THANKS FOR COMING

 "Thanks for coming" is a statement I often make at tennis to opposing players who have lost a game to me.

They think I'm being a smartarse but they don't know the background to this.

Years ago a young guy who worked for me, Rodney, was quite clever but maybe was on the Aspergers spectrum. He was working as a storeman and shop assistant and was very capable but doing a job way below his intellectual capabilities.

Rodney had a quiet sense of humour and often made little jokes for his own amusement that very few people understood. When he served a customer he would finish with saying "thanks for coming" with a wry smile at the corner of his mouth. The customers were often a bit surprised and would mumble "that's OK" or something similar. I used to give Rodney 'that look' and he would just shake his head and amble away.

Rodney reminded me a bit of Rob Gosney from Murray Robert's & Co, also a shop assistant in a wine and spirit store who had a similar sense of humor and was likely on that Asperger's spectrum.

Rob was the one who coined the 'bottled in the wire wrapper' term he used when selling a bottle of Gilson brandy to a customer.

Back in the Murray Robert's days Gilson bottles had wire wrapping for protection

 of the glass bottle

Some customers almost changed their purchase decision thinking that they'd rather have a brandy bottled in France rather than the Wairarapa. Rob would just smile to himself.

Richard often mentions this as he's fascinated by the expression.

This is why I occasionally drop it into my blog posts or something similar as my little joke. For example I put a comment on his latest post that, to me, references this:

I trust that this was helpful.*

* The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ takes pride in being able to inform readers of the little, but important bits of life.