Hey, It’s No Picnic Being a Jerk, Day In and Day Out

Ever wonder why some people become irritating bureaucrats? It’s because they get paid more, judging from a notice discovered by Sheila Berman of L.A. (see accompanying).

No wonder the siren was so loud! Ernie Riesen was driving in the San Fernando Valley when he heard a siren sound and pulled over. So did a nearby motorist.

Only Riesen noticed that this driver unknowingly stopped in the driveway of the fire station where a truck was trying to exit.

“Regardless of how loud they blasted their horn and siren, she did not move,” Riesen said. “Finally, a fireman jumped out and confronted her and she moved.”

Unclear on the concept: Visiting New York, Pam Schulz found some interesting kids’ dishes listed on a brewery sign (see photo).

Deja noodle: Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you as you drive down Valley Boulevard in Alhambra. That really is a Noodle World restaurant close to a Noodle Planet restaurant as well as a Noodle City restaurant.

World was started by John Mekpongsatorn and specializes in all manner of Asian dishes. After World began drawing crowds, he opened Planet, giving it a different name so as not to confuse people phoning for take-out. Noodle City, a rival, specializes in Vietnamese food.

Mekpongsatorn, by the way, also owns a Noodle Star in nearby Monterey Park.I guess he’s not afraid of overusing the old noodle.

A crumby rumor: Stanley Marcus, of Neiman Marcus fame, died the other day at the age of 96, but one urban folk tale about the high-brow store refuses to die.

Just a few months ago, I received an e-mail from still another person who claimed to know a victim of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe scam.

As the tale is usually told, the victim dines in a Neiman Marcus restaurant and as an afterthought asks for the ingredients in the delicious cookies.

A waitress supposedly tells her that the cost is “two fifty” and the diner agrees to have that sum added to her credit card statement.

Days later, she notices to her horror on the credit card statement that the cost was $250.

So she puts the recipe on the Internet, supposedly getting her revenge on Neiman Marcus.

Problem is: The store doesn’t make its own cookies and doesn’t sell cookie recipes. Not only that, but urban folk tale historians have traced this yarn back to the 1930s, when the alleged fee was $100 for a cake recipe at the Waldorf Hotel in New York.

miscelLAny: The police log of the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise reported that “a resident suspected illegal gambling was occurring at a neighbor’s home.

But it was just the family playing dominoes loudly.” Good to hear that everything was above board.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.