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I gave a speech to civic club in Portland recently. One of the audience members shared this story about nametags. “One year I played Santa Claus in the mall. A large group of kids came into the booth, and I noticed they were all wearing nametags. One particular child, Vincent, looked pretty shy, so I said, ‘Come on Vincent, and have a seat on Santa’s lap!” He smiled, ran…

Does a nametag have to bear the person’s name? It better! I was eating lunch at a local sandwich place when I noticed an interesting nametag – if you can call it that. Because the staff recently had a large employee turnover, many new clerks were on the floor. The girl behind the counter had a plastic nametag with red and white writing that said, “Please Be Patient. I’m…

What would happen if you walked around playing an accordion all the time, wherever you went? Maybe you should ask Joey “Accordion Guy” Devilla… “It started off with me and a friend trying our hand at being street musicians, and we soon discovered that neat things happen whenever you take an accordion with you when you go out. Especially when you play songs by Nine Inch Nails, The White…

I’ll never forget the first time I rode the bus downtown in Portland. Arriving at a stop, a smiling gentleman approached me on his way out the door. He quickly looked at my nametag and asked, “Excuse me Scott, but do you know what time it is?” Checking my watch, I replied back, “3:15.” “Thanks!” He smiled at me and then walked off the bus. This 10 second conversation…

Meet Liz and Bill. They stand around in New York all day, every day with a two-foot tall sign out on the sidewalk that says “Talk To Me”, and then other people take it from there. On a daily basis, the scene is nearly nonstop with customers and conversationalists who bring up just about any topic one could imagine. They do this anywhere from 8 to 14 hours a…

When my alma matter Miami University played Marshall, their long time rival, we had t-shirts made that said, “MUCK FARSHALL.” It quickly became one of my favorite articles of clothing, in addition to a growing campus trend. And when I graduated, I vowed never to throw it away. I would wear it with pride for years to come, even outside of the stadium. Today, a few years later, I…

Something like this would only happen in New York City. My folks and I were walking around Battery Park. We noticed a man sitting on a park bench feeding nuts to squirrels. I looked at him, and he looked at my nametag and waved me over, “Hey Scott, come sit down next to me…feed the squirrels. It’s a lot of fun!” I was hesitant at first, but he seemed…

I’m in New York right now at the Parker Meridien Hotel. CBS was kind enough to put me up in such a great place. Great rooms, beds, sweet TV and mini bar, but there is one large problem: in the hotel elevators there are televisions on the top of the door! Usually you’d see the floor lights, but now there is a small TV playing Merry Melody cartoons. This…

I walked into Pottery Barn about a year ago for nothing in particular, just to browse. The first person who greeted me was an employee wearing a string of large red plastic chili peppers around her neck. I immediately saw a great opportunity to talk to her, so I commented about it. “I like your necklace!” I joked. (Obviously the decoration was traditionally used for a kitchen, but this…

I once brought a box of nametags to a party hosted by a few of my Persian friends. Babak (the host) and his wife had a great idea: write everyone’s names in Farsi! Everyone loved their new nametags – even if they couldn’t read them! After a while we realized our Red Bull supply had run dry. So my friend Laszlo ran out to the local Plaid Pantry. When…