Stalking @snapster
22So last night we were dining at an upscale Taco Bell (not really Taco Bell, because that would be gross). We're walking to our seats and my wife says to me, "Is that [I won't say his name, but he's a famous bag of meh model and ecommerce mogul and he goes by @snapster]." I didn't want to stare, but I glanced and it sure did seem like him. And we noticed that he had a "meh" shirt on. Yeah, that was the awkward thing: he and I were both wearing the same shirt (not literally, of course, but the same basic style, meh on black; I mean, really, you count on the fact that most places you go, folks wouldn't be caught dead in a $1 t-shirt, yaknow, unless they're homeless or something). Anyway, we didn't want to be stalkery so we went about our business. I had the brisket enchiladas (with queso), the wife brisket tacos, and we shared some trendyish loaded guac (yeah, the guac there just seems all trendy). As the unnamed celebrity headed to the door, the wife, trying to be discrete--in a volume just above normal conversation--said "meh," trying to casually capture his attention. He pretended not to hear. He seemed to be engaged in an intense conversation with another nerd. Plus there was a gang of bikers out on the patio. They were of the Livestrong, not Sons of Anarchy, variety, but one can never be sure; I mean, I'm not certain they were juicing and that they weren't racist drug dealers. So, anyway, I'm sure @snapster was calculating his defense, should things have gotten ugly.
Here's my question (well, I have many, but this is the one I'm choosing to ask): if you encounter another meh-hican, complete in the tribal garb, out in public, is there some kind of secret handshake or gesture? Or, well, I guess I'm proposing that we come up with one. The middle finger is mostly taken, but perhaps there's some variation--maybe pointing downward or askew, like a meh sort of gang sign. Or something else? Or maybe, as occurred, we just try to avoid eye contact?
Please discuss.
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I'm thinking that the appropriate gesture would be a shrug.
i have yet to encounter another 'mehrican in my journeys. (side note: why the hell isn't journeys spelled journies?) if i did, i imagine an intense staring contest would occur, complete with eye squinting and eyebrow raising.
@carl669
@carl669 Hi carl. long time to talk. hope carl jr is doing great. the "y" becomes an "ie" only when the "y" is not proceeded by a vowel.
I've never been recognized by another wootizen or mehrican in public before when wearing a woot/meh shirt. Sometimes I'll refer people to the site if they ask about the shirts but I have yet to have that awkward but overly exciting face to face interaction.
You form a fist with one hand, then put it on the back of your other hand, the palm of which is facing down and parallel to the ground, while the fingers are pointing straight down and wiggling.
This is the breakfast octopus.
If you receive a breakfast octopus in response, commingle your finger tentacles. This is the standard greeting, and it is said to increase the chance of fukubukuro.
@darksaber99999 All of those in favor of the breakfast octopus say, "aye".
@molfsontan I do like it, but it's not very meh. I cannot approve this message.
@darksaber99999 That's too much work
@molfsontan aye
@darksaber99999 I will not touch tentacles with you people! (also I spelled it wrong originally and the first suggestion was to replace it with testicles, which I will not touch either)
@jqubed @darksaber99999 I'm with @Tardy. It's not so much that it's too much work, but too much (ha! I started to say "testicles" too O_o) touching. We're people who spend an inordinate amount of time interacting with other humans through the safe distance of a digital interface; touching is not our thing. I actually thought it was too much work, but walking through it step by step I was all, "Oh, that's simple. Aw, that's cool." So I'm all for the breakfast octopus, but no tentacle touching. I do, FWIW, touch my wife. A lot. I won't be touching the rest of you--especially not like I touch her.
@molfsontan @darksaber99999 Aye (with the qualification of no tentacle or testicle mingling--except between clearly consenting adults).
@joelmw Okay, tentacle touching is not required!
@joelmw I'm not sure if this is too soon but...is your name Ray Rice? If so, I definitely don't want you touching me like you touch your wife.
@TaRDy When you say "TMI," remember that you were asking for it (hmm, unfortunate phrasing). No, I do not touch my wife the way Ray Rice touches his. Truth is, my wife says she'd like it if I were a little rougher sometimes. Probably not the closed fist though. Yeah, allow me to repeat the obvious: that guy's a dick.
@joelmw
@JonT Ooh, movie quote.
@darksaber99999 For the top fist hand are the wrist parallel as well? Or is the knuckles on the hand?
@caffeine_dude I put my fist in the same position you would for a thumbs-up, but octopus heads may vary.
@darksaber99999 I'm very pleased that this has received the most votes (topping even obliviousness). I'm now convinced that we need to start experimenting with the posture of the lower hand and create some sort of crude language. Or, really, we could just do a half-assed (and one-handed) implementation of ASL. We don't want to get too serious about it, but that doesn't stop us being moderately expressive. The posture of the head could hold significance too--only perceptible to the mehluminati. And I might even experiment with the wife on the whole tentacle touching thing.
@joelmw @darksaber99999 which orientation is more correct?
@JonT I was initially doing the first myself, but I have to admit the second looks more like a real octopus.
@JonT #2.
@darksaber99999 Man, I really hope that Hydra doesn't adopt the octopus gesture as their secret signal.
@JonT The bottom pic is the way I did it. That way it looks like the breakfast octopus.
@TaRDy Your testicles remark resulted in me having a work-place giggle.
I don't have the kind of restraint to not approach and be like, 'hey, nice shirt, i'm totally.. and you're totally.. like we have the... i'm on your site all the time.. like, what are you doing here?'
apparently I'm MarkfromSoCal when I envision a run-in like that.
@marklog Does that mean I'm Davelog?
@DaveInSoCal Damn, this feels like a standardized test. If Marklog is MarkfromSoCal . . .
I just informed @snapster of this sighting, he was oblivious to your presence.
Bonus: the other nerd you saw was @shawn.
@JonT "oblivious to your presence" -- now I feel sad for @joelmw.
@JonT I think we all wish, just a little bit, that we could be a bonus nerd.
@bluedyn I do. I think I am. And, ha, "bonus" sounds like "boner," especially in proximity to nerd. It almost just glides together that way; "bo-nerd." [giggle]
@pitamuffin Nah, but thanks. "Oblivious to [my} presence" is pretty close to best case scenario. I can think of much worse: "disdainful of," "deliberately avoiding," "hateful," etc. Of course best would be "worshipfully excited by," but I don't expect that from everyone, only those who know me best.
@joelmw new meh username for you for an alternative account?
BTW: Hey, @shawn. I didn't mean to ignore you. I just didn't recognize you from anywhere. Also, I figured Matt had already been sucked into the madness of celebrity and I felt even more guilty invading your privacy than his (which I did feel guilty about).
@joelmw trying to think of what our "intense" conversation was all about. probably something about new things we could do for our VMP members, so no spoilers if you overheard anything juicy.
@shawn We were well out of earshot and wanted to give y'all your space. I literally don't think I heard either of your voices until you were walking to the door and passed directly by our table. Part of me was dying to know though. But even from a practical perspective, I think the four of us were the only ones in the restaurant for most of the time we were there, so it would have been difficult to be sneaky. I'm 6'7" 260, so I don't really do sneaky anyway.
I've encountered people wearing woot shirts, commented on said shirts and been given a confused, nervous glance in response. Apparently, woot-shirt-wearers in my neck-o-the-woods don't even know what woot is.
@marcee I've had the same experience... I guess they buy stuff without knowing much about the site or perhaps someone gave them the shirt...
@marcee That's happened here a lot, too.
@marcee I too have encountered a few people with woot! shirts and all 3 of them acted like you were violating some secret code. Please get over it, in most cases it's a marginally funny shirt that you are getting a compliment about.
@marcee I saw someone with a 'meh' shirt but it wasn't meh the site it was a general expression of apathy in a font that looked pretty similar at first glance.
@joelmw ha! thanks for sharing. yep, you chanced upon an encounter of myself and CTO @shawn in the wild, fueling up before the Fuku launch.
My main nerd goal in public is avoiding eye contact at all cost so this is my explanation for not noting your shirt. I totally would have freaked out and said hi had I noticed.
As for the "meh" exclamation I do actually remember hearing that but I've been noticing I get "meh" exclamations with this shirt quite frequently and I didn't think much of it. Maybe we need an alternate shout out.. "Hey Fuku Meh guy!" ?
@snapster I like that one! Maybe some day I'll stalk out TX and yell it at you!
@snapster I prefer the "OH MY GOD! IT'S SNAPSTER FROM WOOT, THEN MEDIOCRE, AND NOW MEH!" I bet that would at least get your attention
@capguncowboy I prefer how I refer to him when I tried to explain a fukubukuro to my family. "The rich guy that I gave $10 to so he could start a business."
@snapster That's pretty good. I imagine it sounding something like a friendly "Hey, fuck you, mah man!" Sorta 70s hip. If you said it in the wrong tone, it could be bad, but, well, it'd be like insider affectionate trash talk. Or maybe, "Fuku" and the response is "meh."
@capguncowboy that would be a great t shirt with each company named slashed out except for the current
@somf69 YES! I would buy that shirt. @snapster ! please, make it so.
I tried the woot Boss shirt, Boss. Twice. Both times I didn't get the I Know response. Although the first time was a guy on vacation with his family. I had a woot shirt on too. We started talking, and I got my husband to take a picture of us. His family just walked away. I wonder if that guy is at meh?
If I saw snapster, I would have said something. Then again the rule of celebrity is ignore them, but that only applies if you are a native of the area. I would be a tourist in TX, so all rules are off!
@smilingjack Just saw an outpatient at the hospital I work at last week wearing a woot shirt. I mentioned it and we had a brief conversation. I was thoroughly tempted to give her the 'boss shirt boss' but I knew I wouldn't get the appropriate response. I was saddened because sometimes you know... You just know.
@smilingjack What's this Boss shirt, Boss thing?
@jqubed Spotting Woot shirts in the wild. It was made a bit more official for their 5-year anniversary.
@jqubed Something Matthew started a long, long time ago, in a website far, far away.
I would have crept past him several times hoping to overhear some insider tidbits.
Not to mention take pictures of him mid-bite for endless photoshop possibilities.
@medz It's not that I'd be totally opposed to this, but, yeah, I try not to invade someone's privacy. I'm like that vampire who won't enter your house until you invite him in. Once I'm in, I'll suck the blood right from your veins. Nah, that's a lie. If anything I'll be annoying with my hesitation to exploit your hospitality. I can be a total ass online, but I'm nice to a fault in person. See my response to @TaRDy re touching.
Upscale Taco Bell... Because all restaurants in the future are now Taco Bell.
Be Well.
@BillLehecka
@BillLehecka Demolition Man notwithstanding, I pretty much hate Taco Bell. And I can't really eat there anyway; I wouldn't even trust the drinks. I didn't want to reveal too much, but now I feel compelled to clarify that it was Chilada's. They're actually pretty awesome and they totally rock the gluten-free. Please, for the love of God, avoid Taco Hell, and if you get a chance, show Chilada's some love.
http://www.chiladasfreshmex.com/
@joelmw Taco Bell is amazing for what it is, you just can't compare it to anything else because it doesn't and shouldn't compete with stuff like Chipotle, Chiladas, Gloria's, etc. It's for when you're hungover or even better still drunk, and you want some greasy, questionable, ground mystery meat covered in nacho cheese sauce stuffed in a tortilla for $1 a pop. But I'll concede there's really no point in going there if you can't have gluten.
@JonT You know, taco bell taco meat is only 35% meat... so for my health, I only take two bites and then throw 65% of the tacos away.
@BillLehecka My mind went to Demolition Man too!
@JonT Actually, I think there's some shredded chicken burrito that's pretty decent, although it seems more like a large enchilada than a burrito.
@joelmw Tanks for the heads up. My wife and daughter are GF and finding good places they can eat becomes a challenge. Think I'll start a thread on that.
@kevin8er Awesome! Please testify that I didn't bribe you to do this. :-)
@joelmw I swear on my Fuku bag that @joelmw didn't bribe me to post a Gluten Free thread. :-)
@joelmw Sad. I was excited to try...alas, none in California.
@connorbush I'd have thought they would have busted out by now. I still expect it to happen. They come from the TaMolly's people, which I thought was bigger, but they're at least in Arkansas and Louisiana. Way better than TaMolly's, btw.
So was this a Taco Diner? Because that's a down-scale Mi Cocina. Also, they have tasty brisket tacos.
@bluedyn See above.
@joelmw Well now I have to find one of those. There's a Taco Diner local to me here in Las Colinas, but I am on the verge of declaring an embargo on gluten for myself, so it may be off the list.
@bluedyn The doctor made me do the gluten-free (celiac), or I'd still be on it. But I honestly don't miss it. I just hate the hassle. Let me issue this PSA that you should totally get checked for celiac disease. Things got way better once I got my diagnosis. And I'm a big fan of normals avoiding the glutens too, but I try not to be pushy about it.
@joelmw I want to eat your share of gluten and you can't talk me out of it. Sorry.
@JonT It's okay. I have lots of friends with the same attitude. I don't mind. I'm not even sure if you're killing yourselves, so I don't feel the need to feel guilty (which I might otherwise).
@JonT Yeah, humanoids spent millions of years learning to digest grains and we're just throwing it all away. (Me, I try to age my pizza dough for at least two weeks before using it because nom.)
@joelmw the pragmatic view I try to have is that every few years some new study comes out saying something we eat kills us or gives us cancer, so pretty much everything kills us or gives us cancer and I might as well eat the most delicious cancer-giving things.
@joelmw I can assure you I enjoy all things dairy and gluten, but my body is being a jerk about a whole array of foods. Every couple years it starts rejecting something new. When it tells me I can't have cinnamon donuts, we're done. I'm getting put into a robot body.
@editorkid I respect the phrasing if not the actual assertion. :-)
@JonT Yep, I mostly agree. In my particular case, I know that the gluten was (and would happily--yes, gluten is an emotional, evil creature--still be) killing me. Otherwise, yeah, I try not to get worked about about the fads. I'm glad that fat is in right now and can't wait til they say that sugar is really good for us too.
@bluedyn I'm all for being a cyborg or having my consciousness embedded digitally somewhere. But they need to hurry the hell up or I may be dead before they perfect the process. I consider my musings here and elsewhere across the interwebs as a contribution to the eventually resurrection of the Joel consciousness. It's a duty to the human race really. I do what I can. You're welcome.
@editorkid What is this magic pizza dough recipe? Is it sourdough? The one I've been using is... okay at best.
@hollboll Mine is very standard except for the part about leaving it in my fridge for a couple of weeks. Bread snobs would slaughter me like a single-celled gasbag if I pretended it was officially sourdough because that's a Bread Snob Thing, but I'll vouch for the delightful tang.
And while I'm vouching, I'll also step back and see what GIFs @JonT has ready for that last line.
@joelmw It is taking way too long for this kind of shit to exist. I'm feeling very cheated out of the future. BOOKS AND MOVIES HAVE LIED TO ME!!!!!!!
Also, kudos on spreading yourself out digitally for a future you.
@editorkid delightful tang?
I've gotten a couple of Woot shirt recognizes in public though not many. The best was at a local microbrewery. Friends band was playing. It was packed. We had to kind of leech onto a table with a couple already sitting there. Talked with them some. I had flyers for my upcoming birthday party on me and gave them one with an invite to come out. We wandered around a bit and when I came back, the couple was gone. One of them had written a note on a napkin thanking me for the invite. At the bottom was "And nice Woot shirt!".
@Bingo hey now that's pretty awesome. Not as awesome as having flyers for ones birthday party printed though.
@snapster I'm lucky enough to have lots of friends who are artists and musicians so it's easy to throw a big party every year. We donate the money to charity and everyone gets to have fun.
@snapster Or to put it another way, I have to pay my friends to come to my party. Don't get me wrong either - we're all broke normal chumps, we just know the right people and get to throw big parties.
The girl who does the flyers though - she's freaking amazing. I just give her an idea of who's playing and where it is and she comes up with stuff like this (A lot of personal info is blanked out):
Or this:
You can see more of her artwork here: https://www.facebook.com/danielleshockleyart
@Bingo September 20th? Are we all invited?
@bluedog Absolutely! The more the meh-rier!
@Bingo I just need to know if by "Friends band" you mean a band comprising some of your friends or the band that did that "I'll Be There For You" song
@matthew Ha. That'd be hilarious but no, it's not that band. Though one of the bands playing this year does have a song in the upcoming Reese Whitherspoon movie. Wheee.
What I took away from this, as if I didn't already know, is that I need to go to Texas. Brisket enchiladas with queso? Sold!
@wilstev most of the Tex Mex here uses brisket, so you can get brisket tacos, quesadillas, burritos, nachos…
@wilstev At Comic Con this year, there was a food truck that had Brisket Fries that were AMAZING. Brisket, in the right hands, rocks the fat ass.
@BillLehecka and in the wrong hands...?
@katylava expands the fat ass sans rock.
@wilstev As much as I don't like about Texas, they do some fine brisket here. And, yes, it is ubiquitous. Not all good, but plenty of it is.
@katylava Ever eat shoe leather?
I'm trying, and succeeding, to turn into a weird old lady. I don't hesitate to speak with random strangers when I'm out in public. If I saw @snapster, or someone who vaguely resembled him, I wouldn't hesitate to attempt to strike up a conversation. Life is to short to just sit on the sidelines and you never know who you'd miss meeting.
@Teripie Are you looking for a job as a wing woman? Sounds like you'd be perfect.
@bluedyn Like a yenta? Maybe.....
@Teripie Yenta has many meanings, but sure, 2 or 3 of them sound like a fun person to have around.
i Think I Would Have Taken The Exact Same Approach Including The Followup Post Here. As For the Super-secret-Hand-shake, I Kind Of Like The Shoulder Shrug With A Meh Chant.
@jimmyd103 Every word capitalized except the first 'i'. That's really funny to me.
@marklog Its All @Studerc S Fault. Also This Mobile Phone Sucks!
How about this one?
I like the casual "meh" shrug.
I wore my Meh kickstarter shirt to a very populated event here (Art in the park), in hopes that I'd run into someone that might get it. No luck.
I mainly wear woot shirts when I'm not at work, and have never had someone recognize my shirt as a woot shirt. Though I have gotten lots of compliments on some of them. I've been asked where I got my shirt and referred them to woot. I have also seen people with Woot shirts on, and when I tried to talk to them about it, every single one has quickly walked away. Might because I run up to them, get all excited then need a second to catch my breath.
@Bogie I wore mine to a Lego Brick Fest Convention
@Bogie I'm similar--mostly woot shirts. I get compliments, but very few know where the shirts are from...and some people ask, with each new shirt, where I got it.
Сніданковий восьминіг мені до вподоби і я планую взяти його на озброєння, та, нажаль, маю шанси зустірити мехіканця близькі до 0, так як я живу в Україні. Пишу все це лише для того, щоб товариство знало, что не лише корейці користуются пересилкою пошти та зацікавлені в товарах з цього сайту.
@wishod - Welcome.
@wishod Welcome to meh!
@wishod Google translation: Breakfast octopus I like and I plan to take it for service, and , unfortunately , I have chances zustiryty mehikantsya close to 0, since I live in Ukraine . I write all this just to make known company , that not only Koreans korystuyutsya forwarding mail and interest in goods from this site.
@JonT Our first Ukrainian member ??
@wishod Good to see it's not just the Koreans who enjoy odd items forwarded to them!
@ceagee Google translate does some good job translating from Ukrainian, much better than from Korean.
@wishod Здравствуйте! Я український американський. Мої бабуся і дідусь народилися в Україні. Ласкаво просимо! Я живу в Мічигані, тут є велика українське населення.
@wishod Не говоря на украйнски, ама разбрах полавината защото живях в България за известно време... и почти сме съседи там! :)
@joelmw I put a vote in for the sideways thumb as the official mehrican greeting.
So my thought is that we start with a shrug, as suggested by @parodymandotcom. What's nice about this open is that there's a full range of options; a shrug can be--among other things--excited, curious, confused or just apathetic. The trick maybe is in the eyebrows.
Those who want to go further--and make their mehness clear--can progress to @denboy's sideways thumb.
The truly demented and loserly, those committing beyond a degree that should be considered at all normal--or even acceptable--for a mentally healthy adult. can throw down the breakfast octopus (thanks to @darksaber99999 ) .
Note that the meh thumb readily transforms into octopus. Imagine the tingly anticipation as your comrade moves and manipulates her hand. Will she or won't she? Wait, is she just getting ready to punch me? Etc.
I am, as you read this, dutifully practicing my meh breakfast octopus (ha, pathetic, right? beat that, fellow meh-hicans). Oh yes, I AM committed. I expect Mediocre Labs to invest heavily in research re the perfection of meh handsigning. I've already accidentally created the inverted oc ("tentacles" on top, palm down, like a very silly hat, perhaps suggesting that the octopus has his head up his ass). Sigh. Why does it feel like I'm doing your job, meh employees?
I vote for this salute.