I want to say something and I'm going to allow the readers of this post to decide if the situation that follows is a result of the current political climate or if it's just everyday Southern Hospitality.
Last night I traveled about an hour south of Atlanta to assist a friend in picking a car he purchased at an auction earlier in the day. This auction was in a very small quite town that I will not name simply because I'm sure there are many friendly people that live there. We arrived at the front gate of this auction which was off a very winding rolling road that had very few houses on it and fewer cars traveling on it, it was about 8:00pm and it was already pretty dark. We did go through what appeared to be the town, which had a total of ten buildings on either side of the road that included the police station, the court house and a church.
When we arrived at the auction, we were greeted by the security personal, a twenty something white male who was chewing tobacco and wore what look like a ski mask on the top of his head rolled up to his ears. After my friend identified himself and showed his ownership paperwork, the security person directed him through the front gate, on foot, my car wasn't allowed to drive him to his car, the security person said it was company policy.
I struck up a conversation with this security person and he invited me to come into the office and wait until my friend showed up in the car at the front gate, so I went inside where I met the administrative assistant, a fifty something white female who enjoyed chewing gum like nobody I've ever met before.
After the not so friendly AA made a few calls and typed in a few letters into her system, she asked me where I was from, I guess she detected a northern twang in my speech, so I told her Boston, she said, and I quote, " Oh really".
I figured sports was a universal subject so I brought up the fact that the Falcons had a very good year, that subject didn't get off the ground, it seemed there were no Falcon Fans in that office. Me, being the knuckle head that I am professed my loyalty to the New England Patriots and that's when I felt a chill run through the room.
That's when the woman called me a Yankee! I excepted the label with pride.
By now I was wondering what was taking my friend so long in getting to that front gate with his newly purchased car, at that point he arrived on foot, no car with the disappointing news that there was something wrong with his paperwork, something he couldn't explain and nothing that I could get a straight answer for from that ever so knowledgeable AA.
Right about then a large SUV pulled into the front area of the auction and the passenger rolled down his window, he was chewing tobacco as well, and motioned the security person to come out side, which he did. After further observation I notice there were at least five people in that SUV and I remembered there weren't five houses on the road we traveled down since we got off the expressway.
That is when the driver got out of the SUV and walked around to the front of the truck and by the way, he was chewing tobacco as well, he was dressed like he just got off a plane directly from the war in Iraq, military greens and tans, with a very large gun tied to his leg.
I thought maybe he was a war hero or something, come to find out these find U.S. citizens were part of the local neighborhood surveillance team, (the security personal told me) the only problem I had with that was, I hadn't seen any neighborhoods for at least 25 miles, only trees and darkness but everybody has a right to protect their homes, or in this case, their forest.
It was right about then I decided I wanted to get some gas, at a gas station, in Atlanta! I was ready to go, my friend wanted to talk about why he couldn't pick up his car, I told him to call the 1-800 number in the morning, I was ready to find a road that actually had other cars traveling on it, you know, witnesses. We left and yes we had company in the rear for about five or six miles, once I hit what was considered a main road, I knew it was a main road because there was electricity on display on both sides of the street, I felt a little better.
My whole issue isn't the location as it is the people and the way they felt it was necessary to "watch us" I know this is the deep south and I do realize there are a lot of disturbing things on T.V. but the armed neighborhood surveillance team, with no neighborhoods to watch? Maybe it's the fact that I'm a city boy, but when I think about it I don't go down dark allies in the city I'm not familiar with knowing there are several people down there with guns either.
Whatever happen to howdy?
Last night I traveled about an hour south of Atlanta to assist a friend in picking a car he purchased at an auction earlier in the day. This auction was in a very small quite town that I will not name simply because I'm sure there are many friendly people that live there. We arrived at the front gate of this auction which was off a very winding rolling road that had very few houses on it and fewer cars traveling on it, it was about 8:00pm and it was already pretty dark. We did go through what appeared to be the town, which had a total of ten buildings on either side of the road that included the police station, the court house and a church.
When we arrived at the auction, we were greeted by the security personal, a twenty something white male who was chewing tobacco and wore what look like a ski mask on the top of his head rolled up to his ears. After my friend identified himself and showed his ownership paperwork, the security person directed him through the front gate, on foot, my car wasn't allowed to drive him to his car, the security person said it was company policy.
I struck up a conversation with this security person and he invited me to come into the office and wait until my friend showed up in the car at the front gate, so I went inside where I met the administrative assistant, a fifty something white female who enjoyed chewing gum like nobody I've ever met before.
After the not so friendly AA made a few calls and typed in a few letters into her system, she asked me where I was from, I guess she detected a northern twang in my speech, so I told her Boston, she said, and I quote, " Oh really".
I figured sports was a universal subject so I brought up the fact that the Falcons had a very good year, that subject didn't get off the ground, it seemed there were no Falcon Fans in that office. Me, being the knuckle head that I am professed my loyalty to the New England Patriots and that's when I felt a chill run through the room.
That's when the woman called me a Yankee! I excepted the label with pride.
By now I was wondering what was taking my friend so long in getting to that front gate with his newly purchased car, at that point he arrived on foot, no car with the disappointing news that there was something wrong with his paperwork, something he couldn't explain and nothing that I could get a straight answer for from that ever so knowledgeable AA.
Right about then a large SUV pulled into the front area of the auction and the passenger rolled down his window, he was chewing tobacco as well, and motioned the security person to come out side, which he did. After further observation I notice there were at least five people in that SUV and I remembered there weren't five houses on the road we traveled down since we got off the expressway.
That is when the driver got out of the SUV and walked around to the front of the truck and by the way, he was chewing tobacco as well, he was dressed like he just got off a plane directly from the war in Iraq, military greens and tans, with a very large gun tied to his leg.
I thought maybe he was a war hero or something, come to find out these find U.S. citizens were part of the local neighborhood surveillance team, (the security personal told me) the only problem I had with that was, I hadn't seen any neighborhoods for at least 25 miles, only trees and darkness but everybody has a right to protect their homes, or in this case, their forest.
It was right about then I decided I wanted to get some gas, at a gas station, in Atlanta! I was ready to go, my friend wanted to talk about why he couldn't pick up his car, I told him to call the 1-800 number in the morning, I was ready to find a road that actually had other cars traveling on it, you know, witnesses. We left and yes we had company in the rear for about five or six miles, once I hit what was considered a main road, I knew it was a main road because there was electricity on display on both sides of the street, I felt a little better.
My whole issue isn't the location as it is the people and the way they felt it was necessary to "watch us" I know this is the deep south and I do realize there are a lot of disturbing things on T.V. but the armed neighborhood surveillance team, with no neighborhoods to watch? Maybe it's the fact that I'm a city boy, but when I think about it I don't go down dark allies in the city I'm not familiar with knowing there are several people down there with guns either.
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