They Met in a Strange Way

The two men met on Saturday in a strange way. They had been walking down a sidewalk on the same side but going in opposite directions. It was mid-April, but the sidewalks were still not completely clear of ice and snow. The ice was nearly invisible.

When each of them suddenly saw the other coming, they both shifted quickly to the road side of the sidewalk. This caused both of them to crash into each other and fall onto the sidewalk. Both of them felt that he was mainly responsible for the accident, not feeling that it was right to blame the other one. They helped each other stand up again, apologizing while they did so.

One of them, who went by the name of Sam, remarked, “My wife keeps saying that I should meet more people. I do not think that this was what she had in mind.” The other man, whose first name was Francis, smiled and responded by saying, “My wife says the same thing to me. I do hope that the two women did not plan this by icing over this part of the sidewalk.”

They both laughed, and then stood quiet and still for about ten seconds. They both looked around and noticed that they were standing in front of one of the local bars: the Toby Jug, a very popular bar in town.

Francis then remarked, “I’m not in much of a hurry, it being Saturday, and I’m going to buy some rings for my wife at the jewelers down the road. She lost her rings at our last trip to Paris. I am not in a big rush. Do you want to go into the Toby Jug, have a coffee, and recover from our walking wounds?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Sam. With those words spoken they both limped into the bar, and sat across from each other at a table near the window. Sam ordered the cheapest beer available, and Francis the most expensive one.

They asked a few of the usual questions of men of the town and their age “Do you have grandchildren?” They both did, and talked about how much they enjoyed being a grandfather. Sam asked: “What high school did you go to?” They discovered that they had gone to the same one. In addition to that, they had taken classes with two of the same teachers. Neither Sam nor Francis particularly liked those teachers. They shared a few stories of why they did not like them. They both nodded their heads in response to what the other one said.

The next question asked was “What hockey team do you support?” As their town was not very far from the big city of Toronto, they both were dedicated supporters of the Toronto Maple Leafs, even though they had not been alive when their team had last won the Stanley Cup in 1966-67. So they had a lot to talk about concerning whether they thought their team could win this year, or whether they would have to suffer yet again through the same disappointment they had experienced every year so far.

After a while, Sam noticed that Francis’ clothes were ‘top of the line’, as his wife would have said: expensive well-polished shoes, pants and a shirt made out of some shiny posh material and even a tie. He did not say anything about this. They were getting along fine and he did not want to spoil the mood.

On the other side of things, Francis wondered how a grown man, a grandfather could wear jeans in public like a teenager. He too did not want to break the mood by mentioning such a thing to his new friend.

Francis asked Sam what he did for a living. Sam’s initial response was “not much that’s interesting or pays well”. When he got no positive response from Francis, he gave a more specific answer: “I load and unload trucks for a big company here in town. What do you do for a living my friend? Francis’s initial answer was “a lot”. There was silence for a few seconds, and then he was more specific. “I’m the boss of a very big company.”

That set Sam to thinking. There were only a few very big companies in town, and he worked for one of them. Francis had the same thought. But neither of them commented on it. Sam had long believed that the person who was the boss of his company oppressed the people that worked for him, especially those like him who did not work in offices. Similarly, Francis did not think particularly respectfully for people like Sam who worked with their hands rather than with their brains and complex computers.

They both were silent for the longest time since they had sat down at the table together, but then they returned to joking about how they met. Francis told him that their friendship theme song should be “Slip, Sliding Away” by Paul Simon. Upon saying that the two friends started singing the song that they both had liked when they were kids, and could sing all the way through. People stared at them, and couldn’t understand why they were doing that when there were no bottles of beer or other alcoholic beverages on their table, just cups of coffee, several times refilled.

After a little more than an hour, they decided that they had better get to the original purpose of their walk. They did exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses as they wanted the friendship to continue.

When he got home, Francis got into his car and drove to the tall building that housed the company of which he was the boss. He raced into the elevator to his office on the top floor. He went through the list of all the employees of the company. When he discovered the name he was looking for, he smiled and said to himself “I kind of thought I would find him here.” He then made plans to take action

The Retirement Luncheon

There was a retirement luncheon for one of the office workers on Monday. His job was as a communicator with the businesses with which the company dealt. Francis sent a phone message to all the employees, telling them that everyone should attend the luncheon in the auditorium on the first floor. He planned to begin the luncheon with a speech of praise for the retiring person.

Sam was one of the workers to attend the luncheon. He figured it was a good way to have a good meal for free. He would save the lunch he had brought with him to work for the next day.

He was somewhat shocked, but not surprised to see Francis at the front of the auditorium. He wondered whether he should make himself visible to the boss. Perhaps it would be better to have a friendship that would not involve the difference of their positions at work. He decided to sit at the very back of the auditorium.

Francis began his speech, as planned, in praise of the retiring employee. He ended his speech by saying. “I thought it would be difficult to find a successor to this fine fellow, but it turns out that I have found one that I know will fit the bill. His name is Sam Brown. I just met him recently, and felt he would be right for this job. Sam, come up to the front and accept your new position.

Sam was in shock, but he still walked up to the front, and shook the hand of his newest friend. Francis whispered to Sam that he would need to dress a little more formally for work – no more jeans. Sam smiled and said, “I will certainly do that. Maybe we can get together so that you can help me pick out a few good replacements. They shook hands again, and Sam walked back to where he had been sitting, pumping his fist in the air.