Tag: friends

Meeting up with friends before cell phones


The other day, I was telling someone to text me when they arrive in town and we’ll hang out and of course, that’s how we do it. But I was thinking about years ago when I would meet my friends when we were both out of town and we would always meet up without arranging things and texting.

I think I talked about this before, but it always intrigues me how we did things in the past. You know, like missing a tv show if we didn’t see it when it was on, not being able to tape, DVR or stream it and things like that.

I live in Miami and I would go to NY a lot during the year, and I had so many friends in Miami, and I don’t know how I told them all, but I guess I would do it separately, one at a time, and I would say, “I am going to be in NYC from Nov. 15 to 30, so if you are going to be around, let me know.

Now these friends and I were in Miami at the time, we lived in Miami, and I was making plans for NY maybe a month or two away.

And we would arrange to meet – a friend would respond, “OK, I’ll meet you in front of the Empire State Building at noon on Friday, November 28, see you then.” And we would actually meet then and there, after making these plans a month or so in advance.

We didn’t call each other on the phone, I mean landlines – I don’t remember why, but I don’t remember anyone calling me at my cousins’ houses or at hotels I was staying at, but there they were on the appointed date and time.

I remember meeting one friend at my hotel, the Grand Hyatt on 42nd Street, one night in December. I remember another meeting me at the Empire State Building one day and another meeting in Greenwich Village somewhere and that always happened.

We made a date and time, and we showed up.

Now we text back and forth 100 times before meeting up for lunch on the same day.

I liked it better the old way.

Till next time . . .

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The man without a face


I was in NYC for a bit for my uncle’s funeral. I’m home now.

The wake and funeral were beautiful, if those are the right words. So many people showed up, he really touched so many lives. I knew many of the people from being there so much over the years, so it was nice to see some old faces. But there was one old face that “I knew,” but didn’t know.

This guy, let’s call hm Ricky, was at the wake and the funeral and he was sitting at our table at a restaurant after the funeral. There were many people present at the restaurant, and I didn’t know them all, but since he was sitting with the immediate family, I wondered who he was.

I asked one of my cousins and he said, “Oh, that’s my mother’s old boss.”

His mother, my aunt, passed away a few years back, but for so many years she worked for Ricky. I heard his name 1000 times, she always talked about him. He was much younger than my aunt who was the office manager, so she treated him like a son, she was a mother figure to him. I remember hearing about his exploits and non-exploits from when Ricky was a young guy.

I yelled out to my cousin, “That’s Ricky?” I was excited. I finally saw the man who was talked about so much. It was like a tv show where there is a character mentioned all the time, but you never see them, like Vera, Norms’ wife on “Cheers,” or Niles wife Maris, on “Frasier,” or Ugly Naked Guy on “Friends.”

I ran over to him and another cousin asked if I wanted to be introduced, which of course I did. I told Ricky how I had heard so much about him over the years, all good. I told him how much my aunt loved him and always felt he was one of the family and I went on and on. It was like meeting a favorite rock star or movie star. It was so nice to put a face to a name.

Not surprisingly he was very quiet, and mild-mannered, but he enjoyed our conversation and was very friendly.

I noticed over the long luncheon, that a couple of others did the same thing when they heard that that was Ricky. We all gushed over him! A little gray haired man sitting in the corner.

As he was leaving later on, I went up to him and shook his hand and told him it was a pleasure meeting him. I said I hoped we would meet again soon. He said, “Hopefully, under better circumstances.” I agreed.

It was a real pleasure meeting him after hearing about him and his life for so many years, putting a face to the name.

Till next time . . .


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Where everybody knows my name

A recent Tomversation cartoon via TomFalco.com

I was at the Starbucks in our village the other day with a few friends. I hadn’t been there in a while. It was strange to see that they are promoting Pumpkin Spice Lattes already – it’s still summer, isn’t it?

When I’m in NYC I am in and out of all the Starbucks around the city all day, especially in the summer, getting cold brew coffee. There aren’t as many Starbucks in the city as there used to be, but still, they are all over.

I remember years ago, there literally were four Starbucks on certain intersections in NYC. I mean at a busy intersection, there would be one Starbucks on every corner, so you didn’t have to cross the street to get coffee. Obnoxious, I know. But it’s not like that now.

STAYING IN THE LOOP:

What I do like is that they seem to know you at the Starbucks if you go often enough. Even in NYC where I don’t live, when I order at certain locations, they don’t call my name when the order is ready – they just hand it to me, knowing who I am, which is nice.

At my local Starbucks, at home, everyone knows everyone, so that’s very nice.

I usually order using the phone app, it makes it very fast and easy. A few years ago, I was in our village and I ordered a hot coffee on the app. As I was walking, I ran into someone I knew. We talked for a bit, possibly 20 minutes to half an hour. We parted, and I went across the street to pick up the coffee.

To my surprise, the coffee was still hot. I asked them how the coffee stayed hot for so long. The girl behind the counter said, I saw you talking across the street so I held off making the coffee until I saw you start walking over. I was thinking to myself,” she said , “Is he ever going to cross over?”

I thought that was so great and thoughtful. And no, I don’t order Pumpkin Spice Latte’s there. I don’t like the taste.

I know we should be using mom and pop local places but for some reason, Starbucks has this homey feel when they know who you are and treat you well. No, this isn’t a commercial for them.