The main umbrella story in this episode is the computer error that over pays John by ten fold. His normal check is supposed to be for $596.10 but he (and things like this just seem to happen to John), gets a check for $5,9610.00 instead. Naturally John turns this into a major soap opera (does he cash it? does he just send it back to payroll and possibly wait several months before they finally pay him the right amount? where can he keep his check so that it will be safe? Oh, what to do!) I won't tell what he finally does but if you know John, you know when he tries to do something it usually backfires on him.
There are other rescues, of course. A hobo is nearly crushed to death while sleeping it off in the back of a car in a salvage yard; Roy ends up all wet when a mischievous Great Dane is too much to handle; and a man has to be rescued while precariously perched way up on a platform.
Whenever I watch old shows I try to calculate what the difference inflation has made on the value of money. After adjusting for inflation John's pay check would be equivalent to $ 2444.92 in today's (2013) dollars, which would therefore make his incorrect check worth almost $25,000. This was of course in the days before direct deposit. Imagine if you discovered your employer incorrectly deposited 25 grand into your bank account - would you be ecstatic or terrified? He also states that this is for two weeks, and assuming that this is the net amount, this would make his yearly net salary equivalent to a little over $63,000. What do paramedics make today?
This reminds me of a slightly different real life incident. Back in the late 1990s, a customer wrote an angry letter to an antacid company complaining about its product and demanding a refund. When the first letter went unanswered, he wrote again, and again, and again, until someone finally decided to cut him a check for his $1.98 just to shut him up. However, someone goofed and accidentally used his zip code (he lived near Seattle WA) for the dollar amount and sent him a check for more than $98,000. And yes, the guy cashed it and promptly disappeared. I still don't know how this story ended.
Let's hope John never wrote anyone demanding a refund...
There are other rescues, of course. A hobo is nearly crushed to death while sleeping it off in the back of a car in a salvage yard; Roy ends up all wet when a mischievous Great Dane is too much to handle; and a man has to be rescued while precariously perched way up on a platform.
Whenever I watch old shows I try to calculate what the difference inflation has made on the value of money. After adjusting for inflation John's pay check would be equivalent to $ 2444.92 in today's (2013) dollars, which would therefore make his incorrect check worth almost $25,000. This was of course in the days before direct deposit. Imagine if you discovered your employer incorrectly deposited 25 grand into your bank account - would you be ecstatic or terrified? He also states that this is for two weeks, and assuming that this is the net amount, this would make his yearly net salary equivalent to a little over $63,000. What do paramedics make today?
This reminds me of a slightly different real life incident. Back in the late 1990s, a customer wrote an angry letter to an antacid company complaining about its product and demanding a refund. When the first letter went unanswered, he wrote again, and again, and again, until someone finally decided to cut him a check for his $1.98 just to shut him up. However, someone goofed and accidentally used his zip code (he lived near Seattle WA) for the dollar amount and sent him a check for more than $98,000. And yes, the guy cashed it and promptly disappeared. I still don't know how this story ended.
Let's hope John never wrote anyone demanding a refund...
