For This Boss Day, a Friendly E-Mail?
I guess the nation’s employers can’t fire anyone for scheduling National Boss Day on a Saturday this year. After all, it falls on Oct. 16 every year. Ken Ayeroff of L.A., who admits to being in the boss category, quipped that he was thinking of calling in everyone on Saturday “to enjoy the festivities, but . . .”
He might not have anyone show up on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or . . .
The insult to bigwigs is compounded by a “Dumbest Boss of the Millennium” contest on the Internet (myboss.com).
One entrant talked of walking to a court hearing with the boss.
“Just ahead of us was a woman walking in the same direction,” the employee said. “Without hesitation, my boss said, ‘What a hot babe. Wonder what she looks like from the front?’ Immediately the woman turned around and my boss realized she was the judge assigned to our case. Oops!”
The boss lost the case.
TODAY’S FOREIGN LANGUAGE LESSON: Jo Ann Miller of Fontana noticed a restaurant’s menu item for “pollo kung pao.” If you wondered what that was, a translation was furnished. “Pollo kung pao was identified as “kung pao chicken.” Thanks for clearing that up.
IN OTHER POULTRY NEWS . . . : Mil Harris sent along an ad for a “lane hen,” which sounds like a descendant of the famous Hollywood Freeway chickens. Those birds fell from a truck about two decades ago and could often be seen pecking out an existence on the freeway shoulder.
IF IT’S NOT THE FIRES AND MUDSLIDES, IT’S THE EARTHQUAKES . . . : Gary Harryman of Topanga saw an unusual description of a house that was for sale. Is this what real estate agents mean when they say a house “won’t last long”?
LET’S HOPE IT DOESN’T HAVE A REVOLVING DOOR: Proof of the increasingly tight parking situation was provided by Lupe Camacho of San Pedro (see photo).
BY THE NUMBERS: When Laguna Beach residents were given a 949 area code a while back, the change didn’t exactly warm their hearts, inasmuch as many had personal phone numbers that began with the numbers 494. In fact, if you have to dial the 10-digit number for one merchant in town, you have to punch out a mind-bending combination of five 9s and five 4s.
Then, again, it is a liquor store. Just being able to dial it correctly amounts to a kind of sobriety test.
DISASTER LAND: L.A’s gazillion-dollar Staples Center opens this weekend and, as with all new facilities, some glitches are expected. Disneyland was no exception in 1955.
On opening day, which was hosted by Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings and Art Linkletter (see photo), Fantasyland had to be closed because of a gas leak. The Mark Twain steamboat took on water because of overcrowding--someone had counterfeited the admission tickets. Spiked heels sank into the too-fresh asphalt on Main Street.
And there were almost no drinking fountains, raising speculation of a plot to increase soft drink sales. Founder Walt Disney angrily blamed the water shortage on a plumbers strike. He maintained that because of the stoppage, he had to concentrate either on building restrooms or drinking fountains.
He chose restrooms, he said, because “people can buy Pepsi Cola but they can’t pee in the street.”
miscelLAny:
The Learning Annex of West L.A. offers an extension course titled “How to Get Anything on Anybody and Find Anyone--A Lost Friend or Even Someone Who Owes You Money.” I wonder if students in that class will be assigned to drop in on another Learning Annex seminar, titled, “How to Disappear and Build a New Life--Shed Your Worries, Your Problems and Your Debts!”
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Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (800) LATIMES Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.
