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Blog life after my wife kicked me off her's.

12/09/2008

Bob Lonsberry

Posted by Jon |


So I often podcast Bob Lonsberry and usually enjoy his opinions about local issues. He has been doing book signings lately and was scheduled to be at the Lehi Roller Mills last Thursday. Given that it was so close to my house, I decided to go shake his hand (even though I was too cheap to purchase his book). The scene is this: a historic small room with wooden floors mostly consumed by employee space behind a long counter. It is something you would imagine in Pioneer Village at Lagoon. You walk in the entrance and there is a small walkway (maybe 15 feet long and 4 feet wide) abutting the counter (doors at either side of the walkway) and a lot of space behind the counter for employees and bags of various grains, pancake mix, and other related items. So I walk in and I'm the only customer...Bob Lonsberry is standing at the end of the 15 foot isle. There are about 8 employees behind the counter observing the scene from behind the counter like patrons at a zoo. At about that point it hit me, "what in the world do I really have to say to Bob Lonsberry?" Those of you who know me well know that I am not good at small talk (especially upon meeting people for the first time). I have had all kinds of awkward first conversations with people. Thursday night did not disappoint. I shook his hand and the awkwardness ensued where I told him I enjoyed his show and he thanked me. There was then a long pause where each of us knew I was really screwing this up (meanwhile the 8 employees were glad they paid the zoo admission fee). He then asked what I did for a living and I said I worked for a credit card processor. I immediately remembered his distaste for credit cards and thought that I would have been better off telling him that I robbed old ladies for a living. At this point, I was searching for the eject button and said I needed to track down a brownie mix. So, I walked into to the adjoining room to search for a brownie mix with the 8 employees and Bob looking on.

4 comments:

Scott said...

That's great. If I were a store employee, I also would have been enjoying the scene because undoubtedly every conversation would be fairly awkward.

The post reminded me of when I shook Elliott Smith's hand after his 2000 concert at DV8. I believe I told him, "That was really great," or something totally meaningless. And shaking hands--like you're supposed to shake hands with rock stars. Of course, he said, "Thanks," with downcast eyes, probably thinking about how sad he was.

Holly said...

Ok. That was HILAROUS! I just laughed and laughed. I was at Glenn Beck last night and really wanted to go meet him afterward, but then it dawned on me--what would I say to him. "I enjoy your show" "thanks for entertaining me" "I think you are great". Luckily, there was a VERY long line, so I quickly decided to give up and go home. . .

Robyn said...

AWKWARD! Jon - you may not be great at small talk, but you are great at telling a story. I could just picture it - I love that you deferred to the brownie mix like that's why you were really there. I'm sure for Bob and anyone else that does the meet the public book signings it is always awkward. I always feel bad when I see an artist or an author somewhere and no one is approaching them, so at least you made an effort.

Heather said...

That was so funny! I am still laughing.