It’s 6:30AM, a biting cold in the air, cars and and vans belching exhaust from their tailpipes, vehicles\u00a0kept idling while their inhabitants rush in to get a hot cup of “joe”.\u00a0 There are a dozen places like this on my way into work… Dunkin Donuts on Route 6 in Southbury, the Doughnut Inn on Route 25 in Monroe, the convenience store opposite Bogey’s in Westport, McDonald’s on the Post Rd in Norwalk, Mr. Bagel further down the Post Rd… and finally my destination: the Exxon Mini-Mart at the intersection of Route 1 and Business Route 7. <\/p>\n
It’s a rare day when I’m not in the Mini-Mart to get my medium black and pay my respects to Maheesh, the Maitre D’ of the morning shift.\u00a0 And the folks who are there grabbing their coffee, picking up a LOTTO and a pack of smokes have the look of regulars… <\/em>the landscaping crews, the HVAC guys, the Cablevision\/Optimum guys, cops… it’s mostly a male crowd; but not exclusively.\u00a0 <\/p>\n And for the faces that don’t have the ring of familiarity, if they greet, and\/or are greeted by Maheesh, they are strangers no more… they are part of the regulars.\u00a0 <\/em>Most of the talk takes place between Maheesh and the individual patrons; but on occasion folks make small talk <\/em>to each other while waiting on line to pay for their morning fix.<\/p>\n “You’re fast!\u00a0 You got right to your coffee.”<\/p>\n I barely noticed the comment… or who said it.\u00a0 Why the heck is he talking to me?\u00a0 I make little eye contact with folks in the morning.\u00a0 There’s lotsa reasons for this (we’ll save it for another time).<\/p>\n “Mighty cold today!”<\/p>\n “Sure is.”\u00a0 I shouldn’t have said anything… it left the possibility that I was going to engage in chit-chat.\u00a0 I didn’t hear Maheesh greet this guy, nor did he say,\u00a0“Whassup Maheesh?” Or something like that.\u00a0 Regulars, I’ll say a word or two to.\u00a0 This guy?\u00a0 He could be a serial killer.<\/p>\n “Thank God for Jimmy Hoffa”<\/p>\n I nearly spilled my coffee putting the cover\u00a0and the “heat shield” on the cup.\u00a0 I’m paying and getting out of there as fast as I can.\u00a0 I take a glance at the guy.\u00a0 Slight of build, a bit unshaven, hair tosseled but not messy… and a smile on his face.\u00a0 The smile was warm; but I haven’t changed my mind… this guy is definitely a “looney tune”.<\/p>\n Jimmy Hoffa?\u00a0 He didn’t look old enough to know about Jimmy Hoffa… but then again\u00a0maybe he was\u00a0thinking of his son, James P. Hoffa who is the present head of the Teamsters.<\/p>\n Look, maybe the\u00a0guy was a student of history?\u00a0 Or, just Pro-Labor?\u00a0 I don’t know… maybe I’m numb to aspects of current affairs; but I don’t have the sense of Labor tensions that seemed<\/em> to be more <\/em>routine when I was growing up… transit strikes, garbage strikes, teacher strikes in NYC.\u00a0 Still… Jimmy Hoffa?<\/p>\n I start to cycle thru ideas… “how did we get here?”\u00a0 First… the coffee comment, next the cold weather… and then we finally we get to Jimmy Hoffa.\u00a0 Maybe I missed the connection?\u00a0 Let’s see…\u00a0Hoffa had a cup of coffee, it was cold outside, then he was murdered and dumped into the construction site of a mall in Bloomfield, Michigan?<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 That’s not it.\u00a0 Hoffa disappeared in July.\u00a0 <\/p>\n OK.\u00a0 Coincidence?\u00a0 Maybe there is another<\/em> Jimmy Hoffa… other<\/em> than his son.\u00a0 Maybe a religious guy or hotshot football prospect that will take the Jets back to the Super Bowl?\u00a0 Uh, oh.\u00a0 I glance to see if he’s wearing anything green.\u00a0 Well… it’s too early for the NFL Draft… I put that small portion of Jets-phobia to the side.<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 He has to be thinking of the classic<\/em> Jimmy Hoffa… the Union Racketeer who disappeared in 1975.\u00a0 Call me insensitive; but I can’t think of why we are thanking God for Jimmy Hoffa.\u00a0 Well, look… maybe Jimmy donated some of the money he embezzled from the Teamsters to an orphanage or something, and this guy is an orphan.\u00a0 That’s it!\u00a0 Hoffa created this huge trust fund with the money he stole to help out orphans… Jimmy, age 7,\u00a0had lost his coal miner father to cancer… and although he broke the law, he was trying to do the right thing.\u00a0 A Labor Robin Hood.\u00a0 Thank God for Jimmy Hoffa!<\/p>\n Possible.\u00a0 But unlikely.\u00a0 Still… this\u00a0cuckoo-charlie might think<\/em> that’s the case, and that’s why he is sipping coffee and thanking God for Jimmy Hoffa.<\/p>\n Maybe it’s the coffee!\u00a0 Maybe if it wasn’t for Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters we wouldn’t have coffee!<\/p>\n Bingo!\u00a0 We get coffee from overseas, right?\u00a0 You bet!\u00a0 We talk about the “coffee republics” all the time!\u00a0 Are we talking about South Carolina? No!\u00a0 Those beans have to be shipped into us… the Longshoremen have to bring them in, and then the Teamsters have to move them around the country… See what I mean?\u00a0 Maybe if we don’t have Jimmy Hoffa, we don’t have coffee!<\/p>\n Yeah… thank God for Jimmy Hoffa!<\/p>\n I nod to the guy… pay Maheesh and step outside into the cold air, sip my coffee… Thank God for Jimmy Hoffa!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s 6:30AM, a biting cold in the air, cars and and vans belching exhaust from their tailpipes, vehicles\u00a0kept idling while their inhabitants rush in to get a hot cup of “joe”.\u00a0 There are a dozen places like this on my … Continue reading