This weekend I rented a van so I could pick up some furniture and save on shipping charges.
The line at the Berkeley U-Haul stretched out the door. There was a certain amount of tension in the air--people waiting to get their vehicles, hoping to get their moving done on time--and one guy in particular looked nervous. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt that showed the front of a Cheerios box.
When he got to the front of the line, he asked to change his 10 footer truck for a 14 footer. The woman behind the counter told him no. He argued. She finally screamed “THE RESERVATION IS THE RESERVATION. THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT. WE ARE VERY BUSY THIS MORNING. THAT’S THE END OF IT.”
You might think she had gotten away with being so rude because U-Haul is basically the only game in town in Berkeley--I mean what are you going to do, rent one of those godawful yellow trucks from Ryder? U-Haul is the brand everyone knows and trusts.
But no, I think she simply looked at the shirt and recognized weakness. I think it’s a bad idea to venture out doors wearing a Cheerios shirt at any point in time, but you definitely shouldn’t do it if there’s even the remotest chance you might end up in an argument with someone.
I never took a debate class, but I bet the instructors always give a warning: “Never wear cereal to a debate. Granted, it may be a balanced part of a nutritious breakfast. But it has no place in a formal rhetorical exchange.”
Posted by Greg at 02:10 AM. Filed under:
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His appearance probably didn’t help, however, I suspect that her minimum wage pay had something to do with her lousy attitude as well. Future reference: Penske. Compare reviews online
I couldn’t agree more. The well defined rules of parliamentary procedure are only thrown into chaos by such casual dress. The only problem with your observation, however, is that now I will spend the rest of the day thinking: just how many boxtops does it take for an adult-sized Cheerios shirt? And does it come in Frosted Cheerios?
Don’t you think that Wheaties gear can help to psych-out an opponent?
would a breakfast-bar shirt be just as bad to wear?
I don’t trust UHaul at all, I had a horrible experience with them. It took months and a lot of effort on my part to be even partly reimbursed for the money they totally screwed me out of.
FYI, i-town moving is not the yellow Ryder trucks. Ryder split up, the in-town has the white trucks, the one-way teamed up with budget rental and they have the godawful yellow.
I have a shirt that reads DORK in big blue letters on a white background.
It’s my lucky “I’m getting a loan today!” shirt.
Also works great at job interviews. Let’s ‘em know I don’t follow the herd. Out of the box thinker, I am.
I have a t-shirt featuring frankenberry, count chocula and (my own fave) booberry floating out of haunted cereal bowls. And I get good service in expensive restaurants when I wear it. Plus, I think grapenuts was what demosthenes used to improve his diction. You know how those ancient greeks were about their diction…
The true cereal killer is a Denver omelette with hash browns and rye toast.
i am reminded of a cartoon about deconstructionist breakfast foods, including “foucault flakes” and derrida pops or something.
“the box is all there is, there’s nothing outside the box!”
turns out this cartoon is so obscure you can’t even find it on the internet, but on the other hand while searching for it i found someone else who couldn’t find it, and who posted a link to theory trading cards. can we consider this a semi-sequitur?
I remember that cartoon. It was hanging up in the English department when I was in grad school. The only part I recall was an empty cereal bowl next to the box of Foucualt Flakes, with two word balloons off to the side: “But it’s empty!” “But of course.”
Nothing tops the t-shirt that I have that says,"I bring absolutely nothing to the table.” My mom spotted it at Target and we had a conversation about why anyone would want to wear a shirt that says that. So, of course, I had to buy it. For when I’m a multi-millionaire.
Oooooh. Good call.
1. Greg, I remember that cartoon also from your office. I wish I didn’t. (No, actually, I wish I’d saved it myself.)
2. You make it sound as if U-Haul has some sort of monopoly, but I have to concur with the commentors who said that U-Haul sucks, because, well, U-Haul sucks. Penske is great, Ryder actually isn’t bad, I’ve been doing nothing but moving for the last month and there’s an outfit here called U-Save, which was very good and extremely reasonable for the purposes of my move.
You really need to seek out alternatives to U-Haul in the future. Seriously. They are complete bastards, I don’t mind saying. Cheerios-shirt guy knows nothing of the rudeness one can actually face at one of these places.
I recently purchased a original Wolverine artwork and the description stated art by Howard. Greg Howard.
Can you confirm this as being done by you. I am framing it and usually put a little text under the artwork about the artist.