One of the legendary foes of the HVAC technician is the seagull. Normally not a lovable creature by any standard, the awkward-looking, screeching gull becomes a vicious dive-bombing menace to the unsuspecting rooftop-unit-repairing technician.

One clever technician dreamed up a scheme, inspired by his childhood gull-feeding beach adventures, to thwart his flying nemesis. Figuring that no self-respecting gull can resist the snack foods of his youth, the technician brought a gigantic bag of buttered popcorn to the roof with him in the hopes that it would provide sufficient distraction to let him repair in peace. When a generous sprinkling of popcorn at the far corner of the roof immediately drew the gulls attention, our ingenious technician declared, “Victory!” and proceeded to attend to the rooftop unit.

Within minutes the gulls realized that their benefactor had slipped away to what must have been their nesting area. Angered by the deception, the gulls quickly plotted their revenge, flanked the technician, and proceeded to drive him off of their roof in a flurry of flapping wings and stabbing beaks.

Seagulls 1, Technicians 0

And a total waste of perfectly good popcorn.