The Deli-Blog #3 (Customers)

     We opened the deli Saturday, December 8, 2008 and closed Thursday, June 9, 2016. Over the years, we had some great customers and we had our fair share of real pukes, as my uncle Jimmie would say.
     We had customers who were with us from start to finish. We had customers who visited every time they were in town. We had customers who flew in from Midland. We had customers who only spoke a foreign language and we had customers who literally grew from newborns to first, second and third graders before our eyes. In fact, that's one regret I really have. We should have kept a children's wall with pictures of them sleeping in car seats to them doing their homework over a grilled cheese sandwich.

     A batch of customers who joined us from practically opening day and stayed till the very end was our friends from Western Texas College. They'd come in individually throughout the week, but Wednesdays after work was WTC day.
     Dr. Mike and Carol Dreith, Roy Bartels, Julie Sentell, Mike Thornton, Chris Mackey, Melanie Schwertner and Stephanie and Toby Ducheneaux all made us feel important. They sat in our original and rickety chairs on the front stage and never really complained about our furnishings that would have made old church pews feel like a well worn Laz-e-boy.
     We knew what each one drank. We kept their tabs taped on the counter behind the bar. We invented our version of bar food for them that none of them ever balked at paying the price. In the case of Stephanie and Toby, we even named a burger after them; The Duck-a-Knox. It was a simple swiss/mushroom burger that Toby wanted one day. I named it the Duck-a-Knox because that's how you'd spell their name phonetically.
     We had kinds of names for customers. If we didn't have a name for them, we referred to them by what they ate. There was "the sauerkraut lady," Carol McCowen, because she liked kraut on her roast beef on rye. There was "extra kraut Jennifer," Jennifer Taylor, because she liked LOTS of kraut on her turkey ruben. "Grumpy" was John DeLille our city's former DCOS executive. May he Rest in Peace. John would call in his order to go and give "Grumpy" as his name. In all his orders, I don't think a single employee ever asked me or him what his real name was.
     There were lots of other great, regular customers like Ben and Bennie, Dalton, Linda and the grandchildren, Janet, Troy and Triesta, The Yearwoods, The Auditors for Patterson, Jennifer Calley and Angie Strickland (our fish girls), Adrienne Williams (always Tuesday, grilled cheese & DP), Big Dennis (big laugh), Lil' Dennis (drove a VW Bug) and so many more. It'll take a separate post to relay their great, fun stories.

     And then there was "Cheap Larry," the puke of all pukes. I'll never forget the night "Cheap Larry" came into the deli. He'd come to Snyder to start a course at WTC. He sat alone against the wall, under the boat bow. He faced the bar.
     I remember that I waited on him. That's usually what I did when I noticed a newcomer to Snyder. I definitely believe(d) in the expression that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. So, I tried and Teresa did later when she quit teaching and came on board, to always greet the 'newbies'.
     "Cheap Larry" creeped me out from the start. He was a big fella with a smart alecky look on his face. I tried to chat him up. He just said, "gimme budlie." Translation = Bud Light.
     After the second or third beer, he said to me,
     "I'll take a another and buy that blonde at the bar one too."
     "You mean my fiancé, sitting on the right?"
     "Uh, just one then."

     Long story short is, "Cheap Larry" had a few more and left. He paid his bill in almost exact change and when one of the kids went to clean his table they came back saying:
     "That big guy left a quarter."
    "Cheap Larry" didn't get labeled "Cheap Larry for stiffing me. We named him "Cheap Larry" because he  became a regular, but never left more than a few cents tip after each visit. He'd run our waiters back and forth, but never show his gratitude or any semblance of respect for a kid just trying to make a few bucks. I genuinely think he took an evil, twisted approach to any and all servers. Run 'em and stiff 'em.  After a few visits, I told the kids to ignore him and I'd take care of him. Hence, "Cheap Larry."

     The last I heard, "Cheap Larry" left town and had a heart attack. I hope he's okay, but wonder if he paid his medical bill.

Bill Robertson, my uncle Jimmie was a pretty tough, no nonsense guy. So when he called someone a puke, he meant it the way it was intended.