Thursday, October 11, 2001
Notes from a restaurant staff meeting
Rob and I went to T.B. O'McFlynnagans for a fairly late lunch/early dinner. We were sat near the back of the restaurant and while dining, we couldn't but help overhear their general staff meeting (since the restaurant was nearly empty of patrons).
“We're discontinuing the World Trade Center promotion,” said the manager. “T.B. O'McFlynnagans just donated over a million dollars toward the relief fund, which is more than any other restaurant has done.”
“But, like, what if one of the, like, customers, asks, or something?” asked one of the waitrons.
“Just tell them T.B. O'McFlynnagans has dontated over a million dollars. No other chain has matched that. For instance, XXXXXXXXXX grosses only three or four thousand dollars, and at ten percent, that isn't much money. Heck, today we might gross six thousand, and at 10% it isn't that much. So just tell the customer that we gave over a million dollars. Okay?” I'm guessing heads nodded, as I was actually facing away from the meeting.
“Okay. Now, the flags are coming down,” said the manager. I looked around the bar area, and taped all around it were American paper flags; every visible surface area had a paper flag covering it. “They've been up since the attack, and I think it's been long enough.”
“So, dude, can we, like, keep them, dude?” asked another waitron.
“Yes. If you want.” Pause, while I assume the manager was looking over the assembled workers. “So, we're no longer doing the promotion and if customers complain, oh well. And the flags are coming down. Anything else?” Apparently not, for the meeting ended right there.
Notes about a rainbow
Driving back from dinner Rob and I saw a perfectly formed rainbow across the sky, and just above it, so faint that it could be barly made out, a second one.
12. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
While in the Western world a rainbow is seen as something good, in certain tribes in the Amazonian basin, rainbows are considered to be an ill omen or of evil. I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that in the jungles, animals that are poisonous to eat show this through bright colors in their skin or plumage, while non-poisonous animals are more earth colors—greens or browns. So things that are brightly colored should be avoided, and because rainbows are brightly colored, they too, bode ill.
Conversation about Spam
“You actually like Spam?” asked Mark. “I don't believe it!”
“Yes,” I said. “It's actually quite good.” JeffK made gagging noises. “Hey, have you actually tried it?”
“Yes,” said Mark. “It's gross. And do you know what it looks like coming out of the can?”
“Yes,” I said. “It pretty much looks like the can, only pink.”
“Who introduced you to Spam?” asked JeffK.
“Spring,” I said.
“And you fry that up?”
“Well, Spring actually does the frying,” I said. “It's really good fried up. Why don't you try some?”
“No thanks,” said Mark. “Why don't you try it, Jeff?”
Jeff balked. “Well … only if you try it too!” he said to Mark.
“I'm not trying it, I have an excuse not to eat pork products—Jewish.”
“Convenient,” I said.
“Of course.”
“Well if he's not trying it, I'm not,” said JeffK.
Guess my friends just won't know the wonders of Spam.
Scrabble
Mark, JeffK and
I decided to play a game of Scrabble®. Mark had never played
before but JeffK and I told him the rules wheren't that hard. What
was hard was the game we played. I went first, with a 22 point
ZIT. Mark went second, with a three point LIE and then
JeffK went, with a 22 point QAT. The game went downhill from
there; the bulk of the words being formed in the lower right hand corner of
the board (the upper left hand corner never did get used). The play of the
night had to be JeffK's 54 point play of KITES and RAMPS
(the S sharing a Tripple Letter Score spot). Needless to say,
JeffK won the game. Mark did respectable for his first game ever.
