TONIGHT WE’RE HAVING CONVERSATION FOR DINNER

Every night I come home from work and my wife and I sit with a drink, and then have dinner. She usually asks me how my day was, and I ask her the same. Recently I have been learning the banking business from the little woman inside and out. I discovered through the art of conversation the various names and numbers of banking forms that will probably be put to good use some day. The L50 is my favorite.

What else is there to learn? There is a huge cast of characters, that I have grown too know and love. All are very unique, and make for interesting conversation. Some of these characters have moved on to other things, but their names still evoke certain attitudes and norms. For instance there is “Ron”, a guy who could forget the day of the week with someone pointing to it. If you make a dumb mistake, you pulled a “Ron.”

Through the course of the years gone by I too have had my fill of characters. There was: Sam Schwartz, an elderly crotchety old studio manager, who had a nice Jewish lexicon for me to appreciate, and at times use. There was Frankie, the assistant studio manager, who loved to drink, eat and be merry. He was in charge of two other characters that were even more interesting then the other. There was Bob, a tall fellow, about 6” plus with a very Jewish motherly attitude, and some of the funniest stories, and statements or observations I ever heard. His job was envelopes. All he did all day was mechanicals for envelopes. Assisting Bob with the workload was Joel or “Toulouse” who got his name from Sam, not because of his artistic skill, but because of his height. Joel weighted about 100 pounds, in the dead of winter with boots, scarves, gloves and heavy coat. Joel’s job was handwriting, mechanical art and criticism of anything and anyone. “Schotze? What kind of name is Schotze?” Bob used to say that Toulouse died, but forgot to lie down. Well, two have retired, and two have died, leaving me with something to remember. Which gets me to my point. There are many people that cross our paths, and in the course of a lifetime, we really don’t appreciate them until they are gone, or somehow leave the scene. Even the most boring or troubling life is enriched not by success, but life itself, and those who populate it.