Where Did The Red Dots Come From?

I can't believe I'm doing another post on red dots, but here it is.  I forgot to tell you where the red dots actually came from.  I did not really forget.  I assumed they were just advertising and nothing more.  However, a reader in Brooklyn, New York,(yes my only one), looked it up and I'll give you "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say. (Who is Paul Harvey?  That's a whole different story)

Back in 1938(when FDR was president), there was a big controversy in South Carolina about liquor advertising. Some people wanted to drink and some people did not, a little like today.  Rules changed several times and signs were restricted in their size.  A liquor dealer in Charleston, South Carolina, paid someone to come up with a sign and then he drew a bright red circle over the ad so it would be more visible.  He was inspired by a design on the back of a Lucky Stripe cigarette box. 

Most liquor advertising was banned over the years, but in 1968 the red dot was saved.  A few more red dots were added to stand out and now they are all over South Carolina. So, when you visit us here in South Carolina, keep in mind that there really are red dots everywhere and now you know where they came from.

Three Red Dots

I'm pretty sure that you've never read and will never read anything titled "three red dots," but here you are.  I believe I once wrote about the things you don't see that are there all the time and this is certainly one of them.

There are three red dots all over South Carolina and although I've been here for 20 months, I have never seen them.  There is a liquor store called ABC Liquor and some of their signs just have three big red dots.  Other signs have ABC in the red dots and some of their other signs have the red dots and liquor printed underneath them.

My wife educated me yesterday on this and I actually saw some red dots today.  It's not a surprise that I haven't been looking for a liquor store, but apparently people down here know what three red dots stand for.  Now, I'm part of the group and closer to becoming a southerner!

I did think of one thing though.  Now that I am seeing red dots all over when I never saw them before, how do I stop seeing them?

When You Can't Answer A Question

Every once in a while someone asks me a question and I am speechless, perplexed, and unable to give any kind of answer. When you have small children around I think this happens more often. For instance, if your young daughter looks at her baby brother on the changing table and says pointing, "why does that look like the letter "I", it's understandable that there is a long pause before you come up with an answer.

I don't know how often this happens to you, but it's happened to me twice in the last week or so. My Dad asked me last week, "who taught you how to send an e-mail?" Several things ran through my head, such as:

1. Why?
2. I remember who taught me how to tie my laces, it was you.
3. I remember the guy at work who said I should never be allowed to use e-mail.
4. Did someone teach me?
5. If someone taught me they probably would not admit to it.

After stammering a bit I gave a very intelligent answer, "I have no idea."  Then I said to my Dad, "why?" He said that he's gotten a lot of e-mails, but he's never seen anyone else put the whole message in the title.  I laughed and admitted that I do that some of the time.

If my Dad wants me to send him an e-mail when I return home from visiting him, I'll put in the title, "Arrived Safely".  Why bother to put a title that says, "Trip" and then a message that says, "arrived safely?" It's faster and it makes more sense to me.  If I have to tell a driver that the magazines are in the warehouse, the title of my e-mail is, "mags in now."  It's short and simple, right?

One of my daughters or both of them, had the same complaint some time ago. Every now and then, I send them a message and purposely only write in the title space.  However, here's a better question I'm sending to all of you, "why would it bother you?" Take your time, there's no hurry.

What's The Worst Movie You've Seen In A Movie Theater?

If the question crosses your mind when you're watching a movie in a movie theater, you know you have a problem. This happened to me yesterday afternoon while I was watching "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."  It was about thirty minutes into the two and a half hour movie and I was thinking, what if this doesn't get any better?

My advice very simply would be, do not waste your time seeing this.  With two big stars, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, and a very famous director, Quentin Tarantino, it was not worth my time.  I found myself enjoying the final ten minutes or so, partly because I knew it had to be ending soon.

I cannot think of a movie that I watched in a theater that I enjoyed as little as this one.  My wife suggested maybe it was "Wholly Moses", which was a comedy with Richard Pryor, that came out in 1980.  I don't remember much of the movie, only that we saw it on the opening weekend and the theater was so packed we sat in the first row looking up at the screen.  That may be the reason we didn't like it, thirty-nine years ago.

I did read that they cut a lot of scenes from "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood", but it's too bad they didn't cut another 45 minutes or so.  It's hard for me to imagine that their are people who enjoyed this movie, but we are all different.  I won't forget what I saw yesterday, because it could very well be the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater.  The good news is, I think all the movies I will watch in a theater the rest of my life will be better than what I just watched.  I'm sure of it.

The Week of the Tires

How many bad tire stories can you have in a week?  Too many, is the best answer.  It started a week ago Friday when I noticed the little tire(wheel) on my old hand truck was wobbling a bit.  I mentioned it to my warehouse manager and he took out a hammer and hit it a few times and it was perfect.  Perfect until I used it at the next stop and the tire completely fell off.  I have no idea how this happened, but it was not good.  Bringing boxes into an office is easy, but when your hand truck has one wheel-it's not easy at all and you get a lot attention.  I delivered Friday afternoon mostly without a hand truck.

Monday morning I took a spare hand truck at the warehouse and started using it despite the fact that there wasn't a lot air in its tires.  It made it a little tougher to push, but I got it done.  Back at the warehouse, I switched to another hand truck which also had too little air in the tires.  No worry, though, soon one of the tires had a hole in it and I used that a little bit. It got a lot of attention also.

Monday afternoon I went for my scheduled oil change.  I asked them to check my two front tires since one of them was low on air last week.  I was afraid there might be a slow leak in one of them, but no worries-both of them had nails.  To make matters worse,they could not be repaired so I got two new tires.

Driving home, I realized that the low tire pressure light was on and it did not shut off as I returned home.  They must have not set something up right when they put the tires on, but I wasn't worried. There's no way it could be a problem with the other two tires and I never even checked them.

The bad tire week ended with my warehouse manager putting a new tire on my hand truck and the air pressure light in my car being fixed.  My car and my hand truck just keep on rolling along-this week has to be better at least for them.

Southern Grits

It was way back on December 30th, 2017 when I wrote my 5th blog on grits.  I had tried grits in Pennsylvania just before moving down here to Myrtle Beach and I did not like them.  I said in that blog,

" I'm ready for the challenge and someday soon I will come face to face with grits again and maybe things will end differently, but maybe not.  Grits may not be for everyone, but I'll give it another shot."

It took a little longer than I expected, but last week I came face to face with southern grits.  We went to a restaurant we hadn't been to(that's about 850 still to go) and I saw it on the menu.  To be fair it was the salmon that caught my eye.  The menu said it was on top of "cheesy grits" and cauliflower? (it was something like that which I don't eat)

I decided to roll the dice and give it a shot and believe it or not it was good!  I thought if it wasn't good the salmon would overwhelm the taste of the grits and cauliflower, but it was a good combination.  Will I start ordering grits now on a regular basis? No way, but if I go back to that restaurant, there's a good chance I will enjoy that salmon dish one more time.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm on my way to becoming a southerner!

July Rides(Part 2)-They Said What?

"GEESE DON'T POOP IN THE AIR"  The woman sitting next to me was upset there was a bunch of geese alongside the busy highway and they would probably want to cross the road.  That's when she made me laugh about them only pooping on the ground.  I said to her, "you certainly have some words of wisdom tonight."  She quickly replied, "It happens every day."

"I KNOW WHO INSTALLED THAT ELEVATOR" The wife was troubled that the elevator in the hotel was very slow and her husband taught me more about elevators than I ever wondered about.  It takes 2-4 days to put an elevator together and some customers want a slower elevator.  He was from North Carolina, but he knew who put the elevator together in his hotel in South Carolina.

"THERE'S A BUNCH OF OHIOANS DOWN HERE WHO CAN'T DRIVE"  I was discussing how people drive down here and my passenger blamed it all on the people in Ohio.

"SORRY I'M SO USELESS" I was taking two young women to a coffee shop that I wasn't sure where it was.  When I asked them I found out they had never been there.  I said, "well that's not helpful," and one of them said, "sorry I'm so useless."  I told her she wasn't useless, only in helping me get there.

"THEY ARE SICKENINGLY NICE"  A retired guy from Cherry Hill, NJ, had been in Myrtle Beach only seven weeks and I was telling him how nice people were down here.  He said, "every time I take my puppy out, everyone comes over to see it."  He was in a Wal-Mart behind a woman who kept talking to the cashier and all he was thinking was, "please let me out of here, I just want to get out."

"I'D LIKE TO GET A HALF A MILLION OUT OF HERE" The guy built his own house which is now worth $850,000 and he wants to downsize some.  Ideally he wants to sell it so he has half a million dollars to put down on his "smaller" house.  We have a lot in common.

"I DON'T LIKE MEAT, BUT THE MEAT WAS VERY GOOD"  I had asked two couples on how they liked the restaurant that serves a lot of meat that they bring to your table.  I laughed when the woman gave me that answer and she convinced me that I should go there.  If someone liked the meat, but doesn't like meat, that's good enough for me.

"I PUT ON SUNSCREEN EVERY DAY"  The pilot told me that his doctor told him to put it on since he has such fair skin.  I didn't ask him he gets sunburn in the air, but I was thinking it.

"IF YOU HAVEN'T HAD PASTA AT 7:30 AM YOU'RE MISSING OUT"  The woman works until 7 am in a hotel and then goes home and has dinner and pasta is her favorite morning dish!

"WE USED TO CALL THE TOWN PLASTICVILLE." The woman had lived near Mt. Pleasant(north of Charleston) and commented on the number of woman who had plastic surgery.  I told her I would probably repeat that line, but not with a woman in the car.

THE REALTOR: She had been selling houses near Scottsdale, Arizona and we had talked about how hot it was out there.  The air conditioning in her car was not working well.  I said to her, "what's it like selling houses out there?"  She replied, "it's hot and sweaty."

"THERE ARE 2,000 PEOPLE A MONTH MOVING DOWN TO THIS AREA"  I got the information from a local realtor who said that we have 19 million tourists a year here.

ADVICE FROM A PROPERTY MANAGER:  He told me how serious the shortage was for plumbers, electricians, basically skilled labor.  When it comes to younger people he tells them, "don't worry about what other people do, be the best you can be every day and the rest will take care of itself."

THE DISNEY TRIP:  The husband was renting a car to drive down to Disney World with his wife and two young daughters.  After the vacation, his girls were going to stay with their grandparents.  I asked him what he was going to do and he said, "I'm going to be working to pay for the vacation."

"THAT'S THE FIRST THING WE LEARN IN DRIVER ED!"  I told the two young New Yorkers that people down here almost consider honking the horn cursing at them and one of them made me laugh with their comment.  When I told them that people are always trying to help me with the boxes I'm bringing in, he added, "In New York they would be knocking your boxes over."

July Rides(Part1)- Some Stories

THE WICKED WITCH AND SNOW WHITE: I picked up a woman from a hotel who had just finished a nine hour work day in housekeeping.  I was taking her to her second job which was going to last another five hours.  During the trip she told me she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. I started giving her a "fatherly" lecture on how important it was to eat and then I remembered my apple.  I told her I had a big, delicious apple here that I wasn't going to eat and I offered it to her.  She accepted and started devouring it.  She told me that her husband often calls her to check if she ate.  I said to her I have to stop making her laugh, because I don't want her to choke on the apple. "How would I explain that.  I gave her an apple and then she choked on it."  Of course, she was laughing as I mentioned the wicked witch and Snow White.  I just can't remember if I ever washed that apple!

A DISNEY EDUCATION:  My rider was bragging that she lived only eight minutes from Disneyland.  I told her I was a big Disney fan and I could tell her some things about Disney that she didn't know.  She said she worked there at some point also and she seemed amused by my challenge.  I told her how Walt Disney came up with Mickey Mouse, that he called him Mortimer and his wife re-named him Mickey.  I told her that the famous person who opened Disneyland with Walt Disney was the Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. I taught her a few more Disney things, but she got off easy since it wasn't a very long ride.  You could say I gave her "A Disney Ride."

THE GOLFERS: The father and son were going to be in a golf tournament.  The father was 84 years old and was still carrying the heavy golf bag.  He told me that he had been on 548 golf courses in his life and his son added, "that he remembers."  He was some character for sure.  When he was 20 years old he got tickets to a College Bowl Game in Miami, Florida and decided to go.  He lived in Denver, Colorado so he hitchhiked to the game and back!

THE JOHN LENNON FAN:  I convinced the couple on the way to the movie theater that they should see the movie, "Yesterday."  The wife was a big Beatle fan, but she had a rough afternoon after locking herself out of their condo.  When I asked her about some of her favorite songs, she mentioned "Imagine"(not a Beatle song, but I didn't correct her) and "Hey Jude."  She started to tell me that "Hey Jude" was about Paul talking to John  Lennon or his son, but she started to get choked up.  I asked her if she had any tissues because during this movie there is one scene she will need tissues.  She didn't have any, so I gave her some, because anyone who gets choked up talking about John Lennon will be emotional during the movie. (I'm not saying why)

THE FLY FISHING GUY: My passenger's hobby turned into a career and he does a lot of it in the spring down in Florida.  He was looking forward to his work next week when he was going fly fishing with Thomas Rhett, one of the big country music stars.

HAMPTON: What an unusual name!  I asked him how he got the name and he said, "I was conceived in a Hampton Inn."  I started laughing and said, "there's no way I believe that, you're putting me on."  He was joking and has used that line before.  More interesting was that it's a family name that goes all the way back to General Robert E. Lee's time.  His relative was Lt. General Wade Hampton who fought for the South, I did look it up.

HOW OLD WAS HE?  She was working at a Starbucks and a little boy came in with his Dad and ordered a latte.  The little boy ordered the latte for himself and he was five years old.  She talked to the Dad and suggested that his son only get a decaf.  The five-year old walked out of the Starbucks with a decaf.  I've never had a decaf or a latte.

THE PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER: He had been with the Cleveland Browns for a year and a half and was an offensive lineman.  He was big, 6 ft 9 inches tall.  When he played with them two years ago, his fellow lineman Joe Thomas was one of the best in the league.  Since his name was Joe too, they called Joe Thomas "little Joe" since he was only 6 ft. 6 inches tall.  My passenger was teaching computer science at a middle school, working as a bodyguard, doing a couple commercials and trying to hook up with the new football league that was going to be starting soon.  He was a very nice guy who kept himself very busy.

A RIDE REQUEST FOR MY DAD:  I was driving two guys to the airport for their return flight to New Jersey.  When I mentioned that my Dad lives in Tinton Falls, one of them said, "Maybe he can pick us up at the airport."  I told them he was 92, in a wheelchair and he hadn't driven in a number of years.  They didn't give up, because they said, "where there's a will, there's a way."  You may be 650 miles away Dad, but you got your first ride request!

YOUNG KIDS RUNNING FROM THEIR BOSS: I picked up two kids around 20 years old.  They had lived in North Carolina and had a big debt of $1,500 to pay off.  An Uncle of a friend had a cleaning business in Myrtle Beach and offered to pay off the debt for them to come down and work off the money working for him.  They worked off the hours but received no additional pay and wanted to go home, but the Uncle was desperate for help and was trying to change their mind.  They were staying in his house to and were on their way to the house to get their clothes and were calling the police for help.  I thought I was in a TV show.

THE CHICKEN GUY: I took this couple out to dinner and they went to Cracker Barrel.  The husband had seen a sign advertising their new fried chicken and he had to try it.  I had it twice and I liked it.  We talked about our favorite chicken, his is fried and mine is barbecue.  I picked the wife up the following weekend and she said her husband didn't like the Cracker Barrel chicken.  I took her to the airport and she was worried that her luggage might be more than fifty pounds.  I offered to go into the airport with her if there was any chicken in her bag and I would be happy to take care of it for her.  I did make her laugh.

WHITE HAT HACKER: The kid was just out of high school and he worked for a company part-time who paid him to break into their system and give them suggestions on how to make it better.  He didn't seem that excited about it and I really wonder if he was any good at it.  It certainly was a different kind of job.

THE FIREMAN: The most interesting story was that he drove occasionally for Uber and his first ride he gave was on the night before Thanksgiving.  He went to the Myrtle Beach airport and got a three hour ride that paid him $200 and he got a $100 tip on top of that.  He thought it was going to be like that every day!

I'm Making Money On The Beatles?

In April 2020 it will be fifty years since the Beatles broke up as a band.  During this time there have been countless books, movies, television shows, new albums released, and endless other Beatle related merchandise and events.  There have been a lot of people who have made money on these things, especially the Beatles themselves.

I never imagined that I might make some money on the Beatles, but I think that's what's happening.  About four months ago my brother sent me a trailer online for a new movie coming out, "Yesterday."  Since it was about Beatle music and someone who discovered he was the only one in the world whoever heard of the Beatles, I was very excited about seeing it.

I started promoting the movie to some of my riders(including four British teenagers) and I had very enthusiastic responses from them. After seeing the movie a few weeks ago and loving it, I've been even more enthusiastic about the movie.  I've actually brought two couples to the movie theater and convinced them to see the movie.  I also have had two other couples invite me to see it with them.  Can you imagine having strangers invite you to go to the movies with them?

I believe I've gotten some better tips by talking about this movie and people really appreciated the recommendation.  I'm going to continue recommending the movie even when it's out of the theaters because it is so unique and such a fun movie to watch.  Granted, I'm not making much money on the Beatles, but this is almost like collecting on a bet for a Muhammed Ali fight from forty years ago.(which really is something I did a few years ago)

And, if you haven't seen the movie yet, go see it!