When a Good Thing Goes Wrong

When I was in high school and through most of my college years I worked part time Saturdays at a butcher shop. The shop was actually a stall in a huge open indoor market; it's still there and going strong in Detroit. There was a bit of hawking going on to snag customers when things were slow. Hey, lady! This meat is really fresh!

My boss was a mentor. He instructed me not to say the meat was fresh. It put it into question that it might not be fresh. I got it first time. Like Nixon ... "I'm not a crook!"

I copied the boss. He was always jovial with the customers and I picked up on that right away too. he would often respond, when someone asked if the Beef Liver was tender: "Lady, that Beef Liver is as tender as your mother's heart". 

Once a women approached me and asked, "Is that Liver tender?" I saw my opening and said, in the most mock sincere way possible, "Lady, that Beef Liver is as tender as your mothers heart".

Well, seems that the woman's mother's heart wasn't very tender. Plus, she had no appreciation for irony. The last I saw of her was her back walking away fast, screaming ... "My mother's heart ain't tender, Godamit! My mother's heart ain't tender, Godamit!"

I think we both took a way a lasting impression from that exchange.

Here's the entire back story on my early part time employment history. CLICK ... to be amazed.