Work From Home Couple

Sometimes something just strikes you as particularly strange. So it was last night at a local pizza place. My wife and our two kids were just getting ready to order when my wife asked the waitress the obvious question: “Do you have any specials tonight?”

The waitress gritted her teeth and replied: “Everything’s special here, every day.”

I was a bit stunned. The answer wasn’t rude. It was actually kind of clever. But it was obvious that our waitress didn’t really want to say it. She had that look on her face, the one that says: “I’d rather rip out my own eyes then say this corporate-mandated slogan one more time.”

I’m sure the waitress wanted to say: “Sorry, our owners are too cheap to ever offer any specials.”

This isn’t a big deal, of course. But it struck me as funny. When you think about it, there are very few times when people really say what they mean. Look at the presidential campaign that ended last year. Weren’t you rooting for Barack Obama to say, just once, “John, why in the world did you pick Sara Palin to be your running mate? Don’t you want to be president?” Or maybe you longed to hear McCain say something like, “Barack, I’d like to punch you in your smug face, you know that?”

No, instead we get sound bites. Or advertising slogans.

I suppose it could be worse. Our waitress could have said: “No specials tonight. Everything’s pretty lousy. As usual.”

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