Don’t Mess with Texas, Part 1

I’ll give ’em one thing: those Texans sure know how to make a guy feel welcome! Last week I spent a few days speaking at two Hyatt properties. First I went to the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Spa and Resort in San Antonio.

I was scheduled to deliver a speech at an all-staff meeting. The night before the program, I went down to the restaurant to grab some dinner. After I sat down I saw the Chef walking towards my table.

“Scott, I just wanted to come over and introduce myself. My name is Chef Brother Luck!”

Not sure if I heard him correctly, I looked closer at his lapel and saw this:

“That’s the coolest name I’ve ever heard!” I said. “There’s got to be a story behind it, right?”

“Well, my dad was a little…different. He legally changed his name to ‘Brother.’ And I was named after him. But, it’s a great name to have. I love it. I’ve used it my whole life as a conversation starter. And ‘Brother Luck’ is a perfect way to make guests feel comfortable.”

Awesome. That’s a front porch if I’ve ever seen one.

“Anyway, I’ve been seeing your picture all over the hotel for a few weeks, so that’s how I recognized you,” Brother said.

“Picture? Of me? What are you talking abou–”

A few seconds later, Theresa from HR came towards my table holding a 6 foot 3, life size cardboard cut-out of the picture from my website.

“Oh HELL no!” I laughed.

“We wanted to hype up our staff meeting, so we made a bunch of these and scattered them around the hotel: in the kitchen, around the offices, even in the heart of the house! Some of them even had little thought bubbles by the head that said ‘HELLO, my name is Scott.'”

“Oh…my…God!” I said.

“Yeah, and I think everyone already knows who you are!” continued Theresa. “In fact, some people were a little freaked out when they first saw this cut out in their office.”

THEY were freaked out? How about when I got back to my room after dinner only to find another copy of my exact double STARING RIGHT AT ME when I walked in the door? It scared the holy hell out of me. I didn’t know whether to laugh, crawl under the bed or call security!

Fortunately, it became a running joke for the entire trip. We had a lot of fun with it. And I was even introduced by Tom Smith at the general meeting as “Scott is That Guy with Nametag…you may remember him as the cardboard cutout who’s been scaring the heck out of you for the past three weeks.”

(That was only the beginning. It gets better. Click over to Don’t Mess with Texas, Part 2 to see what happened next.)

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s the best joke ever played on you?

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Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com