Your Laugh For the Day

[Mojo]

First let me explain that 99 % of our business is driven from rally's and online orders. Unlike the majority of you we do not have walk in service as we work from our home. This gives me the freedom of being able to work in my gym shorts or when it is cold out my lounge pants. I should make a disclaimer here: When any of us are at a rally or out in public we wear uniforms that are dry cleaned and heavily starched/pressed.

Last week it was hot as heck out ( 80's ) and I was working on our coach replacing the flooring. It was New Years Eve day as well and because it was hot I had my gym shorts on and had no shirt on. To make matters worse I didn't have my teeth in. ( Years of chemo rotted my upper teeth out ). So there I am, looking like a sandbilly ( Florida hillbilly ), walking around with no shirt, slippers and no teeth and just shorts on.

I see a big shiny white Dodge Pickup pull into the drive and thought ( another one who is lost ). We live on a dead end road that gets little traffic and some people will get lost. Out steps a guy who walks up to me and says " Is this Stone Vos " ? Oh Sh*T is all I could think of. Turns out he was a prospective customer looking for two very large toppers. We talked a while and I even showed him the remodeling job I was doing inside my coach as he was curious. After talking a bit he said I will get you the measurements so you can give me a quote. He got in his pick up and left and I thought " I will never see him again. I probably scared the hell out of that guy ".

2 hours latter he pulls back into my drive with the measurements as well as a friend of his who also needs toppers. I gave him a quote and he stuck his hand out and said " Make Them ". Before he left he said " if you need any help with your bus remodel call me. I live just around the corner from you ".

Here is the bad part. The guy is a homicide detective and here I was dressed like one of the subjects he arrests. Oh well. Ingrid and Mindy got a huge laugh out of it. I myself am embarrassed and plan on taking him to lunch - wearing a nicely pressed shirt and dress pants.

Reckon I need to watch how I dress when I am outside and make sure I have my teeth in as well. :)

Chris

[sofadoc]

As you may remember, my family business goes back to my grandparents in the early 60's.

We've always had a commercial location that is open to the public.

My grandmother would keep a big pot of peas and cornbread near her at all times. And she didn't mind eating while talking business with customers. She would even use the last morsel of cornbread to ream out the sides of the pot in order to get every last pea. She actually spat fragments of cornbread from her mouth while she talked.

Many customers would say something like "Oh.....you're eating.......I'll come back later". Of course, when they came back (if they came back).......same thing.

She also had another habit that I can only assume had become an involuntary reflex. When she needed to call a customer on the phone, as soon as she dialed the last number and it began ringing, she would cram food in her mouth before they answered.

But now, I also have the image of "Shirtless Mojo" etched on my brain.

[Darren Henry]

So there I am, looking like a sandbilly ( Florida hillbilly ), walking around with no.....

I wouldn't sweat it. You weren't in the shop on a semi-holiday---you were working on your own quarters. They got that. I've learned appearances don't mean squat (outside of formal interactions). Between starving out of orthopedic shoe making and getting into rag tacking I worked on the lake doing camp maintainance and light construction. One customer we did quite a bit for that year had his own island, once told the Queen of England that she could NOT borrow his Royals Royce this trip to Canada because the British security had taken too long to return it last time , etc...When he came down to pick over which 2 foot pieces of the rotten dock planking were fit to be cut out and saved you would swear he was homeless and want to buy him a shower and a  meal.

[gene]

Mojo, you now have a customer who really does know how to make a body disappear. Walking around without a shirt would not be my biggest worry.   :o

gene

[byhammerandhand]

We're laughing with you, not at you.     I think.  :)

[kodydog]

We had a shop in Hickory NC for one year before we moved to Charleston.

One of our very first and best customers was a heavy set lady who owned a large pig farm. Her husband had just passed and left the whole thing to her. She wanted to recover his recliner. She worked long hours and it was after dark when we met her. She walked up from the barn in overalls and dung covered boots. We thought, oh boy. But she had us do the job and later a few others.

Point is, you never know.

[Mike]

So there I am, looking like a sandbilly ( Florida hillbilly ), walking around with no shirt, slippers and no teeth and just shorts on.


Chris

came to mind lol
many time me and john have been working in the shop and with music on and have had a habbit of changing the words to  X  rated version and I cant tell you hw many time ive turned around a a customer snuck n the door lol

[Mojo]

Mike: What ??? Singing XXX rated words to songs ??? And here I thought you and John were choir boys who had clean minds and language.......lol. :)

To be honest I think my shirtless/toothless days now are a rebellion to the days when I was a corporate slave and had to wear suits and ties daily. It was an embarrassing moment. Mindy is still laughing. My wife, who was home at the time was in her PJ's and she ran and hid in her bedroom. :)

I once was doing a seminar and when I got on stage after the host announced me I looked out into the audience and said " By Gosh. When you remember your glasses, hearing aids and teeth, you know its going to be a great day ". The crowd busted out laughing. I said " don't laugh. Some day your going to be as old as I am. " Of course they were all senior citizens and much older then I. They laughed again. My stage fright melted right away.

I always try and inject humor into my seminars and at the start of one I said " This seminar is about understanding women. I will teach you everything I know ". I looked at my watch and said " that concludes this seminar ". That got huge laughs........even from the women in the audience.

When I was still a marketing and pr analyst I had a day filled with high level meetings. My director wanted to meet with me alone first thing that morning to go over a very important project I was managing. I sat down across from him in my Italian wool suit with my Italian silk tie and freshly starched shirt and he looked at me and said " Really ???? ". I didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about. He then leaned over his desk and looked down at my shoes. When I looked at my shoes I seen I had one black shoe and one brown one on. I had to stop off at the house before my first meeting and change them. He never let me forget it either and harassed the hell out of me till the day I retired. :)

Sh&t happens. I just often wonder why it always happens to me. :)

Chris

[Mike]

Mike: What ??? Singing XXX rated words to songs ??? And here I thought you and John were choir boys who had clean minds and language.......lol. :)

you should here my version of My Sharona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1T71PGd-J0

[Mojo]

I guess maybe I need to make a trip down there to see you and John afterall. THis could be entertaining. :)

Chris

[byhammerandhand]

[poppy79424]

My Grand Mother started our business in 1948. I cut my teethe at that shop. So many memories. Its cool to see someone else like that. 

As you may remember, my family business goes back to my grandparents in the early 60's.

We've always had a commercial location that is open to the public.

My grandmother would keep a big pot of peas and cornbread near her at all times. And she didn't mind eating while talking business with customers. She would even use the last morsel of cornbread to ream out the sides of the pot in order to get every last pea. She actually spat fragments of cornbread from her mouth while she talked.

Many customers would say something like "Oh.....you're eating.......I'll come back later". Of course, when they came back (if they came back).......same thing.

She also had another habit that I can only assume had become an involuntary reflex. When she needed to call a customer on the phone, as soon as she dialed the last number and it began ringing, she would cram food in her mouth before they answered.

But now, I also have the image of "Shirtless Mojo" etched on my brain.