Thefts had occurred several times in the past by people hired to work in and around our home.  We would discover later that a few of our tools or equipment had somehow “disappeared,” but this time I wasn’t going to simply let it pass. This time I knew who couldn’t be trusted behind my back, and I would be confrontational but nice about it.

Lately, I had been told by one Enstar rep that our new natural gas service vent pipe needed to be 24 inches up from ground level, and until the correction was made no meter would be installed.  So I had been busy doing the necessary shovel work to satisfy the Enstar regulations.

I was using a quality tape measure that suddenly came up missing, and since my meter installer had been in my living room, checking out our new heater it had to be he who conveniently left his tape measure in exchange for my quality model.  

So I gave my telephone number in case my missing tape was found, but to my surprise, a return call indicated the meter installer had no knowledge about such a measuring tape mix-up, and the Enstar crew double checked their tool inventories to be certain nothing was overlooked in their search for my lost tape.  On hearing this, I regretted saying I believed the installer was not only a thief but a liar, too.

After searching over and over, and thinking (with absolute certainty) my tape was stolen, it happened that I was in my garage, on my way to the Enstar office, when my old leather gloves caught my eye. I had been using these during my shovel work, and something told me to pick them up, and when I did, there, to my amazement, was my quality measuring tape — right where I had left it days earlier. I was shocked and embarrassed instantly. No — I was dead wrong and very sorry for pointing my accusatory finger.

My deepest apologies to the wonderful, upright Enstar crew for wanting to purchase a replacement tape to restore my faith in humanity. Again, my most sincere apologies.

Gary J. Peterson