An Oil Change and an Onion??? Holiday Custom question (I Think)

[Citygirl852]

So…I went to get my oil changed yesterday. After they finished doing whatever it is they do, I go up to the counter to pay.

After I sign my credit card slip, the guy behind the counter is giving me all these little “extras”, which is cool.

“Here’s a 2005 calendar, here’s a coupon for $2 off a $5 car wash…and here’s an onion”

An ONION??? Who gives away onions??? And it’s a BIG one too. About the size of a baby’s head! I didn’t have the presence of mind at the time to ask WHY he gave me an onion, and no one that I’ve told this story to seems to know either. So now, I have an onion.

As I was driving home pondering this, it occured to me that I read a book recently (don’t remember which one), in which a character related some sort of custom where the first person to cross your threshhold on new year’s day must give you an onion, for good luck (or something). I can’t find the book, and I ran a google search for “holiday customs onions” and all I got were recipes.

Has anyone ever heard of this? Any idea why my oil change should come with a free onion??

Somebody help me…this is driving me crazy!

[Revtim]

It used to be the custom to wear them on your belt, I hear.

[NinjaChick]

Some quick Googling revealed lots and lots of recipes for onion soup. I did find this, which mentions a Romanian tradition of predicting the weather by peeling an onion.

Maybe the guy misread his grocery list and found himself with lots of onions he didn’t need?

[DrFidelius]

They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones…

[Mangetout]

My best guess would be that the guy giving them away grows them himself and is sharing our/showing off his produce.

[Thudlow_Boink]

There was a furniture store around here that used to advertise that they’d give everybody who came in a free onion.

Here’s the only on-line cite I could find.

They really do give everyone that comes in a free onion. Why? It’s a gimmick. Namoff prides himself and his store on being different from any other furniture store. Congratulations, Mike, you’ve certainly succeeded. He even claims that people come in just for the free onion. Not surprising on a college campus.

[samclem]

@Citygirl852

An ONION??? Who gives away onions??? And it’s a BIG one too. About the size of a baby’s head! I didn’t have the presence of mind at the time to ask WHY he gave me an onion, and no one that I’ve told this story to seems to know either. S

Somebody help me…this is driving me crazy!

So, have the presence of mind to go back to them, and ask when/where the person at the oil change place first heard of this. IT might give us a lead.

[Trailer_Park_Casanova]

I bought a drink at a local pub and the bartender gave me a Tomato.
He grows them at home, and brought a few in for his customers.
Nice tasting I might add.
Hard to find good produce in So Cal.

Perhaps the owner of the oil change place comes from a country where the onion is a tradition and he feels normal about it.

My Asian friends are taping small change to the wall of my business as a holiday tradition.

My mother, from the UK, eats Jellied eals this time of year.
On the level.

[Tenar]

Maybe he’s hoping you’ll jam the onion in someone’s tailpipe and then recommend his garage to them when the car won’t work.

[EmeraldGrue]

Well, come on now, you’ve got a free onion, where’s your Seeking Good Onion Recipes: Help! thread in Cafe Society?

Alternately, you could just pass it on to someone else in the same nonchalant manner, and let them puzzle it out.

[pulykamell]

@Citygirl852

An ONION??? Who gives away onions??? And it’s a BIG one too. About the size of a baby’s head! I didn’t have the presence of mind at the time to ask WHY he gave me an onion, and no one that I’ve told this story to seems to know either. So now, I have an onion.

I think this is exactly why he did it. Free word-of-mouth advertising.

[Citygirl852]

@EmeraldGrue

Alternately, you could just pass it on to someone else in the same nonchalant manner, and let them puzzle it out.

I like this idea. Maybe somebody will get this onion as a christmas present.

[Lillith_Fair]

That is priceless! That is a story that you can use for years!!

I’m so glad I checked GQ tonight!

[Citygirl852]

Okay guys, I gave up this morning and called the store to ask about the onion giveaway. I got some young kid who had no idea what it was about, only that it was “the boss’ idea”. So, I went to the website, searched around, didn’t find anything, and finally decided to send a message via the “contact us” link. Couple hours later, I got this email:

Hi Citygirl,

Our onion promotion started as a local event at our South Holland location. That Oil Express was built on an old onion field, and was the first business in that particular field. Each year in the early 1980’s we gave away onions during the fall harvest time, just to celebrate what had once been there before us. As time has passed, we’ve found that the onion promo generates some interesting feedback, creates conversation between our staff and customers, and finally generates many smiles (sometimes tied to laughter). Our managers often come up with their own commentary to accompany the onions, like “here’s our special air freshener for your car” or “we ran out of apples, so this is the next best thing we could find to give you”.

Anyway, we’re just having fun doing something a little off the wall. Hope you liked the onion, no matter what use it found.

Art Lukowski
V.P., Oil Express National, Inc.
artoil@aol.comQ

So there you have it.

I think I’m gonna let my friends puzzle it out a little longer though. I’m enjoying this now.

[AskNott]

@Citygirl852

As I was driving home pondering this, it occured to me that I read a book recently (don’t remember which one), in which a character related some sort of custom where the first person to cross your threshhold on new year’s day must give you an onion, for good luck (or something).

In Scotland, I’ve read, it is good luck if the first person to cross your threshold in the new year is a man bearing whisky. He’ll give a wee nip to everyone inside, of course. I suppose this custom results in a number of Scotsmen staggering from one house to the next, bringing luck and whisky to all. Ah, the things these Scots will do to bring good fortune to their neighbors!