A Snake Tale

[butterballpython]

Twice in the past six weeks or so, baby rattlers have made their way into the buildings at work. I probably don’t need to mention that this causes some pretty major panic.

About four years ago, a snake came into my work area. I don’t know if it was a rattlesnake or just a bull snake because I didn’t see it. Two guys who worked for me did, and wanted me to do something about it. (OK, so now so we have two males wanting a female to protect them from a snake.) I called for someone to assist us in finding and removing the snake. Help came and promptly climbed up onto the tables to avoid the snake. They had no intention of coming down.

Every time my workers described the snake, the animal in their description got bigger and bigger. It started out at about 18 inches and grew with each telling. I was waiting to see if eventually they’d decide it was the size of the Loch Ness Monster, but it never got quite that far. People from the building next door heard what was going on and came in to see the snake, and they jumped up onto the tables, too. Fortunately the tables did not collapse. At that point I think I was the only one in the room with my feet on the ground, both literally and figuratively.

The boss called me on the phone because he wasn’t going to enter a room with a snake inside and told me to get everyone out of there. They hopped from table to table until they got as close to the door as they possibly could, then they jumped and ran for it. The boss also told me to get out of there because there was a snake in there (I knew that) and not to return for the rest of the day. I said not without my purse and keys and went further into the area to get those before leaving. Everybody looked at me like I was nuts because I retrieved my items before leaving even though there was no snake in sight.

A few days later maintenance was sent over to see if they could find and remove the snake. They opened the door, peeked in, and when they didn’t see it, they declared it gone. From what I was told, they didn’t move much past the doorway. Once the area was “cleared” we were allowed to go back to work. I got a lot done over the next week or two. Nobody was willing to go in there and interrupt me because the snake or one of his relatives might be around. We never did find it.

[dkatz4]

Are you out of your mind? don't you know that snakes have projectile fangs made of nun-chucks?

[redshepherd]

I smiled while reading this LOL. Wish something like this could happen at my work, except maybe five snakes, so everyone obviously automatically gets the week off!

I wish you guys could've found the snake and identified if it was a rattler or just a bull snake.

[butterballpython]

I wish you guys could've found the snake and identified if it was a rattler or just a bull snake.

This is what concerned me. Snakes themselves don't really worry me, it's what some of them can do that's worth worrying about. As long as I couldn't hear rattling, and that didn't happen, life was good.

Now that it's all over, the story is kind of funny, and, of course, if the event comes up, people deny that they were really afraid. I get stories like they just jumped up on the table to comfort the ones who were really afraid. Uh, huh....

[Ax01]

that's hilarious.

i think u know what to do next April 1st.

(but u should still educate them.)

[Ba11er]

Snake day ! hope you enjoyed a few days off from work.

[butterballpython]

We got to go to work and just hang out for a few days because we had to stay out of the building. It was almost a paid vacation.

If they became educated about snakes, I might miss out on another vacation if it ever happened again. But the odds of it happening again are pretty low anyway.