METROPOLITAN DIARY
Prospect Park Lake
Dear Diary:
I was walking in Prospect Park at sunset. I paused by the lake for a few minutes to admire the way the light was reflecting off the water.
As I wandered off, a man on a bike pulled up next to me and made a gesture that suggested he was trying to get my attention. Curious despite myself, I stopped.
Using the Notes app on his phone, he explained that he was deaf. Then he showed me a video he had taken a few minutes earlier. It showed a hawk sitting on a branch above where I had been standing at the time.
I moved.
It flew.
— Grace Brunson
Selling Slices
Dear Diary:
I sold pizza from a stand at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. I charged a quarter a slice — highway robbery! — and most of my transactions were uneventful.
Sometimes, though, when I would get down to two or three mismatched slices, I would get an order for just that many.
Initially, I handed them over as is. That invariably led to complaints about one slice being so much smaller than the others.
Eventually, I devised a solution. I trimmed the larger slices to match the smallest one so that they matched and served them that way. Then I would hold up the extra bit I had just cut off.
“By the way,” I’d say, “here’s a little free bonus slice just for you.”
Presto! Complaints turned into tips.
— Fred Essenwein
(((P.S., I worked at that Fair too!)))
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/21/nyregion/metropolitan-diary.html
