She Said, “You Must Hate That.”

I wanted to be on TV. I understood being seen was part of the bargain.

There’s a family owned diner here in Hamden Helaine and I sometimes visit on Saturday evenings.

“I’m a cheap date,” she’ll say after we both order omelets.

We went there tonight. As we walked toward the register a family in the booth across the aisle asked about the weather. That was the enabling moment and before long I’d been beckoned to a few booths, two waitresses standing near the kitchen window and a woman at the end of the counter.

Helaine had paid by the time I made it to the door.

“You must hate that,” the woman behind the register said.

I have heard that sentence or a variation on the theme a thousand times. The funny thing is it’s not true. Most times people are very nice. Usually they wait for what they perceive as an opportune moment. That’s appreciated.

I wanted to be on TV. I understood being seen was part of the bargain. Of course it’s compounded night-after-night. Who thinks when they take a job they’re going to be there 25+ years? Not me.

The people who say hello are the people I work for. Without them I’ve got nothing.

I wish I was perfect, because I know I’ve been short with people more than once. I regret that. Mostly I try to be gracious. Who could possibly mind that people think enough of you to say hello?

5 thoughts on “She Said, “You Must Hate That.””

  1. I’m glad you have the perseverance, Geoff, to have your life “interrupted” to say hello to people in what the rest of us would consider a normal setting.

  2. Oh trust me… I even feel bad sometimes walking over to the weather office and asking them “so what’s it going to be like for my weekend” or “I’m heading out of town, will driving be ok?” Of course, too, it depends on who I’m asking as to what response I get. I’m much more “work friends” with my weekend crew than the weekday people.

    Then again…there’s the chief at my old station that basically explained how severe weather forms, and showed me how things look on the radar, etc. (We were thoroughly bored waiting for the storms to roll in on a T-Storm watch.)

  3. My wife and I are fairly certain we spotted Art Horn this weekend up at a sports memorabilia store in Massachusetts. I would have approached him but the only thing relevant I could think of to say was, “hey, I read Geoff Fox’s blog.”

    I continued shopping without saying anything.

  4. I can vouch for this column. My wife stopped you in BJ’s parking lot a few years back and asked about the weather. I said to you “Don’t you get tired of people asking you about the weather?”. You replied that you enjoyed and expected it and proceeded to comment on the upcoming forecast. Thanks for being down to earth.

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