I knew it had to be southern Georgia…but I didn’t want to say anything until Bosda said it first. I mean, just 'cause I think of northern Georgia as more…cosmopolitan, doesn’t mean there aren’t people there who would do that.
It is at this point that I am reminded of the janitor Beauregard on The Muppet Show, getting an autograph from the guest star. He hands it back, saying “It’s upside down,” at which point the guest star turns it over and gives it back.
“How did you do that?!” Beauregard exclaims, puzzled beyond all earthly comprehension.
Didn’t think there were actually people like that.
Is it the gas station where they sell pecans (which ones dont) and where the service bay of the station is so full of crap that they have to work on the cars in the small parking lot outside? Also, the bathroom in this one needed some minor work done, like possibly ADDING one. If this is the place, Ive been to it. It was on the same freeway in the Macon area. I played it safe and payed with a credit card, surprisingly.
Um… Any possibility that he was handicapped? I knew someone whose brother, Brian (mid-40s), sometimes had to be left in charge of their convenience store for about 10-20 minutes. He’s “very slow” as a result of a toboganning accident that caused brain damage.
The last time he was left alone for ten minutes, some smartasses took advantage and paid with “Canadian Tire Money” – picture a very fancy version Monopoly money that is used like currency/coupons ONLY in a harware store chain. Denominations are like 5 cents, 10 cents etc.
Brian can count, and do very basic math, so he can punch in the amount in a cash register and return the change that the cash register tells him to (though if your change is $15 he may give you fifteen loonies). But he couldn’t tell the difference between real money and the hardware store fake stuff.
He felt horribly guilty that he’d made a mistake (it was only about a $20 blunder, but to him that may as well be thousands.)
I could see him becoming confused in the circumstances Bosda described. Brian takes things very literally. If he’s told: “First look at the number. If it says ‘20’, look for the picture of the loon bird. Then look for the picture of Queen Elizabeth on the other side.”
Brian will evaluate in exactly that order:
Number 20
Loon
Queen
If you gave him the bill, Queen-side up so it was Number 20, then Queen… he might think that was wrong.
I once bought gas at a tiny station in North Georgia. I noticed while pumping that the pump was old skool gas station - no LCD display, just the old, slot-machine style tumbling numbers. When I went inside to pay, the cashier picked up a pair of binoculars and looked out at the amount on the pump. Apparently, it wasn’t connected to any display inside. Pretty cool.
The very best honkey-tonk in Georgia, Whiskey River, is located in Macon. Maybe if you stop there first on your next trip through, things will be clear to you at the gas station.
As a native (but thankfully no longer a resident) of South Georgia, I apologize. I can speak with a great deal of expertise when I say that the majority of Georgians south of Macon and west of Dublin are knuckle-dragging troglodytes. I know - I used to be one.
Remember, these are the same people who vote based SOLELY on the the candidate’s stand regarding the old Georgia flag. They are unintelligent morons. To hell with them and those like them.
Doesn’t necessarily. Brian’s motor skills are fine, his speech is a little odd (hard to describe it – his vowels are a little too long and he punctuates his sentences with “yah!” a lot), but you wouldn’t really notice anything until you tried to have a conversation with him.
He reminds me of the Abominable Snowman on Bugs Bunny – “My very own bunny rabit. I’ll love him and squeeze him and call him George.”
Perhaps Mongo has a still out in back… (or consumes other paranoia inducing substances that make him both stupid and wary of strangers.)
Maybe he was just just messing with you for grins? His buddies listening in the back room holding their sides and stuffing socks in their mouths?
Hey, that was a good one!!! My turn next!!"
:eek:
