THE VALLEY GIRL FROM MICHIGAN
I thought I was going to cheer her up and make her day better, but it turned out that she was easily my best ride of the weekend. I found her sitting on a bench in front of her hotel. She had had a rough night. She had been meeting a girlfriend she hadn't seen in ten years, but their airbnb reservation near the beach was canceled. Her friend got mad at her last night and wouldn't let her stay in the hotel room so she slept in the lobby of the hotel.
She is very successful in selling alarm systems on the phone and explained, "I beat out all 18 men who sell in the field and I've won two trips to Hawaii and one to Mexico." The secret to her success is her personality, from her voice to her infectious laugh. She said, "They call me a Valley Girl and think I come from California." Her name is Trisha, but one guy couldn't understand her, so she says, "Pippa is my stage name." I threatened to record her laugh and play it for other riders when they don't laugh at something I say and that just made her laugh more.
I brought her to a hotel on the beach, but we were both laughing even when she got out of the car. She told me that a week before her honeymoon, she told her husband, "You're too hairy." Straight from a movie scene from the movie, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" with Steve Carrell, she tortured her husband by removing his hair and making his nipples bleed and him cry. She has never seen the movie and I told her that it was her homework. Will I remember her? She told me that people say, "I look like Elaine from Seinfeld and I dance like her too." And, she has an unforgettable laugh.
THE WELL KNOWN CHEF IS TOO WELL KNOWN
I had a short, but interesting conversation with a very successful chef. He has worked in some of the top restaurants in the world and has worked with some of the top chefs also. He has opened a number of restaurants and in some cities he is recognized as he walks down the street. He enjoys the east coast the most and in particular Myrtle Beach, because he says, "I'm a nobody here." I was laughing when he told me that they, "Don't like paying six figures here." I explained that I knew as soon as I got here that the pay was considerably less than the northeast. It was clear that he likes to be in charge and he's the one who knows what to do and how to do it in a kitchen. I didn't tell him that I don't know anything about cooking, but I can recognize a very successful person when I meet them and he definitely is one.
CAN A RED SOX FAN CHANGE INTO A YANKEE FAN?
There is no bigger sports rivalry than the Yankee/Red Sox and it's gone on for many decades. You could say it's gone on for almost a hundred years since the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. My final ride of the month is one I will talk about for a very long time. The high school principal from Connecticut, told me, "I grew up a big Red Sox fan, but when they started winning I went over the the dark side and became a Yankee fan." I have never heard of a sports fan switching teams when their team started winning and switching to their biggest rival! I can't wait to "entertain" Red Sox fans with this story. He also told me this very touching story, "My mom was a big Red Sox fan and every Christmas she would buy a Red Sox ornament and put it on the tree. Since she passed away, I have a second tree that I decorate with with just Red Sox stuff." He was vacationing with his wife and they were a perfect ending to my day.
DRIVING MICHAEL JACKSON
He told me that he worked at Legends, the venue that has performances with celebrity look-a-likes. Then he said he was Michael Jackson and I had to take a closer look at him in my mirror. When he was around five years old he won a talent contest as Michael Jackson and he turned it into a career. He's performed in a number of places including Las Vegas for three years. He said, "When I finally got adjusted to the heat, it was time to move on." My wife and I saw one of the shows a few years ago with a different Michael Jackson. I forgot to ask him what his favorite Michael Jackson song, but I did say to him as he was getting out, "You're not going to do a little moonwalk when you get out, are you?" He laughed, but I did watch him walk away just in case he did it for me.
ONE CHICKEN NUGGET FOR ME?
I picked him up at McDonalds and he had ten chicken nuggets in a bag. He told me I was taking him to his girlfriend's place to "Steal his car back." He didn't take it, but the way it sounded I said, "Since you're stealing a car, shouldn't I get one chicken nugget so I keep quiet?" He said that they were his girlfriends and she would be upset. I encouraged him to tell her with a straight face that you had to give me one, but he didn't think he could do it. I wouldn't of taken one from him, but they did smell goooood.
TALKING NEWS WITH A REPORTER
I had a very enjoyable, long ride with a local television reporter on a Sunday morning. She was in her mid-20's and from Los Angeles. We were able to discuss some local issues that she has done stories on and I explained to her what I do. We had a good laugh about people here complaining about traffic, because Los Angeles and New Jersey have a lot worse traffic than Myrtle Beach.
She impressed me because she made a point of saying that she likes to report on both sides of a story, although she isn't given a lot of time to do her report. She does come up with her own ideas which she seems to enjoy. She told me that she frequently has to, "Mask her emotions," when she is speaking to the public, no matter what the topic is. I waited until the very end of the ride to tell her that I hadn't seen her on TV, because I don't have one. I'm sure she is going to have a very successful career wherever she winds up working.
PICKING UP POSITIVE
Sometimes when we go to pick someone up they are not using their real name. Usually, it's a nickname and I've picked up a lot of interesting nicknames, such as Trrrip, Dynamite, and Unbreakable. . However, when I saw the name, "Positive," I couldn't wait to pick her up. She had a terrific smile and a very good laugh and she definitely was positive. She told me that her mom started calling her that and some of her friends do too. She said it was easy for her to be positive, but not so easy for some of her friends. She said, "There's a lot of negativity in this world. it's not that easy for people to change." She apparently had a difficult time during the past couple years with COVID and that helps her keep her sunny disposition.
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