I HEAR IT ALL THE TIME.

Did you ever meet someone for the first time and get a sense that for some strange reason, they instantly like you? Me neither. Only kidding!

While in the hospital yesterday, my older sister Tessie (much older)  and me had some business to attend to with a head nurse.

Reaching to shake my hand she gave me this sunny, happy face, introducing herself and making the intros pleasant.

After the business was completed and it was time to say goodbye, she grabbed my hand and arm around the bicep and said: “WOW! You look just like my uncle. You have a double in this world! You are a dead ringer for him! He’s my favorite uncle!”

Me and her uncle

Many years ago, while exiting a subway station at street level, this woman came up to me and said: “Oh my God, Tony Bennett!” This was in the ‘60s and he was very popular at the time. He used to comb his hair like me, and wore sweaters like I did.  I could never see it, but she seemed to.

I left my heart in the refrigerator

Then in the ‘70s, I was working in the city and was ordering typography for this job. I was in the process of hiring a typography shop and interviewing this one company. The representative was shown into my office, stopped in his tracks and looked confused. I invited him to sit down when he says: “Is this some kind of joke, Charles?” Now we were both confused, since I was all along using Joe, and we were not on a first name basis yet.

“Did Danny put you up tp this to bust my chops?”

Still confused I said nothing, then he looked at my desk and saw a picture of TLW (The Little Woman) and my daughter and realized he was looking at Charlie’s double. Apologizing profusely we had a great laugh and he invited me down to his shop to meet Charlie. He didn’t get my business.