#58 [random] Damn Dave, not another serious entry.

Random thought:

I was once a Christian (for real!). Scary huh?

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I'd like to show you all some Canadian PSA's (public service announcements) today from concerned children advertisers I remember from growing up as a kid. I guess you could label the commercials as effective subconsciously and successful due to the fact it's like 15 years later from when I last saw them aired and I can still remember the vivid message they were trying to portray to kids and parents alike at the time.





I have to admit though the blue puppets now look damn terrifying and it makes me wonder just how overwhelming of a problem kids from the 80's/90's had with sticking foreign objects up off the ground into their mouths that our government decided to make it into a musical commercial trying to alert parents about the dangers of their kids attempting to eat a discarded syringe or condom they'd find at the park (?!). But, no, no one I know is going around putting non-muffin and beats into their mouths and no, no one I know has recently lost their limbs.. but those are two examples of how effective and impressionable advertising can be if you can remember them so many years later. Talking to a few people yesterday reminded me of this fellow who came into the old bar I worked at to usually eat though - never drink since he wasn't a drinker.

Coincidentally his name was also David.

I'm not quite sure what's wrong with him. I've never actually had the courage to flat out ask face to face because I had thought it was a bit rude to do so (I know, another rare display of morals!). I had thought alzheimer's myself but he can definitely remember himself, he could remember me (sometimes) -- just nothing we've personally talked about. He's a fan of the old classic movies and actors - Casablanca & Humphrey Bogart. If I wasn't busy on my shift sometimes I'd sit with him and talk for a couple hours. He usually extended the time he was there if I sat and talked with him about life. He'd tell me just how amazing the movie Casablanca was and recommend it to me - along with a handful of others. He'd always order the steak dinner and request for no onions, he didn't like the onions. After he finished eating he'd get up - sometimes I told him I'd pay for this one and not to worry about it, sometimes he'd pay for the meal himself. He'd put on his 1940 detective-like hat and walk out the door until I saw him again.

There's the mysterious thing about it though.. whenever he came back in, he'd ask for my name again. He'd be just as impressed with my personality and introduce himself again as if we had never even met. Everytime. He'd tell me again about he loved old classic movies like Casablanca and how I should watch them as he specifically requested again to hold the onions on his steak. I felt bad for him because he genuinely couldn't remember anything that seemed to happen the day before, but, that didn't stop me from talking to him about the exact same movies, the exact same foods, drinks, actors we had previously talked about before. I've probably talked to him about Casablanca so many times I can recite the movie line for line now - and I've never seen it before.

His mind seemed trapped in the 50's.. he wasn't aware of recent pop culture and the concept of putting up a poster in your room was still fresh and rebellious with him. He's about 50 himself and still lives with his mom and from what I've gathered she isn't the most supportive woman in the world. He didn't seem to have any knowledge of technology, a few times he ordered soup and we talked so long I told him just to throw it in the microwave in the back. It was the first time he ever saw one of "those machines" which made me wonder how his life at home was. It was the first time he saw one of "those machines" a few times actually. I tried to explain how they work a few times but found like mostly everything else it didn't really have a lasting effect or impression.

He eventually remembered me and my name, though. Sometimes I'd have to remind him about some of the more personal aspects of my life such as family or political or religious orientation (as he's very intelligent - just, seems to be trapped mentally in the 50's decade). Once I reminded him though, he could usually remember the smaller details. One of the girls I worked with called about a week back after I had quit and asked me what she should do, since he had come in looking for me wondering where I worked now.

I didn't know how to answer that..

I mean, I didn't mind talking to him as the manager. It's not like he came in everyday and I definitely pulled my weight around at my old job. I'd usually overwork if anything - so no one minded that I sat and talked with him for two hours on the rare occasions he came in, even if it was about everything we had talked about the last time he came in. It's different though at the new job I have where I'm not the manager (yet!) and I can't take that time off. I can't have him coming in and talking to me for hours on end.

That's where those damn PSA's come in again since he reminds me of this one:



I feel pretty crappy thinking about this now.