Sorry to have been gone so long! I have been working on other projects. I guess there’s just no way to avoid the “remember when” factor on this site, try as I might. Today’s classic A&J is yet another example of swift cultural change. First, “casual Friday” was introduced, when white-collar workers were allowed to dress down from coats and ties and the equivalent ladies’ apparel. Today there are coats and ties still out there, but the daily norm for what remains of the white-collar work force is distinctly casual. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Hey, I’m a cartoonist! I can work in my underwear if I want, although I never do. Well, not in just my underwear. You know, I get asked that question a lot, which I think is kind of weird.
Subtle Distinction
By Jimmy Johnson
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233 responses to “Subtle Distinction”
Christmas is coming. Run granny, run.
http://www.christmasdonebright.com/lighted-displays/Planes-and-Automobiles/REINDEER-4X4-AND-GRANNY
I loved my job before I retired. I’d go to customer events and my wife would ask me if I should not be packing a tie, jacket, etc. I’d say (truthfully!), no the customers are expecting an engineer. If I wore I tie they would not trust me. 🙂
BTW, re today’s A&J: “Turn over” sounds like A has an electric starter with a dead battery on his leaf blower. I wonder why not just “start” 🙂 Whatever…I got it anyway, and it was funny. That’s what counts.
Sand, I love it.
One of my favorite customers from my old store worked at the funeral home down the street. He has a beautiful selection of Jerry Garcia ties. When a local businessman with a penchant for pink passed, everyone at the funeral home wore a pink tie in his honor. My customer was the only one who already had the perfect tie for the occasion.
Speaking of, has anyone ever seen a hearse at a gas staion? (Not owned by the general public.) I’ve never seen a pump on site, but I’ve never seen one at a staion either.
And I’ve been asked weirder questions. Takes all kinds I guess.
With the termination of Lincolns and large Cadillacs funeral homes have to go to aftermarket vehicles (which all hearses were anyway). I recently saw a Honda large suv which had been cpnverted to a limousine and was being used by a funeral home.
Ghost here’s one for you. Do a search for motorcycle limo.
Better make that Anaconda Limo.
Mindy: No one at my house can remember seeing a hearse at a gas station either. My husband is now considering contacting a high school classmate whose family owned a chain of funeral homes 🙂
I have a friend who works for a competitor and is right across the street from a funeral home. I want to stop in and ask him, but how bizarre would *that*sound out of the blue? Ruth: I am so curious! I have given serious consideration to the mortuary field. However, immature, hysterical thoughts of some poor procession waiting on the hearse to fill up or repair a blown tire prevent me from further inquiry into the field. (And yes, I am well aware the hearse would already have a full tank and they sport run-flat tires. Sorry to anyone who is upset by this, my sense of humor is warped in some ares.)
Mindy from Indy, my next-door neighbor is scared of the whole funeral business. So how funny is it that when a guy asked for a date during high school, he showed up driving a hearse? Turns out he worked part-time for one of the funeral homes in town and had to deliver a “customer” on the way. “It won’t take long to drop the customer off”, he told her. She said she told him, “no way!”. End of date and never again with him.
I saw one of these in a funeral procession as a flower car this past weekend.
http://www.creativecontrolsinc.com/services/Sprinter/2010sprinter.jpg
Mark – I’m not sure whether my high school self would have gone or not. By college, more than likely yes.
Searching for the hearse/fueling question online, I ran across this story. https://familysearch.org/photos/stories/3235726 😀
I have to admit, when I posted the nonsense about the blog breaking… I was looking at a September-October calendar… completely missed the point that the month I saw didn’t have a Halloween. :/
Hearse/fueling – waiting for an answer from my sister-in-law who used to work at a funeral home. Tune in tomorrow 🙂
David, if it helps, this month has a Guy Fawkes Day. Similar to Aggie bonfires, just with an odd accent. 😉
David in Austin, it wasn’t nonsense at all, it was a useful warning. Maybe JJ saw it and remembered that a new old comic strip was needed?
When I was a full-time commercial pilot, I did a not-insignificant number of mortuary flights. Which are just what it sounds like…flying somewhere to pick up someone’s mortal remains and delivering said remains to a funeral home somewhere for final disposition. Most flights were in four-place aircraft with both rear seats and the right front seat removed to allow installation of an air-ambulance litter on the right side of the aircraft for the shrouded remains of the deceased.
Some of my flight students who knew about the mortuary flights would ask if they didn’t creep me out. I’d tell them no, the deceased were good passengers; they never asked questions like, “Where are we now”” or “How much longer before we get there?” I’d also tell them that filing a flight plan, which requires the reporting of the number of “Souls on Board”, always raised a philosophical question…should I file one or two? My solution was the practical one…two, because if I ever augured in on one of those flights, I didn’t want them to find my “passenger” (even if it were an 80-year-old woman wearing a hospital gown), assume she was the pilot, and not keep looking for me. Not likely, but you never know…
Actually, those flights did not particularly bother me, as I felt I was doing a boon for the families, by getting their loved one home for burial more quickly and more economically than a ground hearse could. The one that did (and still) bothers me is the time I picked up the body of a 7-year-old girl at PDK in Chamblee GA. I still remember every detail of that flight.
Note to Lady Mindy: I did have a main landing gear tire blow out on takeoff once, but I never ran out of fuel. And I have a true mortuary flight story that is much creepier that the one you posted. Perhaps I’ll relate it sometime.
Does anyone else read Mary Worth and the Phantom? The two strips have merged this week…
Debbe 😉 This one always makes me think of the Village.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fulz4ytZ54
While in college I had a ’50 Pontiac hearse – one of the best cross country rides was in the
back of that boat (this was in ’67) We did get looks even though auto body styles changed
a lot back then, about every 3 years.
I worked at home – nobody asks me about working in my underwear, not among the cows and chickens and at 40*below.
Will also ask a friend about refueling.
Knew one place was large enough they had their own pump.
In a small town 50 years ago here in MN the hearse & the ambulance was the same vehicle
And it was light blue – with a gumball machine on top – remember those.
Good morning Villagers….
Indy Mindy, that was a funny story….and I remember gas station attendants too.
Old Bear, I do, but I think it was from movies or old sitcoms like Andy Griffith. At 40 degrees below, it would take me an hour to get down to my underwear….ten minutes of unzipping at that.
Went to Home Depot with Andrew last night….spent The Boss’s money…..I dropped my teeth when I had to fill out the check. But Andrew picked up high dollar items like a sahsaw, something like that. There were so many Christmas decorations out, and it’s only the 6th of November.
GR, I can see where picking up the body of a seven year old girl would be very emotional. So sad.
I agree, that was a good one dAVE…..
So, is it someone’s birthday today? HAPPY BIRTHDAY GR 😉
ya’ll have a blessed day
Oh, Flossie, GR is harmless 🙂 It’s his $50 dollar words that kill me….
GR 😉 I love that song, had never heard it before and the video is hilarious…so I thought I would follow up with this, as I sometimes say it as I tilt my bottle 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPCjC543llU
Trust, they haz it……
https://i.chzbgr.com/full/8509843200/h3E1807AA/
I will ask my step-son this weekend. He worked at a funeral home for a while. The version that I heard had the hearse pick up a hitchhiker and, as the driver was also tired, he eventually switched places with the hitchhiker and let him drive. The person in back woke up and tapped the driver on the shoulder asking where they were. They say the hearse rolled over twice but everyone survived.