Has anything weird happened to you lately?

This year I learned the G*T-4*0 world is full of some really odd people. (stars intentional, can't have these nut jobs googleing this)

The people we have met have been so out there, it was funny until I started to worry that I was one of them.

They are kind of people that need a preface. "Mark is really nice guy once you get to know him, but you might notice he's a little high strung". Or, "Carrie is fun but don't ask about her family".

Recently, the leading USA '40 restorer visited our shop with his wife. She sat quietly and patiently in our conference room reading a book for an entire day while the rest of us did our thing. I was amazed. I couldn't have sat quietly for 8 hours in a room with a rental car at my disposal in any location for any reason. She even refused lunch. Maybe New England isn't as interesting or pretty as I think it is but damm, I offered the woman OUTLET SHOPPING.

Anyway.

It is standard operating procedure to take overnight shop visitors out to dinner and we almost always find the Cow a winner. A Monday night in the late fall is ideal - nice table near the ocean, soft lighting, roaring fire, linen napkins, fresh bread, good wine list, good menu, attentive service. Nice.

Something worth noting is that Mark and I are both freakishly shy and it's a kind of torture for us to offer dinner with total strangers in the first place. We are workaholics who speak a weird automotive language and surround ourselves with people that either are part of that world or love us in spite of it. As business owners we are daily called upon to act extroverted and charming and interesting and knowledgeable. It's exhausting and you get the tiniest of glimmer of what it must be like to live in the public eye.

Back to dinner.

The company is appreciative and complimentary of the lovely ambiance. So far so good - it's going well. Just as we are about to order, in front of the waitress, the wife whips out individually wrapped handi-wipes and hands them all around the table.

So is it me or is that something that happens all the time?

Other than realizing that I was still thinking about the handi-wipe incident, it was a good day.