When I’m at the office, nearly every lunch I eat is over at the Tokyo Joe’s across the street. I’m a culinary creature of habit, who believes that, having made all those Big Managerial Decisions during the morning, the last thing I want to have to worry about at lunch is making more decisions. Just me, my book, and my regular-chicken-bowl-spicyaki-with-Asian-vegies-and-a-drink-for-here.
There are certain perqs to being a “regular.” The staff gets to know you. Some become friendly. They ring up the order before you can say it. They ask about your book in a friendly, interested way (as opposed to “Jeez [dorkhead] that must be a really interesting book [dorkhead], huh? [Dorkhead.]”) They maybe give you a little something extra as a regular, like extra punches on the buy-12-get-1-free card, or a free drink.
I get up to one of the cash registers today and the clerk at the other one smiles at me as I give my order and asks, “Do you always order the same thing every day?”
I smile, and say, “Usually.”
“All the staff here knows you.”
“Hmmm. That could be good or bad.”
“No, it’s good. Everyone knows ‘The Guy Who Comes in Every Day and Stands in Line Reading a Book the Whole Way.'”
I guess there are worse reps I could have.
Hi Dave….
Your weblog was one of the first i bookmarked 4 months ago when I started keeping one, haltingly, myself. Just wandered down through the list again, so hello.
Used to eat at a diner near work (NC) called Cindy and Moms. Black and white faux-tile floor, red checkered table cloth, a couple of barely moving fans up near the ceiling that made you know ‘this used to be a hardware store’. We were regulars (food wasn’t that wonderful but the other choice was Myra’s, a curbside service grease factory).
Mom would come up to us, after we had had our second glass of sweet tea before ordering and say…”you boys don’t see what ya want on the menu, you just let me know, and we’ll fix it special for you”. It sort of left you with the warm southern fuzzies for the rest of the day.
Final comment, regarding your pix at the top, particularly the fourth from the R side. It looks as though your head is resting on a baby’s bottom, but there is clearly a baby’s head under your chin. Is the baby okay? amazingly double jointed? disjointed?
Have a good’un…
Fred First
Hey, Fred.
That pic (8th from the left, 6th from the right if you scroll all the way over) has me lying on my forearm — the “baby’s bottom” is the crook of my arm, and the elbow is to the lower right.
Cindy & Mom’s sounds nice, though I’m glad I don’t have to live somewhere that I have to specify unsweet tea. Margie, though, lived in NC during grad school, and has mostly pleasant memories of the place.
MMMMM, tokyo joes… which one do you go to?
I live in wisconsin, but all I ever eat is boulder veggie bowl w/spicyaki!
How do I do this in wisconsin, you may ask? Well, yesterday I brought home another 17 jars of spicyaki! I haven’t run out yet, and it is the ONLY thing I eat!
Man, I miss tokyo joes… whenever I am in denver, that is the only thing I eat, the whole time!
Glad to see someone else likes it as much as me!
Denver West, usually. Though there’s one by our house (the original one, I think) that we sometimes go out to for a dinner-during-errands. Katherine enjoys getting her “own” salad.
Hey, Dave, do you still eat your meals one piece at a time? I remember when we’d go to Carl’s Jr., you’d cover your fries with a napkin while you ate your burger, then you’d eat the fries, then you’d drink the soda. You still do that, Dave?
Somebody else used to do that, too. What was her name? Cheryl Something-or-other, I think. You still remember her, Dave?
OK, I go to the one on Colfax mostly, but sometimes the one in Westminster, and I went to the downtown one late one night too!
Man, I miss it!