What is the strangest request for service you ever got a call for?

[pdqdl]

OK. Today was really odd. I got a call from a contractor I do frequent work for. He wanted to know if I was available to handle an emergency call at a large chain of banks that we frequently service. It doesn't matter what they ask for, we just go do it.

Today: "Can you go pick up a dead rooster and three coconuts at the bank at ..."
Apparently, someone had done a voodoo ritual of some sort and left a shrine at the bank! (or so I thought). Upon doing some research, it seems more likely to have been a blessing of some sort done by a Santerian, an Afro-Caribbean religion. They seem to feature blessings and other "magic" that involve animal sacrifices and other offerings to deities in exchange for a blessing or gain of some sort.

Chicken and coconut feature prominently in some of their ritual recipes. Yes. I looked up a 180 page long pdf of ritual magic, as I wanted to know the meaning of the event I was going to dispose of.

I found a few references to leaving some coins ($$ !!!) as well, so I was planning to check out the shrine real well for coinage or other signs of a ritual practice.



Upon arrival, I determined that if I was a deity to that offering, I wouldn't have been giving up too many blessings. It was only two dead cocks in a plastic grocery bag. The "three coconuts" turned out to be 4 chunks of coconut tossed onto the sidewalk. I got no ritually offered coins, either.


It all went into the dumpster.

 

[pdqdl]

New strangeness: someone went dumpster-diving overnight. The two dead chickens (crisply decapitated) have magically been moved out of the dumpster onto the gravel parking adjacent. No other trash was scattered.

An argument perhaps to the strength of Santerian spiritual powers?

 

[FXJenkins]

Was on call one Christmas morn, some guy got a new garage door but the tech cross wired it into the security system. Beep beep.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Cat rescues are always fun... had one in Bastrop, he was sitting right in a crotch of a big oak. Set a line right nest to him, climbed up right next to him, and of course right as I got right by him he skittered out 30 feet out on a limb... by this time it was dark... had to reset my line and limb walk out, had them send up some treats and a gunny sack... bagged him and sent him down, and of course the HO let him out and he ran back up another tree! I told them to call me in 3 days if he hadn't come out, never seen a cat starve to death in a tree...

 

[pdqdl]

I recovered a beautiful macaw from a dying, poison ivy covered walnut tree once. It didn't help that the owner was drenching me with her garden hose while she was attempting to keep the bird from flying off.

Apparently macaws can't fly when they are wet.


I caught her eventually, but "Peanut" was really enjoying her freedom. I'll admit, she distinctly didn't like getting sprayed with water.

 

[dwaugh]

I recovered a beautiful macaw from a dying, poison ivy covered walnut tree once. It didn't help that the owner was drenching me with her garden hose while she was attempting to keep the bird from flying off.

Apparently macaws can't fly when they are wet.
View attachment 1210799

I caught her eventually, but "Peanut" was really enjoying her freedom. I'll admit, she distinctly didn't like getting sprayed with water.

That's awesome!

 

[pdqdl]

The awesome part was when I used the throw-ball to snare the bird out of another dead tree, about 30 feet up a dead spar I wasn't about to climb. I'll bet nobody on this forum has ever caught a live bird with a throw-ball string.

2nd toss, the bird ducked the ball and the line settled on her foot. Then she picked up her foot, pivoted, and then took a step down the tree, thereby installing a marl on her ankle.

I almost got her reeled in with that marl, but she climbed the line with her beak, and shook her foot loose, then flew to a redbud nearby. Only about 12 feet up the tree, the owner was really soaking her then, and I climbed the last tree and snagged her with a butterfly net.

Peanut was a really cool bird. I've wanted to keep one ever since that encounter, but I know I would never dedicate enough time to the maintenance.

 

[pdqdl]

I told them to call me in 3 days if he hadn't come out, never seen a cat starve to death in a tree...

I got called out on a cat rescue once, too. I couldn't get near the kitten with my bucket truck, and I wasn't about to climb that tree without having to do a total interior thinning.

I told 'em to put some food and water near the base of the tree. Kitty will figure out how to get down. It did.

 

[Groundman One]

Cat rescues are always fun... had one in Bastrop, he was sitting right in a crotch of a big oak. Set a line right nest to him, climbed up right next to him, and of course right as I got right by him he skittered out 30 feet out on a limb... by this time it was dark... had to reset my line and limb walk out, had them send up some treats and a gunny sack... bagged him and sent him down, and of course the HO let him out and he ran back up another tree! I told them to call me in 3 days if he hadn't come out, never seen a cat starve to death in a tree...

We had a cat call a few years ago. Got Covid from my climber while getting the cat out.

Strangest call I ever got was also the saddest. Years back my boss gave me all the French calls that came in. So I call this lady back, an older lady it turned out, and she told me she had cancer, was out of options, and was wondering if we knew about any natural products from trees that might help. Obviously I didn't know of anything. We chatted for a while and that was that. Very sad.

On the lighter side, I got a call from a lady about a tree between her property and her neighbour's property that she wanted an estimate for. She said "I don't know what kind of tree it is but my neighbour knows all about trees and he said it's either a maple or a cedar." Years later and we still use that line at work. Had many clients go wide eyed when I said that in front of them while doing an estimate.

 

[HumBurner]

I do tree work and prescribed fire/defensible space for a living. Usually I'm cleaning up messes, doing firewood, thinning stands, and improving the health and fire resilience of the land/properties.

A few years back, a regular client's house had been robbed a few times in a matter of months. They determined the path the tweaker neighbors used to pass onto the land. I got paid to go in and make a huge mess to block off the access.

In addition to barber-chairing 12+ living and dead trees, as well as stacking brush and other logs everywhere the neighbors could have cut, I also meticulously wove all kinds of metal and fencing through this 20' long by 6-8' tall brush pile, built in/atop a huge bush of whitethorn and poison oak.

So even if the tweakers attempted to cut into the mess and clear access, they would have ruined several chains and clutches, hopefully also the saws and maiming themselves. Some of the trees were left spring-loaded so moving one or two things might cause the barber-chair to snap or twist, harming them.

Several months later, I checked up on the status. The neighbors did make a few cuts here and there, but they didn't come close to making it through the pile.

 

[HumBurner]

I got called out on a cat rescue once, too. I couldn't get near the kitten with my bucket truck, and I wasn't about to climb that tree without having to do a total interior thinning.

I told 'em to put some food and water near the base of the tree. Kitty will figure out how to get down. It did.

It's funny to me cause our cat loves climbing trees and running all through the canopies, when they have them. She's had a couple incidents that took her some time to figure out, but she's always found her way down. She's easily gone 50' up before, and loves teasing fate far out on live limbs or walking dead-limbs. She crazy, though.