chuckle chuckle chuckle

     Ha, amusing.  The background is that my folks & I had a meeting about a month ago at my apartment with a lady from a group called Visiting Angels.  They provide in-home care, mostly to the elderly.  My folks' health is absolutely fine, but looking forward to the day when they may not be able to help me with all of my very minor-league mini-"emergencies" throughout the week-- just learning basic life skills all over again-- we figured something like Visiting Angels could be my safety net if/when my folks are incapacitated or gone.  So after the interview, she was on her way out the door and said "If, heaven forbid, your folks are in a car wreck or anything, and you need help, just give us a call."  I was like "Well hold on there, wait a minute, I'm assuming that if I just lost my parents and am trying to sort out all the things I need to do now, you're pretty much going to be the last item on my mind, if at all.  So instead of me calling you to tell you my parents just kicked it, why don't you call me, say once a month or so and ask "Hey, your parents kick it yet?  Call it the kick-it call."  We all had a good laugh, and she went on her way.
     This afternoon, my folks were visiting, and mom was in the middle of cutting my hair (I am no longer a mountain man), when her cell phone rings.  She puts down the scissors & picks up the phone.  I only hear one side of the conversation-- "Hello?  No Jan, thanks for checking, but Dave & I haven't kicked it yet."  HA!  She actually did it!  Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.  We'll see if this becomes a monthly habit...

     So I just visited the restaurant downstairs, Sticky Fingers, and ordered a barbecue sandwich, probably my favorite item there.  I asked my waitress to add cole slaw & onion rings on the sandwich for an extra dollar.  She brings my plate out later, and I quickly noticed there was no cole slaw or onion rings.  "Um, looks good, but do ya mind adding cole slaw and onion rings?"  "Oh right, you did order that, I'll be right back."  "Well it was an honest mistake, not a big deal, but I'm super excited that Sticky Fingers has recently adopted the policy that when y'all make an honest mistake like this, free food for me for life!  Awesome!  Make sure you tell your manager I said thanks for the mistake."  We both chuckled and I figured the joke was at the end of it's lifespan.  She brought a plate of onion rings & cole slaw to me-- as far as I'm concerned, issue resolved.  Easily fixed.  Then about a minute later, over the noise, in the background I hear "mumble mumble mumble Jeff mumble mumble Jeff."  (this waitress knows my name, as I introduce myself most places I go and ask for my server's name; and I've also been to this Sticky Fingers a few times before-- what, it's downstairs)  So I look around to see if someone's badmouthing me or if I misheard Jeff or what the deal is.  And there's my waitress actually talking to the manager!  When she comes back by, she says "Well, he didn't know about free food for life, but tonight's meal is on us!"  "Wait, what?  No no no, you brought onion rings & cole slaw, the deal is done."  "Hey, be quiet and take it.  You're a regular."  Okay, so I did.  (and their definition of "regular" is way looser than mine)  But that just goes to show that there's cases where a sense of humor literally does pay off!