Dodged a Bullet

I have this friend, Chris, a colleague from work, who resides on the quirky side of things. He's Canadian, which explains a lot, I guess. He now lives in North Carolina, but I think he still believes he is in some small village in northeastern Canada or something--he strikes up conversations easily and is very friendly and trusting. I really like it when he comes and works with me, because he does a very thorough job and is interesting to talk to. I tend to tease him a lot and he's a good sport...and he makes it so easy because he does, as I say, quirky things.

He has red hair and a white beard, speaks with a thick brogue, and uses lots of the Canadian jargon, like adding "eh?" to the end of a statement: "So, how's it going, eh?" and "We've got our work cut out for us, eh?" This is a person crying out to be kidded around with.

For a while, he had the world record for the highest number of miles on a car I've ever seen. something like 350,000, or it may have been kilometers, or converted from kilometers, or metric tons or something....you just need to trust me that it was a well-used car. I was afraid it would burst into flames while I was riding in it when we worked together in Massachusetts one time--it smelled like a gasoline-soaked rag.

I tend to start my conversations with Chris by asking him when he's going to pay me back those beers he owes me--he really doesn't owe me anything, but it's a running joke we've had going for a few years. He cracked me up--we went out for dinner and he ordered a schooner of some kind of Moose Snout beer--this huge glass comes to the table and he fought gallantly through dinner to drink it down. The waitress conveniently got confused and brought him another one, which he just shrugged and drank down as well...

The last time Chris was in town we stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee and I left him in the air-conditioned car talking on the phone--he whispered to me that he just wanted a regular cup of coffee with some cream and sugar. That's one great thing about Chris--he ALWAYS answers his telephone. I call him when I need help with something, because I know he will answer. That also drives me nuts when he's working with me--his phone is always ringing and he tends to answer it, no matter what the circumstance. I never hesitate to turn off my phone--I consider it a tool of convenience for myself--but I try to stay on top of returning calls. I guess there are many ways to handle the same problem, especially when an important part of your job is to be accessible to customers.

So, I was a little surprised, but didn't think too much of it when I looked up and saw Chris standing next to me at the counter--seems that he wanted to fix his coffee himself so it would be just right. We stood around chatting for a few minutes while the barista made my drink and he fixed his coffee as needed. Then we wandered out to the car, which Chris had innocently left running with the window down, and the doors unlocked!

This is Dallas, Texas (18,000 car thefts per year)--and we got very lucky that day.

I couldn't tease him too badly about it--he had gotten distracted on his phone call. He just said "Ooooh--I guess I shouldn't have left it like that, eh?"