I'm sitting at SeaTac airport with about an hour to kill before my flight leaves, and thanks to the beauty of free airport wifi I get to spend it typing up a blog post.
There is this guy behind me standing at a kiosk, and he's doing what is probably the most hilarious thing I've seen in a long time. He's apparently supposed to be pushing people to sign up for Alaska Airlines Credit Cards, but it's clear he knows that nobody wants to apply for a new card at 8:30 in the morning. He's slouched over, chin on his hand, speaking in a medium-loud monotone, "Hey, you. Yeah you. Do you want to go to Disneyland… for FREE?"
But don't forget he lacks any semblance of enthusiasm whatsoever. "Step right up here and talk to me about the most exciting deal of your whole lifetime. Why? Because. Don't miss out."
Hahaha. Now a woman just went over to him, stars in her eyes… but a few seconds later said, "Oh it's a CREDIT CARD? Nice try."
"But it's round trip!" he said after her, only mildly sarcastically. "Spread the word!"
I do understand what most companies probably frown on their employees acting like this (Alaska included, I'd bet) but I can't deny that I'm much more entertained by this method of salesmanship. I'm not going to sign up for a card though, so that sort of negates that.
I wanted to type up a blog post this morning to tell you about something that happened to me yesterday. It was the day before my trip so I was doing standard last minute errands and things, and I had a few checks to deposit. So I got to make a stop-in at my favorite place in the whole word, my local US Bank.
I don't know what was different about yesterday, but as I was pulling into the parking lot, I was thinking about my security guard friend, and how he probably smiles at everyone since he's a nice guy. I started to convince myself that I really have no reason to believe our interactions are anything out of the ordinary for him. He's such a jolly man; he probably has this happy-making 'smile-and-hold-the-door-open-while-making-pleasantries' connection a hundred times of day with handfuls of people.
I hopped out of my car, checks in hand, and like usual he was waiting to open the door for me. And on that day he literally said to me, "Hey, it's my favorite person."
Not only did this make my entire day, it then amazed me that he has no idea that he's become a 'character' in my blog. And that thousands of people probably wish they had a security guard as nice as him at their bank.
Hahaha. "You can go ANYWHERE. You know, in the US. Even Wisconsin!"
I feel so bad for that Alaska Airlines credit card guy. Another woman just yelled at him for talking to her because she's not a US citizen and can't sign up anyway. It almost makes me want to go apply for a card from him.
That's probably how he gets you. Tricky guy. I'm such a fool.
Halloween costume hint: It's from a TV show, and it's neither Powerpuff Girls or Sailor Scouts. Those were popular guesses!
Question for the comments: Do you have any special people with bit parts in your life like my security guard?
Last google search: trapped in sunken pirate ship
Chipotle burritos: 20
Exclusion Principle
2 days ago
41 comments:
at my summer job, theres a subway that i usually get lunch at with a few friends. im not very adventurous, so i get the same thing every time. it got to the point where the guys working there would remember my exact order and would talk with me while making my sandwich. literally hundreds of people go through there every day, and it was always nice that they remembered me and gave me a smile when they saw me. i never knew their names, but they definitely felt like friends by the end of the summer. it's the little things and the ordinary people you encounter that make life special... =)
I go through my local Wendy's drive-through all the time...like, average about 4 times a week to pick up lunch for myself and my boss (I stick to salads so it's not unhealthy). The guys at the drive through have come to know me, and they always say "hey, buddy!" when they see me coming up.
I love the thought that someone that "should" be meaningless to you can be such a bright spot in your life. For me, I'm not a big shopper, so the majority of my errands are at Target, just so I don't have to make a ton of stops. I'm there a lot, haha. There's this one guy teller there, with dyed, bright red spiky hair that I just love to see. I don't know why, but I seriously want to know his story. He's quiet, but not impolite, though his job is obviously a JOB to him. I want to know why he dyes his hair the same color as Hayley Williams, and why he's working there. He's a character in my life, even though we've only shared a few 'pleasantries'...
My mother, sister and I always go to a certain coffee shop. One of the men that works there always recognizes us and gives us a smile, even if he isn't the one serving us. I even think he had my mother's coffee preferences memorized at some point. I know he probably knows the faces of a lot of regulars there, but him taking a moment to say hello always makes my day a little bit brighter.
In the summer I work at a farm and teach horseback riding lessons, and there are a lot of hispanic workers who do all the mucking and feeding for the horses. I am so thankful for them! This summer there was a new worker, his name is Kenner, and he is the nicest person. Every time we have a job to do together he would smile a lot. He speaks very little english, and I speak so little spanish that all we can say to each other is hello and how are you. He really made working there worth it just because he was so nice! Reading this over it sounds kind of creepy, but trust me it isn't a creepy nice, he is genuinely one of the nicest people I know.
Okay, I'm in college now, but while I was in high school on my half-hour drive to school at one of the lights I had to turn at, there was this man. Man With Book, to be precise.
Very non-descript, I don't know who he is, or why he was crossing 15-501 every morning at 7:48 exactly, or why he ALWAYS had a book.
I've been a regular at restaurants (okay, starbucks) before, but Man with Book sticks out because he has no idea who I am. I drove different cars, either my mom's or dad's, sometimes I'd be carpooling with a friend, there is no way he could have seen me.
And yet, he became a part of my routine, and if he hadn't shown up, I would've been concerned for him. It's just fascinating to me all the ways we can affect people's lives without even realizing it.
How is it NOT sailor scouts? Okay...outside the box....Friends? That would be awesome. Buffy? Not so much. Uuummm, I never thought it would be so hard to come up with a group of girls from tv shows before! I give up?
Is your costume one of those completely amazing Sesame Street ones? like the mildly slutty Cookie Monster, or the vaguely sexy Big Bird? If I lived in the US, that would totally be my Halloween costume.
I think there's a pretty sweet Elmo one too.
There is no one who would recognise me on a regular basis (as far as I know!), but there is a guy who works in a clothing shop near me. He is this big chubby guy with bright red hair and he always makes silly jokes when you buy something at his till. One time he was in charge of the changing rooms and he went on a rant to me about how women try on men's clothes but when it is the other way round, the men get called transvestites :)
I was at the LAX airport a few days ago coming back from L.A. and the terminal that I was in didnt have WiFi. I was somewhat less than amused, considering not only was I there early but then we had a 5 hour delay. I was sitting there for 7 hours! You better believe I read a ton of my 'Gone With The Wind' book.
I was also wondering how you made your banner? I love it!
Konrad. :)
www.konradjuengling.blogspot.com
I still think it's a Dalek costume. :P
Not sure about bit parts, but I have a feeling the people in the study skills office will soon recognise me when I go in. >.<
DENTAL HYGENIST. She's so AMAZINGLY NICE, and awesome.
There's also a resturaunt my family has been going to for as long as I can remember, and the staff who have been there as long as we've been going always remember us. XD They're so nice.
Hearing about your security guard always makes me smile. :)
I don't really know anyone like that.
I want to guess something from Avatar, but I haven't watched enough of it (only 5 episodes or so) so far to know whether or not there's anything in it that matches your clues.
So here's another guess: are you one of those Trollz from that Nickelodeon show? I don't know why you would be, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
are you going as a cheerio like from glee? Yeah you are Ha you are so going as a cheerio. !
I live down the street from a dollar store. Im always going there. this one girl who works there can practically expect me at least once a week : )
Is it the Scooby Gang? It kinda fits - TV show, multiple characters, can be mildly slutty (thatDaphne wears someprettyshort skirts:)
And Ilove how you have so many people who can make your day,that the group now includes even random strangers like thecredit card guy. This is the best way to go through life.
And apparently my space bar is broken, which leads to words "someprettyshort". Awesome.
Words LIKE! LIKE dang it! My typing skills are not working tonight. OK, I think I've sufficiently embarrassed myself.
i know i must even though i can't think of any. maybe it's the dining hall lady who genuinely thinks my name is noof. it's not. and what kind of name is noof. but every time she calls me noof, i can't keep it in, i just CRACK UP. hmmm. i should think of a better one. i need more not-so-strangers in my life.
My bus driver is amazing. She doesn't speak English very well, but she always tells us she hopes we have a nice day, and is very sincere. And occasionally she butts into loud conversations people are having. It's very awesome =) I plan on getting her a Christmas card when the time comes, which comes with awesomeness xD
My 'sercurity guy' would have to be the butcher we go to. Living somewhat out of town, we'd only go by there once every two weeks. We'd buy quite a bit of meat, and he always would want to serve us.
If he was busy with another customer, and one of the other butchers there started to help us with our order, (asking after everything I ordered "IS THAT ALL?!") He'd make sure he'd come over finish off the order and talk about something. Often what we'd cooked.
One time there was a compatition happening through his shop, spend over $30 and go in the draw to win an mp3. (this was some years ago now) Somehow he pulled it that we won it!
He is one pretty cool butcher!
My best friend Connor and I often go to our local dessert café after school. We've gone there so often that the owner now knows us both by name, and since we order the same stuff every time we go, he's fulfilled my lifelong dream of being able to walk into a place and order "the usual." :)
I used to know the girl who worked at my Blimpie's, and she would ask me why I hadn't been in for awhile.
The woman who works at my Dunkin Donuts recognizes my mom's name and order at the drive through, and starts her coffee. She used to not even have to order, the woman just had it ready, but she started making coffee at home :(
To answer your question, oh my god yes. Two people come to mind immediately. One is the first patient I ever took care of all by myself, Tom. Older man who burnt his leg at work, I would see him every week to clean and dress his wound, without the help of the nurse I was shadowing. He is so nice and funny and friendly. I still see him once and a while and he always says hi and tells me a joke, he is a constant reminder of my humble beginning as a nurse.
The second person is also older and also a patient where I work. She's almost fully blind, she's hypertensive, uses a cane with her big clunky orthotics, and she always needs a hand getting around. She reminds me of the grandmother I never met, if that makes any sense.
If it's from a TV show, I guess you're not going with my Mean Girls animal lingerie guess. Telle tubbies come in groups, though I'm not sure if it's nerdy and it's probably not a hot girl outfit.
Teletubby! I meant to look up how that was spelled before posting my comment. If you went as one of the Rugrats' cousins last year, then I can see you going as a teletubby. I don't see why the set would have to be all girls though... I really have a hard time thinking of an all girl set from TV.
So, I have been reading your blog for about a year and I've probably commented 15 times. This is such a miniscule number and it upsets me greatly. I think you are a lovely, talented person and I should recognize that. Therefore, from now on, I will be commenting on every single blog post. I may answer your question or just tell you something that is happening in my life.
There's this girl at my high school who literally does nothing but powerwalk around campus in circles. All the time. You can stand in one place and she'll walk by about every 5-10 minutes or so, depending on how big the her laps are that day. She eats her lunch while powerwalking. I've never talked to her because 1. she's always wearing headphones, which on top of how seriously fast she walks makes it seem like 2. interrupting her would be like a serious breach of conduct, or at least really rude, and also because 3. she's scary. She always wears a black T-shirt and black pants, and dark sunglasses, and sometimes a cape (seriously) which billows behind her Darth Vaderishly, and she almost always glares straight ahead when she walks. It can be a little unnerving.
To me, she's Walking Girl, just a part of the natural background of my high school. I've gotten so used to her drifting in and out of my vision every few minutes that I think it would feel weird for her not to be there.
There's a woman on this park i go to. She's always there, wearing black shorts and a white shirt, running, jogging, doing any kind of exercise. I don't even know her name, but I've "known" her for over a year.
Also, my english teacher. I only saw him on saturdays for 6 months, but i still see him sometimes on his motorcycle. Yeah, he is kind of the cool guy, haha.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? :P
I'm always entertained by your "last google search" bit and today I could not pass it up and looked it up on google myself.
Your blog was the fifth search result that came up. :)
Last school year I used to go to this frozen yogurt place called Spoon Me a lot, and whenever I went, the same girl was always working. We chatted a lot, mostly small talk, and then I started doing my homework there sometimes, and we would do our homework together. It was fun to find a kind of friend like that, even though we didn't ever see each other at school (we go to the same college). I haven't seen her since May, but hopefully I'll meet up with her again someday.
Are you one of Charlie's Angels? I'm thinking that might be right, though it would make more sense to me if you dressed up in the Harry Potter/ anime/ shows from our generations' childhood type of field.
I think you could pull off seventies hair.
The canteen at work serves the whole building which means there must be like 200 people a day that they serve. Anyway the other week I went in and asked for the usual as a joke and they knew exactly what I wanted! That made my day but doesn't beat your security guard lol.
I'm guessing the potential slayers (from Buffy)
or the Kyoshi warriors from Avatar
or...nope, that's all I've got :)
One time, I decided to run through the McDonald's drive through in my town to get a diet coke before work for $1. The little old man that took my $1.08 said, "Thank you, and have a McWonderful day."
It made me so happy that I made it part of my morning routine. He says it to everyone, every morning. But when he says it to you, he is so sincere that it is like you are the only person he has ever said that to.
I'm friends with one of the janitors in my dorm building. The first week of school I was coming back from a morning class and he says as I pass by "well aren't you bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning!" And I thought it was hilarious that a) he would use that phrase and b) that he would he use it when I was obviously half asleep and in serious need of some coffee. Since then, I have seen him nearly every morning on my way out and he always asks me how I'm doing and he comments on how happy I look for 8:00 in the morning. He also gives me updates about how the Giants are doing because he saw me wearing my Lincecum jersey a few weeks ago. He's pretty awesome.
hmm... are you planning on being Olive Oyl (of popeye)?
I work in a small grocery store, and there are a few regulars who I look forward to seeing every day.
There's this one elderly woman who always, no matter what, has a huge smile on her face and though we only exchange pleasantries, it's so much more satisfying with her. I actually believe it when she says "I'm good".
I like the idea of you going as a Stormtrooper, but I'm 97% positive that's not the case. ^^
My minute person:
There's this man who comes in every once and a while to make copies and his name is Jack. His copy jobs are always quick and easy, but he stays to chat. He's witty and does voices and is one of those "I don't care who's watching- I'm going to make you laugh" sort of people. He rocks.
the bus driver of bus 20 after 2:30.
i take the bus to get out to one of my classes way out in the middle of nowhere and the bus driver is so nice. he always says hello to the people in my class [i go to the horse barns so he's always like "horse barns again?"] and ask how we're doing and joke around with us. and then coming back from class he holds the bus a couple minutes because our class gets out right when the bus is supposed to come. best. bus driver. ever. because of him i actually look forward to my bus ride.
I live in California, in the bay area, and I worked for a temp agency for a while. One of those jobs lasted for a couple months, and I took the BART (it is like the subway, it just isn't always underground) everyday. While waiting for the bus to the actual building, I would sit outside and chat with this guy named Rick. He was this really nice guy who was always sitting outside of the stop knitting and selling the things that he had just knitted. He was super nice, and while I am sure he doesn't remember me anymore, I think of him whenever I take BART and pass that stop.
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