And here I thought making fun of my last name was over in sixth grade, say. This morning I go in to Starbucks to get a caramel macchiato and a doughnut, and the otherwise perfect and perky cashier returns my credit card and asks, “Do you smoke?” Those of you who know my last name will understand.
Har har. How lame. Yeah, like I haven’t heard that one before. Rather than be all light-hearted about it, as I usually am in situations like this, I surprise myself by responding with a feigned ignorance of what the hell she’s getting at. “No,” I say, almost grimly. Ha.
“Oh, ’cause I was just wondering…” She tries to pick up the falling shreds of conversation. Of course, the fellow patrons within earshot know neither my name nor the subsequent point she’s trying to make, so the burden of momentary awkwardness lies squarely on her, where it belongs.
3 replies on “Area coffee shop cashier makes lame joke”
I totally understand. Having the name “Tripp Longest,” I have heard it all. I get the same stuff all of the time, and I just act like I don’t know what they are talking about.
And I always fail to understand people who, when they meet me, think they are the very first who have ever thought to laughingly say, “Hi, Gene.”
Haha! That reminds me of the Monty Python sketch in which a customer named Smoketoomuch talks with the travel agent (Bounder):
Smoketoomuch: Hello, I’m Smoketoomuch.
Bounder: Well, you’d better cut down a little then.
Smoketoomuch: I’m sorry?
Bounder: You’d better cut down a little then.
Smoketoomuch: Oh, I see! Smoke too much so I’d better cut down a little then!
Bounder: Yes, ha ha… I expect you get people making jokes about your name all the time, eh?
Smoketoomuch: No, I never noticed it before.
heh,
– tomg