The White Line 

Engineers are by nature pretty... well... predictable. There is a group here at work that likes to go (around 2 pm) down to the "good vending machines". These would be the ones that have the quality candy near the manufacturing area of the plant (as opposed to the crappy ones near our cubicles). So around 2 pm they come around collecting anyone who is in need of a sugar fix to trek on down. In order to get there, you have to go down this long hall where these bobcats are often flying by carrying 2 ton rolls of paper to the warehouse from the receiving dock. Along the left side of this long hall is a painted white line, with signs periodically saying "Pedestrian Safe Walkway".

Beep Beep! And another bobcat hauls past you carrying a 2 ton roll of paper (often times driving in reverse with the driver looking over his shoulder). I look down on the concrete and say to myself, "Thank God for that line, otherwise I could have been killed". Apparently the line is made of special paint that repels high speed vehicles. It's a marvel of modern technology. I often times wonder why they don't use this paint on the road next to sidewalks, or between on-coming lanes of traffic. Imagine the countless lives that could be saved.

More often than not I wonder why I take the trek. Most of the time I don't even buy anything. I guess its just a nice excuse to leave my desk. But then I think, what if somehow that paint failed to repel a bobcat and I was somehow killed by a high speed paper roll? Imagine the news reports: "Local man killed by high speed warehouse equipment while going for candy." How foolish would I feel in the split second before I'm hit when I realize it's all over. I died because of candy?

Thank God for the white line.