Misfits in Manhattan

Stopped by the Straight White Guy's place to see how his trip went, and lo and behold... a post comes to mind! He mentioned how Secret Service and other enforcement officials were swarming the area. And it reminded me of my first and only time to the Big Apple.

A friend and I were sent to New Jersey to do a job at a papermill... we stayed in Saddlebrook, probably about 10 miles from NYC. Being the quality workers that we are, the job was finished up early. We decided to head to Manhattan.

We arrived to find traffic crawling... a snail may have very well been able to keep pace with us. Tiring of trying to get any further into the city, we located a parking ramp, and ditched the car. Heheh... we ended up walking past some of the cars that had been in front of us. We found out later that a large panel of glass had fallen off of a building, and traffic had been re-routed. Only part of the mess.

We walked around looking like tourists... both of us looked a little rough compared to some of our companions walking the sidewalks. And we noticed that sections of streets had been cordoned off. At the time, we were near the Waldorf Astoria, and Steve, ever the bashful one, walked up to the doorman and asked what was up.

"President Clinton is in town, and his wife is, too. They've got two seperate motorcades ... they're Christmas shopping." Steve looked at him, all concerned, and said, "The President? I've got to get the hell out of here!" and took off, leaving me to catch up.

When I caught up, he was grinning like an idiot. Until the two fellows in the long green trenchcoats and earpieces started following close behind. I was nervous as hell, but Steve just started talking his usual bull, and after about five minutes, the tails dropped off. I was relieved.

But did that keep his mouth shut? Nope. After getting something to eat, and stopping by the Harley shop, we started making our way back towards the parking garage. A group of cops were moving barricades. Steve walks up to a particularly grumpy one, and asks what's going on... like he didn't know. It was funny, but the cop let loose with a tirade about how one motorcade can be trouble, but TWO, and the fallen window? A madhouse. So Steve has to goad the guy a little more, and gets him to really get to griping, then decides he'll add to it by calling the President a selfish son of a bitch.

My gut knotted up. I was certain that we were going to get detained. And while it may have been something to brag about as an old man, I didn't really feel like getting grilled because of my friend's comments. Thankfully, the cop laughed and agreed in a very round about way. Another cop nearby nodded his assent.

I was never so happy to get out of there... cool town, but in the company of a crazy friend, not a good place to hang out!

You ever been there?

Posted by That 1 Guy at September 20, 2005 12:18 AM | TrackBack