The exercise:
Write about: the nickname.
Much better day today. Definitely getting the hang of things. Have some hope that tomorrow will be even more efficient.
And it would seem that only two days in I already have a nickname...
Mine:
All the trucks at work have ham radios in them and people are communicating over them pretty regularly throughout the day, mostly with the foreman. It's a pretty informal thing, with most everybody on a first name basis.
Except there's another Marc on the crew.
So this afternoon when the foreman radioed "Marc, you there?" I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or not. After a little pause I replied "Which Marc are you looking for?" (it ended up being me).
Later on I had to radio in to tell the foreman that one of the public washroom sinks was leaking quite badly. Once I'd heard that he had one of the water guys on the way I went back to the washroom to finish the rest of my cleaning while I waited for Harry to arrive.
When Harry showed up a few minutes later he asked if I'd heard the nickname thing on the radio.
"No, I wasn't by the truck."
"Oh, okay. I told Mike (the foreman) we should probably explain it to you."
"... okay?"
"A while back we had another Marc working with us and it was getting confusing over the radio. So Mike asked him if he had a nickname - the guy said, yeah... T Bone! Like George Costanza on Seinfeld. So of course everybody just called him Costanza instead."
"Of course."
"He hated it. He was like no, no - I said T Bone! Anyway... Mike said we should call you T Bone, but I wanted to explain it to you first."
I'm pretty sure that if they are still calling me T Bone over the radio in October it will still make me laugh every single time.
2 comments:
Well done on getting a nickname already! (Although I think the prompt ought to have been "T-Bone" rather than "the nickname"... but maybe that's just me.) It sounds like a decent nickname and it's the right way to get one too. And it sounds like you're getting along well with the crew too if they're nicknaming you already :)
The nickname
It is autumn and the lilies from Paysdumort
Have shed their petals leaving only yellow pollen
On the counter where the tarot cards lie.
Madame Sosotris sniffs, her eternal cold still
Plagueing her, and arthritic fingers riffle the deck.
A card is dealt, then another.
Somewhere outside these spheres a concussive
Wave breaks against a crystalline wall
And the future jars together,
Come one, come all.
"A man will come," she says in glutinuous tones
That make her listeners wonder if she's still eating
Her morning porridge. "He bears a nickname
That relates to steel and the firework sparks of working it."
Someone titters and is silenced by angry stares.
A card is dealt, then another.
The hanged man dangles by a foot
And Belladonna, Our Lady of Shipwrecks
Oversees the fruiting of the trees
Planted on the rotting decks.
Greg - well so far they haven't used it much, but I'm worried that if I push for it I'll end up being another Costanza :P
Ah, Madame Sosotris. Good (sorta) to hear from her again :)
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