Couple of questions here.
1) half ton truck with that payload? Dang!
2) What happened to the trailer axles/ tires? Those had to have launched big time!
3) Nice chain job. Then again when I worked in the construction equipment industry, we would have guys come in with no chains or straps all the time. Then they would get all whiny about us requiring them to buy chains from us to take the equipment out of the yard.
We had one company bring back an attachment on a deck over trailer with no straps or chains. When we told him that was unsafe, his attitude was " I have insurance so who cares. You will get a new one from my insurance company if it falls off. If you are going to read me the riot act I will take my business elsewhere including my equipment purchases." This was coming from the owner driving the truck attached to said trailer. We contacted our main office and explained what happened since the owner of this company had told us this. The owner of our company said don't worry he would handle it. Sure enough, the owner of the landscape contractor called our owner and complained about how he was treated in the yard. He told the owner that he would not do business with us anymore and he was going to tell his other contractor friends to deal with a company that could handle his needs. The owner of our company just said OK he would give him the rental for free and would have a chat with us. The contractor still came in for a rental on another piece of equipment the next week I think. We had a mechanic watch him chain the unit leaving the yard. All of our locations got a memo from above to have customers sign off on chaining and strapping clause added to the rental contract with company representative present . If they didn't know how to do it or refused to do it, it would delivered to the job site for a charge. Contractors would complain saying they didn't need to sign it since insurance would cover it or would want our people to do it. Probably for an insurance scam. I was leary of this type of stuff over a dozen years ago.
However so there after I left as the house crisis of 2007 broke. Our branch's sales in all departments were down. When the owner would come in, he would ask me if I had been noticing anything different. I said yes. People were not buying as much in parts, holding off on repairs, rentals seemed to be down. I knew this since I worked the front counter and helped in the shop and yard. We had contractors who would normally be good on the billing start slipping. He would brush it off as nothing. Everything was fine nothing to worry. One of largest accounts we dealt with a large landscape contractor who's biggest account was a large developer who basically went cold turkey on all subs and the like. I want to say it was DR Horton or Toll Bros. That company (landscaper) wound up failing about 2 years into the great recession. They gave their shop location to a local town. Sold off about 35 pieces of equipment and laid off everyone. It was crazy since we were always at their vendor parties for all the holidays. If there was a problem with the bills, the owner would come down from the shop to our branch. He would apologize for the problem and make the account current right there. His attitude was I need to keep my guys working. If my account is holding them up, I am not making money.
Side story...
Soon after I left the company, they closed up the branch about 18 months later. I ran into a former co worker of mine about this. When I left there were 3 management changes in the matter of 7 months. Each change got worse. When I left, they had someone in charge with no clue of how to run the branch. Turns out that person left after they let go of all the people I knew there. They fired one mechanic after his workers comp case was settled. He knew it was coming though. That same manager said they would come after him. He won unemployment since she said it in front of another worker at the place. She also fired the head mechanic when he asked why he was not brought in on release of the mechanic. He was part of all personnel issues within the shop. They even told this same head mechanic he was in a supervisory role and his input was critical of running the service shop. LoL As he was being fired, the new mechanic showed up early and went to him and asked where he should put his tools as he was locking his tool box up so he could get his trailer to pull his tools out. The head mechanic very funny guy turned to him and said something to the effect "up where the sun does not shine or something" right in front the manager. It made for an awkward exchange. That new guy #2 since they had a replacement for the other guy that was fired working there. Oh and that manager, yeah it turns out some other stuff happened. I heard a few different things. I would say there was some truth to it. She left about 3 months after that whole thing claiming she was too far from home every day. Funny before all of this she commuted from the same location everyday for about 5 or 6 years prior without a problem. Go figure. Worst part was it was a great place to work for the most part. We knew our customers old and new as well as they knew us. Everyone knew everyone by first name and most of problems where handle quickly and with everyone happy. We had a good rep up to that point for sales, service, rentals, and parts. The owner of the company wound up having to close 2 of the 3 branches down due to economy at that time.
Another crazy thing, I happened to be walking down the road near my parent's house. The head mechanic's wife knew me from the company. This was also right after my daughter was born. I was in a place at the time in which I could not comprehend. While walking down this quiet lake community road trying to deal with being a new parent and other issues in life, I heard the screech of tires and some yelling. At first, I thought it was a resident of the lake doing something or another. As I looked back over my shoulder, I saw this car coming back at me. As I was just about to jump out of the way, it was his wife yelling for me not at me. She was going about a minute a second about her husband and how he lost my number. He wanted to call me about this place and everything. He was depressed.... so forth and so on. She was just coming back from her friend who apparently lived no more than a street away from my parents. She offered to give me a ride to their house to talk to him and the like. I said give me a ride back to my folks and I will come over. I gave her my numbers so he could reach out at anytime.
I got home, told my DW what happened. She was like "Are you serious? They let him go?" She said go over to his place. I picked up a 12 pack of beer for the guy. I stopped at the house and we had a talk for several hours. He told me everything that just happened. He said at the time, he thought I was wrong for leaving but soon realized, I was the first one to wake up there as he put it. He started there about 3 years than I was and I was there for about 6 years. He asked about me and my wife. He congratulated us on the birth of our daughter. He was happy to talk to someone about this. He said he had reached out to the other mechanic that was fired about 4 days before. (We were friends with him too but we fell out when I left the place as well. Same reason they thought I was wrong. became friendly again. However when he got fired he was one of the first people I got a call from. He said I was right. I wound up helping him find another job by working with him on a resumes and the like. He is doing pretty well these days.) Then he dispatched some fatherly advice with the whole daughter thing. We were the same in the fact we both had single daughters. As I helped him, he kind of helped me too.
Anyway, I digress.