Fun With Candy

My father owned a wholesale grocery business in Atlanta. It was like a Sam’s Club, only a “Mom & Pop” place that catered to convenience store owners. Although the store sold a wide array of grocery items, the vast majority of sales was in candy, cigarettes, chips and drinks.

I worked there in the candy department for almost 8 years. In that time, I had my share of bizarre run-ins with customers. Here are some of my favorites.

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“Bulk candy” is loose hard candy or gumballs that come in a giant box. Some candies, like starlight mints, are individually wrapped. Others, like gumballs or buttermints, are not. Such candy is mostly purchased by people who run candy stores or restaurant owners who give away mints with each meal. Although we frequently got calls asking if we carried bulk candy, we actually didn’t, because there simply wasn’t enough demand to make it a regular item in inventory.

One day, a call about bulk candy was put through to me. Keep in mind that the woman on the other end of the line had an obnoxious New York\New Jersey accent:

Me: “Good afternoon, candy department…”
Customer: [with obvious Yankee accent] “Do ya sell bulk candy?”
Me: “No, ma’am, we sure don’t, but if you call [local distributor] I’m sure they’d be able to help you out.”
Customer: “Thank you… Just out of curiosity, where are they located?”
Me: “They’re on Phil Niekro Parkway in Norcross, and…”
Customer: “WHAT?”
Me: “I’m sorry?”
Customer: “I can’t believe that YOU PEOPLE would name a street that! It’s not the 1950s anymore!”
Me: “Excuse me?”
Customer: “That’s disgraceful… naming a street Phil Negro Parkway… YOU PEOPLE should be ashamed! If they did that up where I’m from…”
Me: “It’s ‘Niekro’, ma’am… after Phil Niekro? The pitcher for the Atlanta Braves?”
Customer: “Who?”
Me: “Phil Niekro. N-I-E-K-R-O. Pitcher for the Braves. Had a mean knuckleball, ma’am.”
Customer: [sheepishly] “Oh. I’m sorry.”

Continue reading “Fun With Candy”

Chaos Erupts in Korea

Chaos exploded in Korea today, as Korean contestant Debbie Lee, who is Korean, was voted off The Next Food Network Star television show. Debbie’s two dishes, Korean-style Korean shortribs from Korea and Korean pear rolls a’ la Korea, were deemed inferior by the show’s panel of judges, who are not Korean. Lee, who is Korean, appeared to be devastated by the news.

“As a Korean with Korean parents from Korea, I’m completely at a loss. By the way, I’m Korean”, Lee was quoted as saying.

As soon as news leaked out from New York, violence broke out in the Hongdae neighborhood of Seoul, which quickly moved to the Insadong and Itaewon neighborhoods.

“Debbie has insulted Korean’s citizens, Korea’s culture, Korea’s past, and Korean’s proud culinary traditions”, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak was quoted as saying. “May the ghosts of her ancestors haunt her for all eternity for the shame she, as a Korean, has placed upon us”.

Lee, who is of Korean decent, is Korean.

Field Trip to Murder Kroger

Atlanta peeps might enjoy this mildly amusing “review” of the Murder Kroger. If you don’t know what the “Murder Kroger” is, you won’t get the joke:

At the intersection of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Ponce de Leon Place is a grocery store that residents of Atlanta affectionately call Murder Kroger. To the best of my knowledge, the grocery store has never been the site of a murder.

Not nearly as fun as the Disco Kroger, no?

via Field Trip to Murder Kroger.

WTF? Picture of the Day

Boulineau’s is an IGA grocery store in Cherry Grove Beach, South Carolina. Because it’s in a popular tourist spot, the store goes the “extra mile” with a giant deli\hot foods section, a souvenir section… even a section for “beach stuff” like rafts, beach towels and sunscreen.

But the “regular” parts of the store go that “extra mile”, too. Here’s a pic of the meat case:

Boulineau's

Yes, there’s a pair of sunglasses embedded in the ground pork. I think the store shapes the pork in the shape of a pig and puts the glasses on it, but it was kind of hard to tell that late in the day, as it had been picked over pretty well by the butchers.

Dollar Tree funny

Lisa and recently stopped by our local Dollar Tree to pick up some stuff, and I couldn’t help but laugh at this poster:

Dollar Tree

Yes, because when my life is on the line, I want to stock up on questionable canned food from Nigeria, flashlights that may or may not work, batteries of dubious quality, first aid supplies from the lowest possible bidder, and tape that strains to hold two pieces of paper together, much less anything else!

Engineer v Manager

A man in a hot air balloon realised he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.”

“You must be an engineer,” said the balloonist.

“I am,” replied the woman, “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The woman below responded, “You must be in Management.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well,” said the woman, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my fault.”

Separated at birth?

It’s been a long time since I did one of these, but hopefully this one will bring the funny!

Separated at birth… MSNBC’s “soon to be fired if her ratings drop any lower” Rachel Maddow and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning:

maddow_manning

Mindy Kahling ROCKS!

Mindy KahlingMindy Kahling, known to most as “Kelly Kapoor” on the sitcom The Office, also a writes and produces the show. And when she’s not doing that, she’s running the funniest Twitter page in history. Seriously! I literally laugh out loud at a lot of her tweets!

Interestingly, although Kahling claims that Kelly Kapoor is just a character she plays, Kahling’s tweets and the posts she writes on her blog (“Things I Bought That I Love“) seem to indicate that there’s actually a fair amount of Mindy in Kelly.

Check out these tweets for some serious funny:

– I get it @samantharonson, you’re a big deal bc you have a washer AND a dryer.

– The common brown forest fox does not have a lot in common with the artic snow fox, and yet they can be friends. America, are u watching?

– For dinner I want to eat a box of cherry Pop Tarts and a can of Sprite. Instead: salmon and steamed broccoli. Fuck.

– “Gran Torino” is a great movie but it shouldve been called “Get Off My Lawn”.

– I just *knew* that the drivethru of the mcdonalds that was under construction would still be open. Kids, always believe in yourselves.

Continue reading “Mindy Kahling ROCKS!”

Ramifications of US soccer’s win over Spain

I normally hate linking to lists, but this one’s pretty funny!

11) Spanish people to take furious and bitter nap

10) Spain now has to send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan

9) US can continue to occupy Puerto Rico and Guam

8) All 63 serious US soccer fans get that adorable “We’ve turned the corner” delusion they get every few years

Read the rest at the link below!

via on 205th magazine: Top 11 ramifications of the US soccer team’s upset win over Spain.