Don’t I know you…?

By on

Hello my dear readers. I hope this finds you all in good health & spirits (metaphorically speaking of course).

My family & I moved to Louisiana in February 2014 to begin my employment with Voith Paper. Having lived in Kansas for 6 years prior to this relocation, it took a little practice on our part to get used to the piercing summer weather in the southern United States as compared to the much milder ones in the Midwest that we had grown accustomed to.

On my way to work on a bright, clear summer Monday morning in August 2016, I stopped at a gas station located less than 2 miles from my workplace to ensure that I had enough gasoline in my vehicle to make it through the next 2 weeks. I drive a 2014 Honda Civic. One of its many redeeming features happens to be its outstanding fuel mileage.

An elderly African American gentleman kept looking in my direction with a little hesitation upon his countenance from the car diagonally opposite mine as he filled his car’s tank as well. I waved & smiled at him. He smiled back too with a bit of a nod. He still kept looking at me with some curiosity that I simply couldn’t fathom the source of. All I knew for certain was that I did not recognize this man and chances were slim that we had met before. I tend to have a rather good memory for both names and faces.

After what seemed like an eternity of him staring at me, he finally walked inside the gas station after he filled his car’s tank to presumably pay his bill.

Personally, I would have preferred that he had repositioned his car so that it wasn’t standing idle beside a perfectly functional and available fuel pump that someone else could have used in that time. That’s the Lean professional in me.

When he exited the gas station, he walked towards me as I closed the lid to my car’s fuel tank and extended his hand. I shook it and said, “Good morning sir. How are you?”

He smiled at me as we shook hands and said, “You Bobby Jindal brother?”

I couldn’t help but break into a polite laugh as I told him that I wasn’t. We introduced ourselves to each other and went about our business.