yeah Steve that be a good one too mate!!

Once I went to donate a set of drums to a school down in Rosemead, CA just across the house of a friend..when I was about to get there (20 ft away from the entrance of the school) I called my friend to ask him if I could park on his driveway (It was so close to his place that I didnt use the hands free)...Out of the blue a Highway patrol flashed its lights on my back and I obviously stopped at my friend front yard...He proceeded to give me a ticket for not using the hands free... I tried to explain him that I was literally parking the car and the reason I was coming to that place (to donate the drums to the school) but he just didnt want to hear a word, and he got really agitated when my friend came out of his house and asked me what was going on...The policeman told him to get inside the house and he called for backup!!! We called the principal of the school to try to have a word with the guy but he was so in to his "duty" that no action or explanation was enough for him...That day I came back home with a $180.00 ticket and a hard lesson learned...

OK, I'm going to get in trouble here, but I feel strongly about this. I totally agree that it would have been nice for the CHiP to have used a little judgment in light of the circumstances, but, then again, you were doing something potentially dangerous in (or near) a school zone. If school was in session (you don't indicate), then he may have felt he didn't have a choice.

Yes, you were 20 feet away from your destination and in the act of parking, but if you had hit a child while on the phone, no amount of charity could justify that. I'm sorry that you got burnt for $180, but I have very little patience for people who use the phone while they drive. I apologize for being harsh, but I've nearly been run off the road twice since the New Year by people who aren't paying enough attention to their driving.

Back to our regularly scheduled thread: Unfortunate that they couldn't handle the free drums, but to concur with an earlier post, if there was no one to teach or at least make sure that they were being played in a structured manner, a little of that could go a long way. I agree that they could have handled themselves better, either by being more tactful in asking for their removal or in foreseeing the situation and gently declining in the first place.

This is what i did do a couple of days later,when i was even more ****ed off...I called to speak to the director herself who is in charge of several schools. She was so embarrased she called me in to meet with this pinhead and her and she made him apoligise to the class and me for being so thoughtless in front of everyone....Payback is sweet at times!!

Thats totally ridiculous. Ive been driving for more than 20 years and I never had a problem with using a phone. Its kinda like you werent paying attention to the road while you are chaning the radio station. I see it just as another way to squeeze money out of the people's pockets. Whats next? you wont be able to talk to the people at the passengers seat?. IT would be a different thing If I woud have been texting but I only dialed my friend's no. in front of his house, I was literally parking at his drive way. You gotta use common sense sometimes...but obviously you wont if there is an agenda for you and thats to write as much tickets as you can no matter what.

Got a request for a snare kit, for a at risk teen. Totally tricked out a blakrolite, with a case and a pair of sticks (1 repaired/ rimshot break) sanded and straight. A couple of days later the go between returned the kit to my office, as I was gone to visit customers. I saw it on the floor and called the guy, and he said the teen was unhappy the stick was repaired.

LOL his loss! It is going back put to the next kid!