Two employees have been fired from the city of Boise's ice skating rink after making a midnight fast-food run — in a pair of Zambonis — earlier this month.While these guys were being stupid, and they were punished for it, I actually support what they did. Why? It's because I, too, am a guy. Not a man, like Boise Guardian author Dave Frazier, whose post made sure this story got public attention for the purpose of trying to stifle further guy creativity. Seriously, who would you rather be in 30 years when his grandkids ask him what he did in the Naughties? Which would you rather say: "I exposed inefficiencies in Boise City government", or "I drove a Zamboni through a Burger King drive-through"? Speaking as a guy who once wasted government resources by paging my boss six times in two hours with "Low Battery" pages (resulting in the discarding of two sets of perfectly good pager batteries), I'd chose the latter. I think most submariners who were never ORSE Board members would chose the same.
The ice-groomer jockeys, both temporary city employees whose names and ages weren’t released by Boise Parks and Recreation, had to negotiate at least one intersection with a traffic light on their late-night creep from Idaho Ice World.
An anonymous caller who alerted a telephone hot line set up by Boise Mayor Dave Bieter was gassing up his car at a nearby service station at about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 10 when he saw the Zambonis roll through a Burger King drive-through, order food, and then return to the skating rink.
The rubber-tired vehicles, whose top speed is about 5 mph, drove about 1 1/2 miles in all, said Parks Department Director Jim Hall.
“They were fired immediately,” Hall said. “We’re pretty sure it was just the one time. When we interviewed them, they didn’t seem to be too concerned about it. I don’t think they understood the seriousness of it. Even if they had felt bad about it, they’re not going to be employed here.”
The incident was reported on a Web log, www.boiseguardian.com, whose author, David Frazier, has fought City Hall over such issues as whether the city must ask voters before going into debt to build an airport parking garage.
A manager at the Burger King contacted Wednesday confirmed the incident happened, but declined to comment further.
Hopefully the Internet's defender of guy-dom, Dave Barry, will give these guys the props they deserve.
Update 1808 22 Nov: This just in -- an actual, totally non-photoshopped picture of the incident! Must credit Bubblehead!
Update 1819 22 Nov: Speaking of Burger King, how long did it take you to notice what was wrong with this picture?
