5 O'CLOCK TALES:
thessaloniki, greece
** A lot of characters in the following stories are real and their names have not been changed so that they may continually endure any embarrassment. The stories themselves, of course, are somewhat…well mostly fictionalized. **
Thessaloniki and the coffee conundrum
Working at Hopper-Inc can take you all over the world picking up ideas, dropping ideas, accidentally kicking the idea you just dropped sending it under the refrigerator joining four other ideas, expanding on creative thoughts about how to increase the amount of stupid jokes infecting our society…this day we were in Thessaloniki, Greece.
We needed to get our brains jump-started so the next move was obvious - coffee! We were trying to decide where to go when it occurred to me we should go to Paul’s taverna. I met Paul years ago when he owned a restaurant in the states during the great coaster shortage of '98.
As we were heading there Pete said, “Hey two men walk into a Greek taverna and…” I stopped him short and told him to save it for the book. We got to Paul’s and ordered some coffees. Paul came out of the kitchen and said, “Hey! Greek! How are you?” He had always called me Greek since he found out my mother was from Athens…I’m pretty sure he didn’t remember my real name. “Good to see you, we have to have a drink!” He disappeared to the back to get a bottle. I warned Pete we were probably in store for some Ouzo. “Well it’ll probably be good in the coffee, although you know I’m always already prepared for coffee…” Pete said, patting his hip pocket. I of course knew he was patting the airplane-bottle of kahlúa in his pocket. This was the “emergency-kahlúa” he had been packing since our time in Acapulco, Mexico.
I thought for a moment and then asked Pete, “Jeez, what time is it? It’s seriously early, right?”
Pete showed me his watch which was broken and always read 5 o’clock.
I laughed and said, “Seriously, what time is it?”
Pete said, “5 o’clock!” then took out his Hopper-Inc coaster and slapped it onto the table.
I glanced at the coaster and smiled because I understood.
It was 5 o’clock at home in the US which meant it was 10 AM here in Thessaloniki.
I grinned, settled back in my chair and prepared for some ouzo.
Just then Paul returned, sat down and put a bottle of bourbon on the table!
Paul poured three drinks. I took mine, raised the glass and said, “Stin iyia sou!”
Pete sat staring at the drink in front of him…finally he proclaimed, “Man, I can’t put kahlúa in this, It’s not ethical!”
We needed to get our brains jump-started so the next move was obvious - coffee! We were trying to decide where to go when it occurred to me we should go to Paul’s taverna. I met Paul years ago when he owned a restaurant in the states during the great coaster shortage of '98.
As we were heading there Pete said, “Hey two men walk into a Greek taverna and…” I stopped him short and told him to save it for the book. We got to Paul’s and ordered some coffees. Paul came out of the kitchen and said, “Hey! Greek! How are you?” He had always called me Greek since he found out my mother was from Athens…I’m pretty sure he didn’t remember my real name. “Good to see you, we have to have a drink!” He disappeared to the back to get a bottle. I warned Pete we were probably in store for some Ouzo. “Well it’ll probably be good in the coffee, although you know I’m always already prepared for coffee…” Pete said, patting his hip pocket. I of course knew he was patting the airplane-bottle of kahlúa in his pocket. This was the “emergency-kahlúa” he had been packing since our time in Acapulco, Mexico.
I thought for a moment and then asked Pete, “Jeez, what time is it? It’s seriously early, right?”
Pete showed me his watch which was broken and always read 5 o’clock.
I laughed and said, “Seriously, what time is it?”
Pete said, “5 o’clock!” then took out his Hopper-Inc coaster and slapped it onto the table.
I glanced at the coaster and smiled because I understood.
It was 5 o’clock at home in the US which meant it was 10 AM here in Thessaloniki.
I grinned, settled back in my chair and prepared for some ouzo.
Just then Paul returned, sat down and put a bottle of bourbon on the table!
Paul poured three drinks. I took mine, raised the glass and said, “Stin iyia sou!”
Pete sat staring at the drink in front of him…finally he proclaimed, “Man, I can’t put kahlúa in this, It’s not ethical!”
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