Read "The Salvation Shark," and more short fiction, scripts, and very little poetry at Laugh at Yourself First.
printisbetter.com
The rental car was paid in advance for a weekend in Columbus visiting hipster craft shops, photographing murals and graffiti and checking out galleries. In line in front of us at Budget were a couple that were not allowed to rent the car they'd already paid for. The slurring attendant was smug about his refusal. The previous weekend, when my friend arrived to collect the moving truck he'd rented from Budget, they didn't have it for him. When it came our turn to get our keys, Budget wouldn't give us our car either. The moral of the story is, if you rent from Budget Auto, you probably won't get your car. Instead we were told to call a number from the website to be refunded. The attendants didn't have this number, and I didn't have time to look it up for them. Instead, my ladyfriend and I drove a white pickup truck that was bigger than any vehicle I'd ever driven but a Uhaul (Uhaul was happy to give me the truck I'd rented).
Around a wedding reception Saturday night, we saw as much of High Street as we could, so keep an eye out for printisbetter bookmarks. On Sunday, we made a second attempt to eat at North Star Cafe, having come the night before a few minutes after closing. When we stepped inside, we thought we'd gone through the wrong door to a takeout line, and stepped back out to go for table service. We were stopped by a man that claimed to be an employee on his night off, and didn't want to see us leave due to a line. He offered to take care of our entire food bill. I assumed this was the same joke that was frequently played at the restaurant I worked at, but at least we now knew we'd gone through the correct door in the first place.
Inside, the man in the blue shirt was in the kitchen talking with the cooks and line workers, so I mentioned his offer when it was our turn to order line. Turns out we'd spoken with the owner, not an employee. Everything but our alcohol was free, I ordered an Anchor Porter. Our server tried to persuade me instead to enjoy an homemade ginger ale, which would also be free. I hate ginger ale, and I love Anchor Porter, but I accepted both at his urging. The ginger ale was homemade, after all. It was very good ginger ale, but the beer was better, and the food was delicious. I didn't have any cash to tip, and the receipt had no place to tip by card. Gratuity was included, so we bought a flat bread pizza to eat at the hotel later. If you go through Columbus, make sure to try Northstar Cafe. If you're here with me in Binghamton, you can get printisbetter bookmarks at the ART Mission Theater, RiverRead Books, or by emailing me at printisbetter.com. Thanks for reading.
-Paul
printisbetter.com
printisbetter.com
The rental car was paid in advance for a weekend in Columbus visiting hipster craft shops, photographing murals and graffiti and checking out galleries. In line in front of us at Budget were a couple that were not allowed to rent the car they'd already paid for. The slurring attendant was smug about his refusal. The previous weekend, when my friend arrived to collect the moving truck he'd rented from Budget, they didn't have it for him. When it came our turn to get our keys, Budget wouldn't give us our car either. The moral of the story is, if you rent from Budget Auto, you probably won't get your car. Instead we were told to call a number from the website to be refunded. The attendants didn't have this number, and I didn't have time to look it up for them. Instead, my ladyfriend and I drove a white pickup truck that was bigger than any vehicle I'd ever driven but a Uhaul (Uhaul was happy to give me the truck I'd rented).
Around a wedding reception Saturday night, we saw as much of High Street as we could, so keep an eye out for printisbetter bookmarks. On Sunday, we made a second attempt to eat at North Star Cafe, having come the night before a few minutes after closing. When we stepped inside, we thought we'd gone through the wrong door to a takeout line, and stepped back out to go for table service. We were stopped by a man that claimed to be an employee on his night off, and didn't want to see us leave due to a line. He offered to take care of our entire food bill. I assumed this was the same joke that was frequently played at the restaurant I worked at, but at least we now knew we'd gone through the correct door in the first place.
Inside, the man in the blue shirt was in the kitchen talking with the cooks and line workers, so I mentioned his offer when it was our turn to order line. Turns out we'd spoken with the owner, not an employee. Everything but our alcohol was free, I ordered an Anchor Porter. Our server tried to persuade me instead to enjoy an homemade ginger ale, which would also be free. I hate ginger ale, and I love Anchor Porter, but I accepted both at his urging. The ginger ale was homemade, after all. It was very good ginger ale, but the beer was better, and the food was delicious. I didn't have any cash to tip, and the receipt had no place to tip by card. Gratuity was included, so we bought a flat bread pizza to eat at the hotel later. If you go through Columbus, make sure to try Northstar Cafe. If you're here with me in Binghamton, you can get printisbetter bookmarks at the ART Mission Theater, RiverRead Books, or by emailing me at printisbetter.com. Thanks for reading.
-Paul
printisbetter.com
