This has nothing to with fishing, but is an amusing story I thought you would enjoy.

My wife and I have been on a Chipotle kick as of late. We order on-line and I drive 10 minutes to a nearby suburb to pick up our order. In the last 2 months, we’ve probably done this 6-7 times.

Last week, when I went to pick up my order, I went directly to the cash register as I usually do. There was a bit of a line ordering on the spot and he cashier didn’t pay attention to me. The manager, a burly Hispanic dude, walked out while I was standing there and recognized me since I had been there so often as of late. He got my order and brought it out.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when you’re recognized as a regular at an establishment, you feel kind of special. I’m no different. I wanted to acknowledge to the manager that he recognized me and thank him. But for whatever reason, my brain took it to another level and told me, “You’re cool. Acknowledge him in a cool way.” So when I reached out my hand in gratitude, my hand went out as a fist to do a fist pump. I’m sure in his brain, it went more like, “this guy is thanking me and there is no way he would do a fist pump, so he must be reaching out to shake my hand” and presented an open hand.

Both seeing what the other presented, we promptly changed our hands. Then did it a second time. Somehow, we both managed to connect with open hands and it became a half handshake as we both kind of gave up and gave a little chuckle.

So here’s a tip. If you’re an over 30-something (in my case, much older) Asian guy (especially if you’re Asian), don’t try to be cool. Stick with the handshake.

We went back today for my birthday. I saw the manager and asked him if he does anything special for birthdays. He gave me my meal for free. That was very cool of him. It’s nice to be a regular, even if not a cool regular.