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My Brief Political Career

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I’ve been volunteering at the Fringe Festival the past few days and on Sunday I got the best possible assignment – standing at the entrance of a University Parking Garage to tell people the parking was FREE.

There was no joke or gimmick involved, and no sandwich sign to wear. It was simply an opportunity to make that one – to – one personal connection that means so much.

People would drive up to the ramp with a confused look in their eyes – a look that turned to suspicion when they saw me standing by the ticket machine, and then turned to resignation when they realized I wanted them to roll down their window.

They brightened right up when they heard the message. Parking is FREE!

Why?
It’s Sunday!
Why is the mechanical arm blocking my way?
The garage’s computer thinks the ramp is full, but it’s NOT full!
How do I get in?
You have to go in through the exit! No penalty. Parking is FREE.
OK then. Awesome.

Later, out of fatigue or frustration, the stubborn mechanical arm that was blocking the entrance lifted. Now the people had open access to the FREE parking. I could have walked away at that point but why leave? There might be some lingering confusion or doubt, and I could dispel it with a wave of my hand. So I did. I directed people through the entrance, calling out FREE PARKING as they sailed happily by.

Of course I missed the more intimate human contact of the earlier confused/suspicious/resigned/relieved sequence, but if anything the drivers seemed MORE pleased at receiving this great boon without having to talk to me.

There was no difference in the way people responded to my message. All demographic groups whether sorted by age, sex, skin color, religion, IQ or zip code were delighted to hear that parking was FREE, and I was delighted to tell them. What a lovely afternoon.

I made a promise to myself then and there. I will hesitate to criticize politicians for “telling people only what they want to hear.” I discovered just how much fun it is.

When have you enjoyed the pleasure of bringing good news to strangers?

46 thoughts on “My Brief Political Career”

  1. Rise and Shine Babooners:

    I cannot ever remember telling strangers what they wanted to hear, unless the people on the blog count. I forgot to say Rise and Shine one morning and somebody said they liked it and missed it when it was not there.

    However, when I was a kid I often told my mother what she wanted to hear even if it was a lie. Generally this involved “not watching cartoons” on Saturday mornings instead of doing our chores. So the answer to “Have you been watching cartoons?” was always “NO” despite the fact that I had been if she was out of the house. In more elaborate schemes, my sister and I would post our little brother as watchman at the window, so we could turn off the TV as she came down the street.

    Perhaps this is the childhood equivalent to the political question, “have you been hiding bribes in your freezer?” To which the answer is always “NO” despite what might lurking in the aluminum foil packets!

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  3. today i am sure that you are all going to be pleased with the happy news i bring that i am off to spokane to watch the legion baseball world series. the boys went out in the 100 degree heat yesterday afternoon and got their butts handed to them. they lost 6-1 finished up about three and had the final game scheduled for 7pm. they had lunch, drank lots of water and rested up for the 7 o’clock game and were ahead 10-0 in the 3rd. they won easily and learned a lesson about what happens if you don’t show up for every game. it was a good wake up call. i am off to spokane in an hour. i got the fun of looking at the map and seeing which way was best from kc. the shortest way is through rapid city and billings but the trip through denver looked better but i tweaked the directions a bit and will be going via salt lake city and cutting up through the mountains in idaho. i will pick up a tent and sleeping bag for less that the cost of a holiday inn and be there for thursday nights opening ceremony. take care an i will check back in a couple of days.

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      1. its one of those expressions you don’t even think about, i had a guy ask me one what i meant by “sitting in the cat bird seat” i had to explain it the best i coud and look it up. another time i was picking up a hitchhiker in the rain and he was very thankful, he was saying i=oh thank you thank you thank you and i said” you betcha” he was a recent transplant from nicaragua or somewhere in that general area and had never heard the expression before. i was laughing so hard as i was trying to explain that i had never thought of the origin of the expression. he looked a little confused both by the expression and also at why i found it so funny in trying to explain. it just struck me as hilarious that an expression so common here is so interesting in translation form. i do guarantee the boys will try very hard to avoid getting their butts handed to them again.

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    4. Tim, it is 58 degrees in Spokane at this moment. Oh, you lucky dog! Be sure to get a warm sleeping bag. Congrats to you and the boys. I think the mountains of Idaho are as beautiful as any area of the country I’ve seen.

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    7. Yaaa! You go tim and boys!! So pleased for the team.
      Drive safe, have fun, get some ice cream!

      Looking forward to hearing about the game in a few days.

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      1. thanks gang. kansas is boooorrrrriiinnnggg
        denver and the dark came about the same time.
        mountains start in reality tomorrow (today)

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  4. I have been known to tell Darling Daughter that, yes, I will come in and kiss her goodnight when I’m home from a late night out with other grown-ups. If I actually did that, she’d wake up – so I allow her to think that I’m the sort of Mommy who kisses her goodnight every night and walk past her room without opening the door.

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  5. I can think of just one example. Not long ago I tried to launch a career in wedding photography at an age when people are retiring, not starting new ventures. Wedding photography is emotionally loaded and hideously complicated. I studied the game, got the gear and practiced by shooting weddings for free. When you photograph a wedding you don’t get to say, “Honey, would you toss that bouquet again? I was in the men’s room when you chucked it the first time.” Precious moments happen only once during a wedding, and they happen at a dizzy rate of speed.

    Friends of my daughter wanted me to shoot their wedding. I met them and told them to go hire a professional. After interviewing five pros they decided I had a style that they wanted for their special day. Here comes the part where I told people what they wanted to hear. I said that I would try my best. Then I lied and said I could probably do it well.

    I remember the wedding shoot through a haze that was part terror and part sweat from one of the hottest days in Portland Oregon’s history. It was like herding cats. It was like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. It was like an Indiana Jones movie in which I cheated death by an inch many, many times. I struggled to get original, artistic shots and tried to avoid clichéd posed stuff. Later I learned that the bride and her mom couldn’t relate to the art but just loved all those boring images I only shot under protest. On my web site this wedding yielded images 11 through 17 in the wedding sub-gallery.

    The young couple was happy, and only I knew how close I’d come to a full fiasco. I lost a thousand dollars on this–my only professional wedding shoot–and felt lucky to do so well.

    Have a lovely day, Baboons. Don’t be too proud to accept the comfort of air conditioning.

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      2. got it back up. now i know which pictures you are talking about. weddings call for kind of the opposite of art. bless you for trying.

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  6. In my job I rarely get to tell people things that make them happy, unless its the news “I don’t think you have Alzheimers, I think this is normal aging, (or your memory loss is a result of depression, or I think you had a small stroke)”.

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  8. Good Morning to All,

    I think I did have good news for students I didn’t know when I did substitute teaching. I told them that I did expect them to behave, but I would not be strict and would not be hard on them. Of course, especially in middle school, I often had trouble maintaining order in the class room because some students would try to get away things they shouldn’t do. However, I wasn’t a complete push over and I would send those who were really bad to the office. Most of the kids seemed to like my approach and some times things went well, but I did have some frustrating times trying to maintain order.

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  9. I am, “The Department of No.” I’m the guy that has said to co-workers, “Reality is over here waiving ‘hello’ to you. Come join us for a while and then you can go back to where you live.” I’m not a terribly popular person. Actually, that’s not true…my popularity is strikingly terrible.

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    1. TGITH, your “department of no” might be good news for some people who like to do their job and are frustrated by working with people who don’t make a very good effort to do their work.

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  10. Since we seem to have strayed into the realm of Convenient Untruths, here is a “technique” from the world of costuming which I sort of stumbled upon by accident.

    Early on, I had to come up with a frock for a woman who did not easily fit into most of the available costumes. She was an excellent performer, but I am sure going to fittings must have been a trial for her as well as the shop. I did my best with said frock, knowing that “average proportions” had little to do with the task at hand, and I had no picture. Measurements will only get you so far-beware the performer who tells you they are “probably going to lose weight”.

    Fitting day came and we put on the partially finished dress and HAD TO TAKE IT IN. The designer thanked me for making the actress so happy.

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  11. Twice a year we send information to hospitals allover the state regarding their lab work. In every letter we offer to come to their facility and train their staff without charge. We get very few takers. This time we made coupons offering FREE training and put them in the envelopes. We’ve already gotten several takers. Go figure….

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    2. Offer a rebate for which they have to mail in–an extremely successful sales device because unless the rebate is large, very few people get around to sending it in.

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  12. Best one I can think of so far was when Husband organized his work’s Paint-a-thon and I helped out with the food arrangements. “Staff” arrived 8 a.m. and were so delighted to hear I was taking orders for a trip to Caribou.

    Of course in teaching years it would be telling the kids on Friday p.m. it was time to go home, but they weren’t really strangers…

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  13. Good morning all.
    I am going to pun off of Dale’s phrase “good news,” as Gospel. Several timers I ended up pastoring strangers–always and only at their request–in hospitals and couple of other places. I would be with a family in a waiting room, attending someone in ICU, or just in the hospital and asked by staff to attend someone who wanted a pastor. Usually at was at a very hard time, often a death or a death likely to come, or in great fear. Twice it was for thanks for surival. I used to to do Sunday camper services at Gooseberry and got into support conversations after the services a few times. Three things impressed me 1) how the sect or flavor of faith did not matter at all. I attended people of many faiths, more than once with people who did before and after frown on my Lutheranism. 2) How really insignificant were I and any words I said. 3) I wonder if the impact was as lasting and deep on them as it was on me.

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  14. Every year I get to tell people that Rock Bend Folk Festival is FREE! FREE! FREE!
    Saturday and Sunday, September 11 and 12, 2010
    Minnesota Square Park
    St. Peter, Minnesota
    FREE! FREE! FREE!
    🙂 🙂 🙂

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  15. Steve, Clyde, Barbara,
    Thanks for your good wishes yesterday. I’m thrilled to be arriving for work in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood in two weeks. Will miss the grittiness of Whittier but am anxious for new adventures. Barbara, I had a stint in social work in the 90s – mostly with older adults and those with disabilities. Feel free to e-mail me at cyndenton@gmail.com and I’ll take a shot at your question.

    Dale, I can’t think of anything that would please people more at the Fringe to see your friendly face and voice announcing free parking! What a gift. I have stocked licorice and chocolate in my office at MCAD for the past 8 years, and every so often a new person will wander in and say “can I really have some of this candy?” When I say yes, I get to see their happy faces. Easy way to give them what they want. In my other work roles, I’m usually a gatekeeper which is not so easy for others to experience. But I try to be diplomatic about it.

    Clyde, happy belated anniversary! Lisa in St. Peter aka Maine are you out there?
    Blevins, Rhonda and other Babooners, stay cool.

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    1. We envy you being on Grand. In our few trips to the Cities we go to Steve’s neighborhood (tea Source and Half-Priced Books) and then onto Grand.
      Yes, Isa are you there, or traveling back for start of college?

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