Shootin' the Breeze With the Head Honcho of Ford Motor Company

My good friend Mary told me this story from about 10 years ago when she was working two jobs at the Stouffer Hotel in Cleveland. During the day, she worked in the bookkeeping department. In the evenings and on weekends, she worked as a bartender. One Sunday evening two gentlemen walked into an almost empty bar. One of them was older, one was young. She struck up a conversation with them, and pretty soon they were all having a really good time, the sort of good time you can only have when it's totally unexpected. When the older man left briefly to go to the bathroom, the younger man asked Mary "Do you know who that is?" When Mary said that No, she didn't, she heard him say "That's the President of Ford". Must be down from Detroit on business, she thought.

After he got back, the older man asked her about her life, why she worked two jobs, and was very
interested in learning some of the problems of the younger generation. They continued to have a good time, she showed them some bar tricks she had learned as a bartender to amuse the patrons, and they just had a wonderful evening. After they left, the younger man brought Mary some flowers, indicating the older man had had the best time he'd had in quite a while.

The next day, while working her day job in bookkeeping, a bill came through for the City of Cleveland. One of the supervisors said "That's for Ford's visit" at which point Mary announced "Yeah, the President of Ford Motor Company, I met him last night while bartending. Nice guy." Her supervisor then had to correct her "No, Mary, that wasn't the President of Ford Motor Company. That was President Ford. President Gerald R. Ford, the former President of the United States"

Mary had spent three hours the past evening shootin' the breeze with the former President of the United States, and hadn't even realized it at the time. And the funny thing to think about is, if she had known it, would she have been able to talk with him like that? Would President Ford have had such a good time?

And by the way, Mr. President, Mary really liked the flowers.