I'm guessing that if you have read a smattering of my writing you would have realized by now that my brain just doesn't work the same way other people's do. For the record, according to Jeffipedia: a smattering is approximately equal to two and a half paragraphs...but they have to be non consecutive paragraphs...and one of them should have been written on a Monday. Anyway, one of my teachers in elementary school actually said pretty much those exact brain describing words to my parents during a parent teacher conference. They were so proud.
It is with that abnormal brain, and the totally random and unrelated subjects that go whizzing through, that I will attempt to entertain you today. I'm not sure I've ever gone through the process on paper with you but I'll see if I can attempt to give you a clearer picture of where my blog ideas come from. Two weeks ago I was talking to family in Germany about the weather and how the end of our trip was really beautiful weather. It reminded me of a movie where the weather channel said, "72 degrees and perfect...every day." Then, a week later in America again, a few of us were talking in the gym after church while the kids were trying to shoot baskets (not doing a stellar job by the way) and I asked, "Did you ever see Pleasantville? The basketball team is undefeated and every time they throw the ball from wherever they are in the court...it goes in!" Of course I was the only one to have seen or remember that movie. (Stay with me...I'm getting there.) A week after that Sylvia and I were home without kids and decided to look through the movie selection on TV. Pleasantville! I decided that this was a must see! It is a movie about a TV show portraying idealized America from the fifties and how everything is pleasant...go figure. This movie, like the other I talked about just a short week ago, also had perfect weather all the time. Then we come to this morning. (almost done) As I turned on Facebook to see if there was anything worthwhile seeing, I saw a black-and-white picture of Tony Dow. Now everyone knows (probably not) that he was Wally on Leave it to Beaver...Sproing!! All of these past instances came together...perfect weather, Americana, black and white, the fifties, TV show...It reminds me of a story, and now I know what I am supposed to write about today.
Twenty five years ago I worked in San Leandro selling electrical parts. If you are now thinking, "I've been on roller coasters that had fewer twists and turns" welcome to my world. In San Leandro I was in charge of the counter. This meant that I talked to almost everyone and I was supposed to answer questions for the other counter people when there was a question they couldn't answer. The typical questions were "Do you have this?" Others included, "How am I supposed to_________?", and "Is it legal to _____________?" Every once in a while there was a question that I couldn't answer and I had to go to the big boss but for the most part I did OK. I enjoyed the people who came in with a puzzle to solve the most, and always felt good when they walked out with parts that would do the job. Sometimes the three parts that they thought they needed could be done with one, sometimes the one part nobody else had was at my fingertips, and sometimes the part we didn't have could be re-created out of three other parts since they needed to get their factory going NOW!! It was challenging, it was interesting, it got me interested in doing something besides sales.
Before I left working in sales, though, there was a group of customers that stick out in my mind. They were different in that they weren't grizzled old electricians who knew exactly what they wanted and could recite part numbers through the haze of smoke from the lit cigarette clenched in their teeth. They weren't helpless homeowners with shards of household items that needed replacing and were hopeful that the numbers on the pieces would help me identify them. They weren't even work crews who came to our counter because we had popcorn and sodas (and if they were really good customers...beer). No, this group of characters looked like they were coming straight from a college classroom. Dressed too nice to be working on fixing things and not nice enough to be going to a wedding. It seemed at first like they might be on a scavenger hunt for the frat house and were just asking about random things.
I gave them prices, told them what was legal, available, and expensive. Eventually I was able to decipher what it was they were trying to do. I forget exactly what they were trying to create but instead of telling me their idea, they were asking about the way they thought they had to do it. I knew a better way. "It sounds like you guys are trying to do this....but you don't need to do it that way. If you take this, and that, and those...you'll have exactly what you need contained in one device that is cheaper, smaller, and looks way better than the Frankenelectrician's Monster you were trying to build. Will that work?" They high fived each other and told me to grab everything. When I was writing their sales ticket I said my usual, "Is there anything else you need to know?" The quietest one in the group finally piped up randomly and sarcastically asked, "YEAH! Who played Lumpy on Leave it to Beaver!?"
Without batting an eye, I kept writing my ticket and said, "Frank Bank."
They paid in stunned silence and as they walked out with the stuff he said, "That guy's brain doesn't work like everyone else's."
So now you know.
It is with that abnormal brain, and the totally random and unrelated subjects that go whizzing through, that I will attempt to entertain you today. I'm not sure I've ever gone through the process on paper with you but I'll see if I can attempt to give you a clearer picture of where my blog ideas come from. Two weeks ago I was talking to family in Germany about the weather and how the end of our trip was really beautiful weather. It reminded me of a movie where the weather channel said, "72 degrees and perfect...every day." Then, a week later in America again, a few of us were talking in the gym after church while the kids were trying to shoot baskets (not doing a stellar job by the way) and I asked, "Did you ever see Pleasantville? The basketball team is undefeated and every time they throw the ball from wherever they are in the court...it goes in!" Of course I was the only one to have seen or remember that movie. (Stay with me...I'm getting there.) A week after that Sylvia and I were home without kids and decided to look through the movie selection on TV. Pleasantville! I decided that this was a must see! It is a movie about a TV show portraying idealized America from the fifties and how everything is pleasant...go figure. This movie, like the other I talked about just a short week ago, also had perfect weather all the time. Then we come to this morning. (almost done) As I turned on Facebook to see if there was anything worthwhile seeing, I saw a black-and-white picture of Tony Dow. Now everyone knows (probably not) that he was Wally on Leave it to Beaver...Sproing!! All of these past instances came together...perfect weather, Americana, black and white, the fifties, TV show...It reminds me of a story, and now I know what I am supposed to write about today.
Twenty five years ago I worked in San Leandro selling electrical parts. If you are now thinking, "I've been on roller coasters that had fewer twists and turns" welcome to my world. In San Leandro I was in charge of the counter. This meant that I talked to almost everyone and I was supposed to answer questions for the other counter people when there was a question they couldn't answer. The typical questions were "Do you have this?" Others included, "How am I supposed to_________?", and "Is it legal to _____________?" Every once in a while there was a question that I couldn't answer and I had to go to the big boss but for the most part I did OK. I enjoyed the people who came in with a puzzle to solve the most, and always felt good when they walked out with parts that would do the job. Sometimes the three parts that they thought they needed could be done with one, sometimes the one part nobody else had was at my fingertips, and sometimes the part we didn't have could be re-created out of three other parts since they needed to get their factory going NOW!! It was challenging, it was interesting, it got me interested in doing something besides sales.
Before I left working in sales, though, there was a group of customers that stick out in my mind. They were different in that they weren't grizzled old electricians who knew exactly what they wanted and could recite part numbers through the haze of smoke from the lit cigarette clenched in their teeth. They weren't helpless homeowners with shards of household items that needed replacing and were hopeful that the numbers on the pieces would help me identify them. They weren't even work crews who came to our counter because we had popcorn and sodas (and if they were really good customers...beer). No, this group of characters looked like they were coming straight from a college classroom. Dressed too nice to be working on fixing things and not nice enough to be going to a wedding. It seemed at first like they might be on a scavenger hunt for the frat house and were just asking about random things.
I gave them prices, told them what was legal, available, and expensive. Eventually I was able to decipher what it was they were trying to do. I forget exactly what they were trying to create but instead of telling me their idea, they were asking about the way they thought they had to do it. I knew a better way. "It sounds like you guys are trying to do this....but you don't need to do it that way. If you take this, and that, and those...you'll have exactly what you need contained in one device that is cheaper, smaller, and looks way better than the Frankenelectrician's Monster you were trying to build. Will that work?" They high fived each other and told me to grab everything. When I was writing their sales ticket I said my usual, "Is there anything else you need to know?" The quietest one in the group finally piped up randomly and sarcastically asked, "YEAH! Who played Lumpy on Leave it to Beaver!?"
Without batting an eye, I kept writing my ticket and said, "Frank Bank."
They paid in stunned silence and as they walked out with the stuff he said, "That guy's brain doesn't work like everyone else's."
So now you know.
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