A friend-- we'll call him Dave-- is my houseguest for the week. The two of us are pretty much a game waiting to happen, and we've been playing quite a bit of Scrabble (with the help of the G8 Game Timer). When I discovered he hadn't read
Last night Dave went to a birthday dinner for his nonagenarian grandmother, who enjoys Scrabble. Sometime during the Saddle of Lamb with Jerusalem Artichokes, Pinenuts and Peperoncini Farciti Piccanti, he noticed the stack of ribboned gift boxes and realized he'd arrived empty-handed. Rather than admit the faux pas to his grandmother-- who, since Dave lives on the other side of the country, was undoubtedly thrilled simply by his presence at the dinner-- Dave reached into his backpack and presented her with a copy of Word Freak. My copy.
For those keeping score at home, that would be faux pas number two.
Perhaps you're amazed at his resourcefulness and chutzpah. Perhaps you're pondering whether it would be George or Kramer who'd do this on Seinfeld. Or perhaps, like me, you're merely left dumbfounded and wondering... what would Miss Manners do?
Posted by Peter at March 7, 2003 01:12 PMIf he was that resourceful, he'd have stopped at B&N or Borders on the way home and bought a new copy, so you'd never have known about it.
You wouldn't be calling him Dave because his name is Dave, would you?
Posted by: Dan Blum on March 7, 2003 02:16 PMTo be fair, the first thing he did after telling me about it was promise to buy me a new copy. But you're right, a smooth operator would have procured a replacement copy before telling me about the switch-- if he told me at all.
Posted by: Peter Sarrett on March 7, 2003 02:43 PMI admire the chutzpah, an amazing move on "Dave's" part. But Dan's right, the smooth move would have been to get you a new copy and pass it off. Then later you could discover the mix-up on some obscure detail and hilarity could ensue.
Posted by: i7dealer on March 10, 2003 10:13 AM. . . and I considered pulling off such a switcheroo since (as I expected) I had no trouble getting another copy the next day. With anyone else, it would have been a done deal. But, as Peter noted during my recent visit, we have a history. When playing (much to his regular gaming group's delight) we have a tendency to focus in on each other and offer a level of gaming banter that someone who did not know us might mistake for actual hostility. With Peter I felt I should allow the hilarity to begin immediately. I didn't realize it would make me the muse for his first SZ post.
Posted by: David Sidore on March 10, 2003 08:49 PM