Pickers?

You may think this entry is about guitar playing (something close to my heart) but it's not..It is, however, about this wacky show on the History Channel where these 2 basic guys travel the country with a big van and crawl through people's piles of junk, old cars, rusty bikes, pots, appliances, motor cycles and offer them money. They know a lot about these obscure pieces of junk and figure a way to make a profit after re-selling. It's an interesting show. It's often followed by Pawn Stars - a reality show about some overweight pawn brokers...Interesting but not as much as Pickers. But it is a good Time Killer..

So what does this have to do with anything? Today I had to make a call to a company I left 17 years ago. I worked there 16 years and I get a pension. I am used to dealing with such issues since I am doing the same deal with my most recent company. (A much larger firm)..When you call this larger firm, you give your employee ID number and they have your entire history and life story right in front of them. They print it out and send a copy. It never takes long. I guess that's pretty typical. It's like ordering from Amazon or Land's End. Standard procedure which we are all used to.

So I called this smaller firm, explained what I needed and expected to have an answer within minutes. I did notice the woman sounded like my grandmother which in a weird way was comforting. She asked my last name and when I worked there. I gave that to her and she said, 'Oh gee, that was quite a while ago'. I will have to go into STORAGE.. I think she said that or INVENTORY.. In any case she had to call me back. She had to go into some kind of oversized file store room. So, I am picturing this as one of the two Pickers - crawling around some dusty, cramped room, blowing dust off labels and looking like my loving grandma (nana, actually)..

She called me back 3 hours later and said she found my info..She sounded tuckered out but relieved. I hope they buy a computer and scan all this data..I could just hear her yelling EUREKA!! Ahhh, it was a good pick. Whatta ya want for that nana?..