For this Sunday, I had a nice treat planned for you, dear readers. Knowing that a few previous posts had a distinctively downbeat tone to them, I decided it was time to feature a national treasure of an operating roadside attraction and its enterprising owners.
This young couple purchased the business late last fall and judging by their Facebook posts, they jumped headlong into a business that most everyone else was running away from. After watching their progress, it felt like the time was right to reach out to pay a visit.
Sorry to say, this isn’t that post. After their initial enthusiasm, I started to sense reluctance. They started making excuses. I explained that I didn’t even need an hour. I come up for a chat, I take some pictures, they go back to work, and I come home and write a nice, glowing piece about them.
“Can we do a Zoom meeting?” they asked in email.
I didn’t say this, but I’m tired of Zoom. I’m no luddite, but virtual meetings are a last resort for me at this point. I’d rather spend the gas and time to meet face to actual face and shake actual hands. This doesn’t work by talking at heads on screens. We have to be in the same room. I can’t get a true sense of who you are in a Zoom meeting.
“This doesn’t work in Zoom,” I replied.
I explained, “My blog’s about getting to know more about the people who do interesting things, and telling the world about them. I want to give my readers a sense of hope that this country is still on the right track, and when I see a couple such as yourself willing to take this risk, I find it inspirational.”
Instead of paying that visit, I sit in my coffee shop writing this.
I encountered this twice before already. Several weeks ago, I approached a very small business in my area where I’ve spent a fair amount of cash (not a bar), and began to enjoy the place more for the owner’s personality than for what he sold.
“Let me talk to my wife,” he said. I knew almost immediately that I’d get turned down, and I did. “Sorry, but we just don’t have the time.”
A previous story I did publish was to focus solely the good works of one particular business, but after repeated attempts to schedule an interview went ignored, I had to broaden the scope of the piece.
When I lamented this setback on my own Facebook page, a friend remarked, “Nation is in Freak Mode. Watch the news one night… 10 years ago you wouldn’t believe it’s possible to be this out of whack.”
I think he’s onto something. Between 1990 and 2007, I published 43 issues of Roadside and By the Way, and 41 of those issues featured roadside-related businesses for a total of at least 123, In each one, we simply told the world about the great job they did. None of the businesses we approached turned us away. Not one backed out. They all cooperated.
So with that, I’m going to take a break this weekend. As told in the last story, Louise and I are planning a move, but first we have to prep our current house for eventual sale. No one likes a move, but I’m looking forward to getting out of Dodge, as it were, and I want it to be as smooth a process as possible.
In the meantime, I’m on the hunt for a great, feel-good story about a local hero doing good work taking us out of freak mode and back in whack. If you have an idea, send me an email.
Coffee Cup Shutters Update
Done and hung!
For more progress updates and photos of my other woodworking projects, please visit my Randy-Rondack page on Facebook (still working on the website).