay on the sidewalk. Don't go in the street or you'll get stuck." Well, I was on the sidewalk and I immediately got stuck. (Of all the times, this is year we were going to save money and do the plowing ourselves. Question to self: you need a plow for that, right?)
After four grown men were able to budge the heavy machine back into the bay, my co-worker said, "I told you, don't stop once you get going."
"No, you told me to stay on the sidewalk and don't go in the street."
The two trucks that were blocking the sidewalk had already moved for me and I still needed to unload a shipment in the snow-covered alley. Once I got going on the sidewalk I was OK, but as I rounded the corner to the alley I noticed the scrappers' truck parked right in the middle of it. Remembering what my co-worker said about stopping, I decided to try passing on the right where it looked like I had enough room. Almost made it too. Got past the mirror and was just about clear when, suddenly, the whole forklift drifted into the side of his truck. I alway see dollar signs when that happens.
Needing to quickly assign blame, my first inclination was to yell about the truck parked in the public alley. Fortunately, the truck was probably worth little more than the scrap he was hauling, because I'm pretty sure I dented the door. The Cuban calmly cranked the wheel and backed up causing no additional damage. I was grateful he didn't want to take down my forklift license!
I was able to unload the skid because the added weight of the freight gave me just enough traction. As soon as I set the skid on the loading dock I could no longer move, however. This was a problem for two reasons; the door was wide open to the elements, and I was starting to slide sideways toward our delivery vehicle. I must have learned my lesson a few minutes earlier, because I wanted to move the van before I banged into it. One problem; the minivan was parked so close to the building with a snowbank and phone pole behind it that the only way out was forward.
Through prayer and lots of kitty litter I was slowly able to back out of the predicament.
