With B away, decided to treat myself. Went to The Paliser Hotel for lunch after Mass. I know it's Lent, but anyway..............When you drive up to the door, you simply hand the doorman cash, ask him to park your car and that's that. Done. When I emerged, he promptly retrieved the car and away I went.
The other evening, one of my (younger) friends asked if we could meet for a quick drink at our local watering hole in Crowfoot. OK, I said. Keeping in mind that she is 20 years younger, she doesn't quite know how it works. As we are all aware, I talk to everyone, so up comes a young manager I have chatted with before and, after I ask how his mother, father, brothers and sisters are, he promptly comps my glass of wine. A few minutes later, another manager I know approaches, chats and comps my second glass.
"How do you do that," asks my friend. "You have to talk to people and interview them. No one likes anything better than to talk about themselves," I explained. I was a journalist for many years and know how to "interview" someone. Thanks to my darling late mother, I learned how to "speak to a person", as she used to admonish. Being "shy" was simply not permitted. "Shy" was code for "rude" and my mother and grandmother had absolutely no tolerance for such behaviour.
When we were leaving, I spoke to the bartender and told him it was my friend's birthday..."so you need to comp something for her"......I said. "I'll have to check with the manager," he replied.......the manager being one of the guys I had just spoken to. Sure enough, she was duly comped.
Chatting with the bartender before the request, I asked him if he were in university. "Yes, I am studying biology and blah-blah," he replied. "Oh, so you're going to be a doctor," I concluded. "Yes, I plan to major in genetic research in..........blah-blah," he said. "What the h-ll are you doing that for? That's completely stupid!" I said. He started, looked up and began to laugh uproariously. I guess no one had ever questioned his speciality. The last thing anyone needs is another genetic researcher, I pointed out. Leave the genetics up to God. It's true, we need family doctors, not people in labs.
So, that's night-life in Calgary.
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Ah yes, the lost art of conversation.
ReplyDeleteComes in handy in my job as well.
One part interview, one part listening, never hurts to smile and lastly, one part remembering.
My eldest neice, witnessed me in a restaurant when the owner came over to chat and later when he sent over a comped drink for my "date" she asked if he was a friend.
"No, just someone I talk to when we come here,it's always good to chat up the hostess, owner, manager whenever you go anywhere.
She gets it now, working at a specialty foods store and her manager is always hearing praise about the friendly well spoken cashier.
Shy was indeed code for rude in our home, it wasn't permitted.
Glad to read how well you've settleed in to your new life in Calgary.
I remember you did my late mother's hair once. I could weep when I think about how she always had optimism. When she died, I had to empty her condo, she had the most optimistically stocked freezer in the universe. I wept when I had to empty it.
ReplyDeletegreat STORY, THOROUGHLY ENJOYED. Thoroughly
ReplyDeletetrue. In my humble home we were Irish, my father was a eye specialist and my grandfather a family Dr. Therefore everyone in the whole city knew us and I spoke to everyone cause I thought they all knew us. My Mother thought me a bit too friendly when one day a man in the park asked me to go with him (I was 5yrs old) (evidentally) I said No you come with me
and he followed me right into the Police Station (he was quite drunk) I told the Policeman "this man wanted me to follow him",but I said follow me"!!! They called my father who walked over and grinned with great pride. That is one of the last times I remember being with him.Then at 7 he went on a hunting trip and never came back.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, Nancy.