Funny Things from Yesterday: The family man

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Robert N. Tidwell, Sr.

Several years ago, I had the honor and pleasure of serving on the city council of our fine city of Cullman.

On one of my trips to Washington D.C. with the Cullman delegation to the National League of Cities meeting, I met a man I thought must be a real family man from the way he talked. Somewhere along the line he had developed a keen sense of human nature as well as a little political savvy.

We were having the League meeting in one of the large Washington hotels and this man had set up a grooming shop in the men’s room. On the two counters at the wash basins, he had several bottles of cologne, hair tonic and other grooming items. Also, on both counters, he had six nice clean ash trays for people to drop tips in.

The first thing I heard this man say as I entered the men’s room, was, “This is the only place in Washington where everyone knows what he is doing.”

Having a little understanding of human nature myself, and probably less understanding of politics, I suppose he said it well.

Whenever a person stopped at the wash basin to wash his hands, this man would take out his little whisk broom and brush the shoulders and back of the gentleman’s coat.  He seemed to work hard at his trade and expected each person to tip him a little.  As he worked, he kept up a steady stream of conversation.

During his conversation, the thing that was said which let me know that he was a family man was that his mother-in-law likes to travel.

He then stated, “I am working real hard and saving my money so I will be able to give my mother-in-law a trip to the moon.”

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