It took a brawl, accepting our blame, and a missed lunch for everyone here at qball.org to come to our senses. For the past few months, our hour lunch turned into only a half hour. Why? Well, half of the time there would be a battle for who was sitting in the front seat of the vehicle.

Shotgun. The well known substituted word for someone sitting in the front seat of a car. We like to think "shotgun" originated from the stagecoach era in the good ol' days. However, there are reports that see only another Hollywood creation that make us believe it was real. No matter, either way, the front seat of a car is the best place to have a shotgun.

There have been many arguments over calling shotgun and what rules apply. For example, when can shotgun can be called? Can it be taken away? How much authority does the driver have? And, does calling shotgun grant that person to a free lunch? All valid questions, especially the free lunch one. Thankfully, it took a few seconds of searching online to realize that others have faced the same dilemma.

Shotgun Guide - The Official Rules for Calling Shotgun is just one of the many sites webinites have provided to give rock solid rules for calling shotgun. We have now implemented these rules and posted them in our workplace. Every individual is required to sign a document that states they understand the rules and consequences of the Shotgun Guide. All disputes must refer to the guide.

However, there are some underhanded agreements between individuals to help people obtain the front seat. For instance, rule 1.7 states:

"One is allowed to ride shotgun as many times as he can call it, but for himself only. No one can call shotgun for their slower friend, unless the friend has a speech or mental handicap that prevents them from calling it for themselves."

With this rule, simply have an agreement with a friend to claim he is unable to pronounce shotgun because of the horrible memories it brings back of his last family reunion. Therefore, everytime to the vehicle, he tells of that horrible day to distract all others long enough for you to call shotgun. Just pay off your friend with a few bucks, or a promise of "next time it's yours" talk.

One rule we disagree with is the "Survival of the Fittest" rule that basically awards the front seat to the one who can take it by force. This was what we were doing before we introduced the guide, it does not work very well. Usually three people end up in the front. We did like the amendment to "Survival of the Fittest" called First Blood. In this case, anyone to draw first blood is thrown in the trunk. Almost everyday we have one or two people in the trunk on the way to lunch. Good times.

We still did not find if the shotgun rider receives a free lunch, but we have a feeling this may cause more people to lose blood during lunch, so we have negated any such possibility. Read up on all the rules to become familiar with what is allowed and what isn't. We now need to call shotgun and do a Jedi Run before the driver yells out Ozzie Pissbolt and we're stuck with Spanky 2 (Read the rules).