The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Funny stories that happened to me

nbicomputers's picture
nbicomputers

Funny stories that happened to me

Many many years ago I was working in a bakery that was in business for what seemed like forever. The Mixers were build around 1950 and were huge.  The one I was using was 140 quart mixer the largest stand type mixer made.

It was three o’clock in the morning and I had just finished weighing a bread mix which called for one hundred pounds of hi gluten flour Kiser rolls to be exact.

I set the mixer to speed one and put in the yeastI hit the power switch and the mixer started the way it did normally.

Thirty seconds later the mixer started to shake and so did the floor. Thinking that the mixer through a gear and was shaking its self apart I hit the emergency break!!!The power was cut. The mixer stopped dead in its tracks. BUT THE FLOOR CONTINUED TO SHAKE!!!!!!

It was then I heard the car and store alarms going off in the distance and it hit me EARTHQUAKE!!!!  An earthquake in New York impossible but true.  We had a small earthquake in New York back in the 70s and there I was mixing bread.

Now I’m no small guy i am about 260 pounds or so and we had just hired a refuge from Vietnam as a helpere.  this guy was 90 pounds soaking wet. Seconds latter this little guy comes running as fast as he can into the kitchen yelling as loud as he can “ Norm what you do,   what you do,  YOU FALL DOWN,!!!!!”

Well  he thought it was my fault after all I was the head baker.  By this time the quake is long over. It only lasted about twenty seconds.  The radio was reporting the news about the earthquake and I told he “  it’s not me you nut it was an earthquake!

HE  turns all the colors a person can turn starting with white and going through the whole rainbow,   puts his hands over his head and starts running in to the basement  screaming EARTHQKAKE...EARTHQUAKE…...EARTHQUAKE .............EARTHQUAKE  as his voice trailed off into the distance. 

Remember by this time it was all over.  I don’t know what happened to him after that because I did not see him till the next day. 

What did I do…well I had to reset the mixer because I put it in emergency which took a minute and within five minutes after the New York earthquake I  WAS BACK  TO MIXING A HUNDRED  POUNDS OF KISER ROLLS.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

cnlindon's picture
cnlindon

Funny!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

My grandfather died in 1952. Uncle Morrie flew out from Flint for the funeral. He stayed in a motel in L.A. overnight, planning to drive to Fresno in time for the service the next morning. He asked for a 4 am wake up call and went to bed. 

Well, the Tehachapi earthquake happened at 3:52 am the next morning. When he arrived in Fresno, he had a few choice comments about how motels awaken guests in California. 

David

Susan's picture
Susan

Another earthquake story:

The Earth Shook on Our Honeymoon
We were in a tiny restaurant in Cozumel, Mexico, when the Loma Prieta quake hit, up in the SF area in October of 1989. Our waiter came flying out of the kitchen screaming what sounded like heetqueek, heetqueek, grabbed Gary's arm, and pulled him into the kitchen to see the TV! Shocking and sad video, of course, but we were glad he let us in on the news.

Susan from San Diego

holds99's picture
holds99

That's a funny story.  My question is...how did your Kaiser rolls turn out?

nbicomputers's picture
nbicomputers

just fine 

Nothing realy got to me in thouse (my younger) days

Pro Baker for over 25 years-----Ret

Rosalie's picture
Rosalie

Norm, I grew up in upstate New York (Albany County).  I moved to California in 1973, but it was years before I experienced anything more than a light tremor here.

I don't remember the date (the late 1970s or early 1980s), but I was visiting my sister who lived in the Chelsea district of Manhattan.  It was early morning when I felt the building shake.  I thought it was a truck, but I remembered that a truck had never shaken the building before.  I realized it was an earthquake, and later I heard that it'd been centered slightly upstate.

It must have been the same earthquake.  How many earthquakes does New York have?

In December of 2003, we had two 6+ earthquakes here in San Luis Obispo County, California.  Not fun, I can tell you.  Tremors are scary enough, when you can't trust the earth beneath your feet.

Rosalie

nbicomputers's picture
nbicomputers

in in my 50s and thats the only one i remember.

Pro Baker for over 25 years-----Ret