I was a security guard in a private school in London, and to get the parents to feel they were helping, they each had to stand around with me when the kids came in the morning and when they left. So one morning I'm standing there with this rich mother and she's being friendly, asking for my name. I told her my name, and she said, "Oh, that’s my gardener's name!"
And it's been, what, ten years since then, and I still regret not saying anything back. I should have asked for her name and then say, "Oh, that's my hooker's name!" Or something like that. So stuff like that kills me, but it's not a big deal, I suppose.
Kids in my neighborhood are always looking for a fight. I assume it's because they want to visit their daddies in jail but can't afford the bus ticket. I was walking to the car, it was a couple of years ago, and this kid calls me a Fudge Packer. And I wanted to tell him that he was right because I worked in a book store, and I hated it, and it was, indeed, a dead end job, much like packing fudge in a factory is, I could only assume. But I didn't say anything, because Honey told me to get into the car.
When I was working in the book store, this woman started talking to me. She had a little beard. And she told me she worked as a voice-over artist. And I really wish I said, "You sure have the face for it."
God From The Machine
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Maybe it’s the dread of the White Death that is coming to Bagwine, Ohio and
the 8-12 inches of snow we’re supposed to get from it but man…
I had one helluv...
2 minutes ago






16 comments
Comment by SJ on 2:17 AM
Good that you didn't say anything. I would recommend that you stop talking all together.
Comment by Xbox4NappyRash on 6:31 AM
Oh I hear you.
I am the wittiest, meanest insult giver on the planet, with about 2 days thinking time.
Comment by Bluestreak on 8:50 AM
the hooker comment would have been awesome. Hate how that stuff comes later. Ain´t that life.
Comment by Woozie on 10:42 AM
Stuff like that always lords over me too. I always regret not acting on my wit but I usually try to hold it back around strangers. I wouldn't need anyone knifing any tendons because I said they have the face for a voice-over artist.
Comment by Rol on 11:25 AM
That's the writer in you coming out - if you could say these things at the time, you'd be someone else entirely.
Comment by feefifoto on 12:56 PM
I missed an opportunity like that when I was in law school and I still grit my teeth whenever I think about it. The hypothetical concerned a famous football player (actually, it was Archie Manning) who's caught between two streetcars and has both his legs broken. The issue was whether he had standing to sue the city and the answer was no. I was dying to raise my hand and comment that he didn't have a leg to stand on, but I chickened out and have regretted it ever since.
Comment by Jill/Twipply Skwood on 5:18 PM
Oh well...I imagine at least two of those turned out for the best. Though I'd really like to know what the fudge packer kid would have had to say to that response.
Comment by People in the Sun on 11:42 PM
SJ,
Xbox, I know... That first one has been haunting me for ten years.
Bluestreak, and I just mumbled something like, "Oh." I was anti-everything at the time, and all of a sudden this SUV-mom was giving me this opportunity. And I failed. And the SUV won.
Woozie, and the weirdest stuff comes out when I'm really not prepared to deal with the consequences. We went to the State Fair yesterday, and we walked around the cows, and the second I realized this was the Angus area and that they were on their way to become meat, I shouted, "You're all gonna die!" And there were families with children there, looking at me funny. And Honey ran away.
Rol, maybe I would have been a what's-it-called... an improv guy. And you know that's the most horrible, most embarrassing thing in the world. They always test jokes on you. Man, I hate improv people.
Feefifoto, awww, that's a shame. Still, a line like that is all in the delivery. You could have been a hero, but you also could have been remembered forever as this weirdo who laughs at disabled people. I would have thought very highly of you if I heard that, for what's it worth.
Jill, my bet is he would have answered with a witty comeback. Or stab me.
Comment by A Free Man on 2:15 AM
In the part of the world where I grew up there is a saying that I think is appropriate here:
Well, People in the Sun, you can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first.
I'm really looking forward to using that on the boy. He's going to love his dad.
Comment by People in the Sun on 11:51 AM
I already have daily 30 minutes sessions with the baby, when I tell him the world is all about competing for limited resources, and if he doesn't hit first he'll get hit, and that only number one counts because number two is a loser. We then go on rides where I show him how to always drive first on four-way stops.
I'm going to make him a Republican as a post-modern joke.
Comment by metalmom on 1:44 PM
I like to call people in the middle of the night and say stupid stuff like:
Oh yeah? Well...well...Your feet smell!
It never quite comes off the same...
Comment by Anonymous on 1:46 PM
Just a quick point of clarification. I believe when you got in the car I asked "why did you let that kid call you a fudge-packer?" and you replied "because he's right, I do have a dead end job." All car occupants then roared with laughter and the story has been legendary ever since. Your wit would have been lost on our neighbors but it is cherished by your friends.
And another thing. Is it not more POMO to make him not a republican? At any rate no psychological warfare on junior he's too cute and his head is already subjected to enough trauma these days. We can stick to the water-boarding.
I love you-Honey
Comment by Frosty on 3:11 PM
I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL.
Comment by LiteralDan on 12:35 AM
"That's my hooker's name" is a great line on so many levels. That will just have to be your Jerk Store line for all time.
Comment by B on 2:52 PM
I hate kids. 90% of them are rude little assholes.
I think some people just lack a sensor that stops them from saying stupid shit.
Comment by People in the Sun on 1:39 AM
Metalmom, I know... I'm so jealous of quick-response people.
Honey, maybe I am funny after all... But for the sake of truth and justice, and because I have a reputation here, as soon as he called me a fudge packer you did tell me to get in the car. (and whether the other people in the car laughed with me or at me, thinking I was serious because I'm a dirty immigrant, is till debatable, apparently).
And you know what's POMO? That between your comment and my comment, we've moved from waterboarding him to also force-feeding him. What's next? Flushing Goodnight Moon down the toilet? (and I love you too)
Frosty, I wanted to make a Caps Lock joke, but came up with nothing. See?
Dan, I never saw that episode. That's funny. Maybe one day I'll get my second chance.
B, it's the lead exposure!
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