tomversation

Wendy’s

Yesterday I went to Wendy’s about 4 pm. I went to the drive thru and I got ready to place my order. The girl says her spiel through the speaker, which I never understand, and I say, “I just want a taco salad, please.” No reply.

I call out, “Hello?” No answer. The speaker went dead.

So I drive up to the second window, the first one was closed, and I wait a couple of minutes for the car in front of me to leave. I get to the window and I say to the lady, “I’m not sure if my order went through.” And she says, “Yes, sorry about that, we had a shift change.”

So in the middle of me placing my order, it just all stops and goes dead? Not even a, “One moment please.” Nothing. They just cut me off in mid-sentence for a shift change?

I was going to say something, but I want to go back, so I kept my mouth shut, because no matter what I said, even in a joking manner, I would look like a complaining Karen. And it would be them against me, and as my mother always told me, “You don’t argue with people who are handling your food.”

At this same Wendy’s a few years back, this lazy girl at the window hands me my change, but it blows away. I think it was $5.oo. I couldn’t open the car door because it was against the wall so I said to the girl, “My change blew away, it’s under the car, can you give me another $5.00 and then come out and get the one that was under the car?” She tells me no.

I guess I said, “Stupid bitch,” it was one of those things where I thought I was thinking it, but I said it out loud, or at least under my breath. So she heard it. When I got to the second window to pick up my food, there she was going crazy, literally trying to jump out of the window to grab me! She was halfway out of the window! A couple of her co-workers had to hold her back. They threw the bag of food at me so I could make a speedy getaway. I didn’t go back for a a long time after that, hoping that when I did finally return, she would be gone, which ended up being the case.

I like the taco salad, so I keep going back.

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Spring time is Mister Softee time

This Ollie And Jacomo cartoon which was published this week shows my love of Mister Softee, the ice cream truck which is all over the Northeast. It’s a sure sign of spring when they start showing up around town. They are usually all tucked away for the fall and winter seasons.

I believe there are over 2000 franchises/trucks up north, so they are quite ubiquitous.

My first stop when I get to NYC in the summer is Union Square where I can always find Mister Softee. I’ve seen as many as seven of them at one time! Union Square runs from 14th Street up to 17th Street and crosses a couple of Avenues, so there can be one on each corner at times.

*Here are a couple images of me in a couple of summers in NYC. Notice how fast the ice cream is melting. it’s quite hot in NYC these days.*

A few years back, I was at Governors Island with one of my cousins and it was boiling out. It was so hot. We turned a corner and there was Mister Softee, on the island! I ran over to get an ice cream cone. I usually get a plain chocolate cone, but the guy in front of me got a big chocolate shake and that looked so good. The last time I had one of those I was probably a kid, maybe 12-years-old. So I got one.

Since it was extremely hot out that day, it just hit the spot. I got a few more chocolate shakes that summer, even in the Hamptons, where there were a few Mister Softees to be found.

When I went back to the city in October, I was hoping to see a Mister Softee. Depending on the climate/weather there might be a few still out in the fall. I was thinking of those chocolate shakes from the summer, as I flew down.

As soon as I arrived in New York, I went right down to Union Square, and there was a Mister Softee truck. I went right over and ordered a shake. I told the guy manning the truck that I had been thinking of this the whole time on the plane on my flight down. He just looked at me like I was crazy. I guess when you’re surrounded by Mister Softee all day, every day, it isn’t that special to you.

Some years back, there were many imitations around the city. One had the same exact markings on the truck but it was called “Master Softee.” The ice cream was not the creamy stuff we are used to. It was very icy and crystalized. My aunt mentioned that the Mister Softee she went to in Queens had changed the recipe or something, she didn’t like it. I told her that was “Master Softee,” not Mister Softee. The change in taste is very noticeable.

Master Softee was sued and they were soon banned from the city and only the real thing exists now.

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Avoiding the car dealership

I keep having issues with wheel sensors on my car. For years with my previous car, it was flat tires, now it seems to always be sensors.

I’ve never had a problem with this before, maybe it’s the new cars today. This will be the third wheel that needs the sensor replaced. My service writer told me last time that they are all eventually going to need replacing, but since the car is under warranty, they can only replace it when needed, they can’t do it as a precautionary thing.

I hate the whole dealership experience and going through the whole ordeal, but I have it down pat now.

I have the car towed over. It doesn’t cost me anything and the car goes to its destination and is out of my mind. I don’t have to sit in traffic, I don’t have to wait to speak to the service writer, I don’t have to deal with getting home, it just sort of having my car Ubered to the destination. I just have to pick it up when it’s ready. Out of sight, out of mind. I don’t have to think about it while the sausage is being made.

Some drawbacks – the other day it took three hours for the tow truck driver to arrive, so if I was stuck in the middle of the expressway or something, that would not be a good thing. And two – for the second time, I asked for a flatbed tow truck and was assured they only used flatbeds, which was not true, because for the last two times, they sent the wheel lift type, where the back wheels are on the road. And one more thing, I just hand my keys to a total stranger in my front yard and wave as he drives off with the car, just because he showed up in a tow truck. I did a similar cartoon like that years ago.

Last time they took a week just to get to work on the car, which was a fast fix when they finally got to it. They are that busy at the dealership, which doesn’t bode well for the car company. But they gave me a loaner, which I loved more than my own car and I was hesitant to return the loaner after a week!

But the good part is that I drive out with all zeros on the invoice. I’ve never gone to a dealership and not left with a big bill, but since it’s all covered under warranty, it’s a pleasure to pick up the car and leave and I usually tell them, “Hope I never have to see you again.” And they laugh, I laugh, and of course some months later I am back again with something or other.

It could be worse, I caught the problem in my own driveway. Unlike Jlo and Affleck who recently found out that the cars don’t have spares these days. I found that out not long ago myself. And recently we had that car blow up in our front yard, so my problem isn’t really an issue in the scheme of things.

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Ollie and Jacomo

I’m switching back to Ollie And Jacomo for a bit, taking a little break from my single panel Tomversation cartoon. Hope you follow along. It starts today.

I keep getting subscribers on the Ollie And Jacomo website and on Facebook and I’m not sure why, as I haven’t been promoting them, but they are being seen somewhere I guess. So I figured I should give them a little attention.

While new episodes of Tomversation are being “filmed,” I will dedicate my time to the new Ollie And Jacomo season. It’s my “seasons” thing, where comics have a season.

You can can check them out at OllieAndJacomo.com

Or you can follow the on Social Media at:
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Thanks!

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Chickens and roosters, oh my!

I’m getting up quite early these mornings, while it’s still dark out.

No, it’s not about Daylight Saving Time. It’s because there is a rooster in the neighborhood! And it start crowing about 5 am every day!

I’m not sure where it’s coming from, we live on a small cul-de-sac, so it shouldn’t be hard to find. I asked Ray, our UPS guy to call me if he sees it in his travels.

In Miami, there are chickens and roosters all over the place. I have a friend who calls us the land of peacocks and palm trees, because there are a lot of those, too. But the chickens and roosters are the worst.

I’ve seen chickens crossing busy highways, I know, there’s a joke in there somewhere and I’ve heard roosters over the years. Key West is known for them.

Years ago, when I lived in Coral Gables, there were chickens across the street. And I don’t mean at someone’s house, I mean they were just random on the street.

A few months back, there were chickens in the Publix parking lot. We would have to drive around them in order to avoid running them over.

The peacocks are welcome, by me anyway. A few years ago, a bunch of newspapers across the country misquoted me about the peacocks, making it look as if I didn’t like them, and people were not happy with me around here. But it was a misquote and I love them. The chickens and roosters, not so much.

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Larry Fine isn’t fine

I wasn’t sure if everyone would get today’s cartoon, mostly the younger generations. Do people know who Larry Fine is? If you don’t he’s one of The Three Stooges. You know, Moe, Larry and Curley, or Moe, Larry and Shemp. When I was younger, The Stooges were all over tv. I remember in high school I worked in the stockroom at Sears and at 3 pm, everyday, we took our break to watch The Three Stooges on tv in the break room.

I noticed this image online, after I drew this cartoon and it made me feel a bit better, especially since I hate to explain cartoons. It’s a large mural of Larry somewhere in Philadelphia.

Not too long ago I was towed. I should have been fined/ticketed, but the City of Miami thought it was a good idea to tow me.

I was in a parking space that I had parked in for years. I paid the meter and wandered off. Apparently the city changed the parking hours at that space and rather than just ticket me so I would know the new rules, they felt a towing was in order.

I had visions of Parking Wars, the tv show, where people are towed and eight hours later they are still at the towing location, trying to get their cars out. But I was pleasantly surprised. I Ubered to the car lot and I was the only one there, which was surprising, since Miami tows anything at any time for no apparent reason. But it was just me. I was in and out in three minutes! Really! It made the whole experience less painful.

One thing did bother me though. On Parking Wars, a lot of the hold up is that people don’t have their insurance card with them. When I asked the attendant if she wanted to see my insurance card, she told me that was not needed. That explained Miami drivers in a nutshell. No car insurance proof needed?

As for the cartoon, I’m not sure where I came up with the concept of “Larry fine isn’t fine, etc.” It just popped into my head. I didn’t see Larry on tv or hear his name or anything, like where a lot of my ideas come from. It almost reminds me of these memes that show why the English language is so difficult for foreigners trying to learn English.

Like too, two and to, and he’s fine with the fine and read and read (Read to me, I read it).

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Surge pricing

Did you see the news recently about Wendy’s adding “surge pricing” also called “dynamic pricing” to their menus? It’s an experiment they may start next year.

I can understand if prices go down at quiet times of the day, but will they go up, too? You know that once Wendy’s starts this and then the other food places will follow, and the what’s next – supermarkets? movie theaters? Mass transit?

I know Uber and other car services do this. I’ve actually seen people at the airport keep refreshing their phones in order to get better pricing, which seems to change minute by minute. I’ve never tried that, I just want to get in the car and get to my destination, but I guess if I remember, I may try it on my next Uber trip, but of course the price can go up, so it might be better to just leave well enough alone.

But I’m imagining the menus at Wendy’s changing every few minutes depending on the store traffic. And what about the drive thru – once you are at the window, that’s it, you can’t just sit there and hope for better pricing in the next minute or two. It might make lunch cheaper to eat after lunch time. It could change the whole concept of our day, instead of noon lunch, we might have lunch at 3 pm.

Anyway, it makes for a good cartoon.

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The haunting

I wasn’t sure if today’s cartoon would be understood by many people. But it makes me laugh.

My father used to always say, “Stop haunting me!” when we were kids if we nagged him about something. It was just a common expression around our house, I guess we “haunted him” a lot, because I remember him saying this often.

I guess there are so many old expressions that will soon be extinct. It sort of reminds me of sounds that will soon be extinct, like the sound of a ringing telephone or a typewriter bell.

I sometimes think of the opposite – of things that we hear today that maybe 100 years ago or so we would never hear – like a plane flying by, or a lawnmower, or any type of motor. If you go outside and listen, you’ll hear all these sounds which seem second nature. Freeways are loud, “Can someone turn down the freeway?” asks cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, as he painted a mural that says, “The future is emission free!”

But imagine 100 years ago when a person would go outside and maybe just hear the clopping of horse feet on the pavement and maybe that’s it!

We have a construction site across the way, and the sound of that non-stop “beep, beep, beep,” of trucks and equipment backing up, is maddening. One of my neighbors called me one day to see if I could do anything about the sound, it was driving him nuts. “What could I do?” I asked him. “You know people, call someone!” was his reply.

I didn’t know who the call, so the sound goes on and on Monday thru Friday. It’s quiet on weekends.

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iPhone SOS

I was one of those people with the dead iphone yesterday. It wasn’t totally dead, I could use the wifi to do things, I just couldn’t make phone calls. Which actually, was a good thing. I don’t like talking on the phone. I prefer texting, which was working.

I woke up early and looked at the phone and I saw some messages regarding my cartoons had popped up on the screen. When people comment, it alerts me. The top comment said something like, “Phone hack.” It was on a cartoon that had nothing to do with a phone or a hack, so I checked the phone again and saw the SOS at the top of the phone where the signal bars should be.

I went to a website and it wouldn’t load and I tried other things and the same thing. I panicked. Was my phone hacked? How was that done? When I went to bed the night before, all was well. If I hadn’t seen that “phone hack” comment, I would not have thought much of the whole situation.

For about an hour I tried everything, I downloaded the latest update and I looked up things on google and You Tube, using my computer. I tried this, I tried that, I tried everything, panicking for an hour.

I’m usually good at fixing electronic or internet problems, but nothing worked.

I then thought that it could be AT&T and not just my phone, but of course I couldn’t call AT&T since the phone was down.

I turned on the 6 am news and there it was – it was a national outage! Phew. Relieved.

I made it through the early morning calmly then, since I knew there was nothing I could do. And before 8 am, the phone was back up to it’s usual self. I suspect many people slept through the whole thing. While many of us went crazy in the dark, needlessly. First world problems.

Someone posted this image on Twitter with the tagline, “AT&T customers this morning.”

I wondered about things like Apple Pay or using the phone’s boarding pass option at the airport. I’ve seen articles that say to download the boarding pass at home or print it out at the airport, rather than just have the app passport, and now that makes sense.

And what about the NY subway, where it’s “tap and pay” with the OMNY system? Will lines back up at the vending machines with people buying metro cards if this ever happens midday?

Also, of course, have cash or credit cards if you are an “only apple pay” user or other tap and pay users, which I suspect many Gen Z users are.

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Cloudy with a chance of faces

I’ve been doing this thing called “Cloudy With a Chance of Faces” since last April. It’s me seeing things in clouds. I posted Lincoln and Washington on Monday for Presidents Day.

It started innocently enough, I would look out my window and occasionally see things. Now I look for the images. The good thing is I only look out my own window usually first thing in the morning. I don’t walk around all day with my head “in the clouds.” I don’t really even think about it once I check out the clouds in the morning.

This Lincoln was caught by surprise. I took a picture of my favorite intersection in NYC, Madison Square, and when I looked back at the picture, there was Lincoln! It wasn’t planned. Unfortunately there is a huge building blocking the Empire State Building now, so the image is not the same, when I’m in NY next I’ll take a picture of the mess that is there now and I’ll show you.

But anyway, when I looked the picture later on, I saw Lincoln staring down at the city!

Now I look outside in the morning and if the clouds are puffy, I can get some nice images. The nice thing about Miami is that the clouds move fast, so if I see something and don’t catch it right away, it morphs into something else, which is also good, because sometimes I can just stand out there for a few minutes and in that short amount of time, I get many images to play with.

I saw an alligator wearing sunglasses the other day when we were driving back from the Renaissance Festival, but I didn’t catch the image fast enough. In New York in November, I saw Washington in the sky, but I didn’t catch that. But the Washington I show here I caught off my own balcony in my own backyard.

Monday thru Friday, I post Cloudy With a Chance of Faces at:
Facebook at: facebook.com/CloudyWithAChanceOfFaces
and at Instagram at: instagram.com/cloudywithachanceoffaces

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