Signed Up for Life-And NEVER Bet on Sports

The generational disconnect between young service workers and older customers creates uncomfortable yet enlightening social dynamics. Working behind a counter as a young person, particularly for women, often means dealing with older men who don't understand boundaries. The coffee shop encounter described reveals this painful reality - older men cornering young workers who must remain professional despite discomfort. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Dire Straits Changed Everything
• 1:35 Radio Days and Starting Over
• 4:31 Desert Heat and Coffee Shop Encounters
• 9:15 Aging Rock Bands Still Touring
• 12:22 Social Awkwardness and Gambling Advice
• 15:22 Farewell and ELP Tour Thoughts

Transcript

Bob The Blade: 0:13

Is that what you call chicken pickin'? I think it is Dire Straits. I mean when that came out in 1970, what Eight, I think 1978? I mean it changed everything. Sounded like nobody else, never it didn't sound like anybody at the time, changed everything In the gallery. You know what? I got a new song from Dave Adams of Glass Moon that I'm going to play, not today but next time next, that I haven't heard yet. He lives in Raleigh still and he was a band that was a big local band that we played at WQDR in the 70s, 80s. Just great, just fabulously talented guy still lives in Raleigh. You know, good singer, spent his time over in England and all that and all these great songs. Cold Kid and you know, on a Carousel cover song he did, and Killer at 25 and all these Simon fantastic songs. Anyway, did something new Gonna play that next week. Can't wait to hear it. I haven't listened to it yet because I want to wait until next week to hear it for the first time. But anyway, dire Straits is.

Bob The Blade: 1:32

At the time when they came out in 78, I had no money and I just sit at home and I just play that thing over and over and over and just sit around and smoke. You know, smoke pot and smoke cigarettes and sit around the house and, you know, go find some peanut butter and spread it on some crackers. I just didn't have any money, 1978. And then I got a job paying Money In radio in 1980. And I still didn't have any money. You look at my Social security stuff, money I made over the years. I made $8,000 a year working full time at WHSL in Wilmington in 1980 to 1983. $8,000 a year. I couldn't eat Eviction notices at my door constantly, but I had the time of my life, man. I am telling you the time of my life, man. I am telling you the time of my life. I got a job at WRDU after that, 1984, I think $17,000 a year. I was a VJ in Greensboro at a television station. They played rock videos for a while there. I made $15,000 a year, something like that. I'll tell you more about that. That's a great story. Down the road, you know, and worked myself up little by little by little until finally I got to the point where I was in the a lot of money in the early 2000s, you know. And then you know, 2012,. It all ended. I got sick of it, tired of it, bored, quit, started over and went to work at Dunkin' Donuts, you know, for you know $12 an hour At a theater, picking up popcorn for $12.50 an hour. You know little jobs like that. Just because I wanted to start over here in Arizona Never did much more than that. I just sit here and do podcasts.

Bob The Blade: 3:35

Hot again, man. 113 degrees again today. Okay, but look, it's August. All right, why is that excessive heat if it's August here? But they keep telling us excessive heat? It's 113, 114, something like that.

Bob The Blade: 3:56

Sofa King Always loved that one. A classic. Hotter than hell. Out here, man, it really is hot out here. One of mine's sticking to the other, I think the gone radius 50 bucks. The hookers will blow on you now. Hot, hot, unbelievable.

Bob The Blade: 4:30

The other day I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walking and to boot they didn't have their mittens on. Gotta, have your mittens on if you're an animal in this asphalt sidewalk, concrete hot, though wouldn't have it any other way. Sam Kiniston would say what do you want? You live in the fucking desert.

Bob The Blade: 5:01

Listen, I know this girl. I just happen to know this girl. She's young, she's like 23 or 24, something like that. She works in a coffee shop. She was telling me a story the other day and it goes down to this any girl that's behind a counter that she works in a coffee shop. She was telling me a story the other day and it goes down to this Any girl that's behind a counter, it's just a dreadful job to have. Let me tell you something, young girls, you can't have a job behind a counter because the young men will corner. No, the old man will corner you. You can't do anything. You got to be nice because it's your job, and the old men will corner you. If you're sitting behind a counter now, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. You know, and for some reason, men in this world that are old men think that you like them. I know you're 23, sometimes you're 18 or 19 or 20, but old men think you like them and they think they still got it. It's mind-boggling.

Bob The Blade: 5:57

And I finally met a girl who will let them have it. What's her name? Charlotte? I think her name is, you know, and I was standing behind this guy and he was just standing there, you know, and I'm like I want to get some cup of coffee or something and he's just standing there talking her ear off. She doesn't give a rat's ass, for two reasons One, he's old, and for two, he's not her boyfriend. You know how it is when to that age, you know. And finally I heard her say look, you don't get it, you are old, you are old. And I just turned around and laughed my ass off and the guy sat there for a couple of minutes. He didn't even get it. Finally he leaves. I said, man that takes balls, man, hope he doesn't complain. You know, you don't lose your job because of that. I made my day and she said, nah, they don't care around here. And then she told me she went on some diatribe. Look these guys, they come in here and they just talk, talk, talk to me and they think I like them. And I always have to say the same thing no, you are old, you are too old.

Bob The Blade: 7:08

This is a tip for all of you girls that have a job behind a counter somewhere quit. Yeah, old men are so stupid sometimes. Men are so stupid sometimes they just don't get it. Okay, here's the thing. Let's put it this way. Let let's just say by chance you're a 57-year-old guy and you think the 23-year-old really likes you. You end up hooking up. She ends up liking you because she's got some kind of a daddy thing. And, by the way, there's nothing wrong with a daddy thing. Nothing wrong with that? Really there isn't. You know, 57-year-old man, man, let me just tell you something Be careful what you wish for. There's a difference between being 23 and 57.

Bob The Blade: 8:05

Leaving it at that, I heard an ad the other day On one of the radio stations around here and I hate listening to radio. It's the same songs over and over. It's gotten so bad, right, I mean, you just don't listen to radio. I just listen to sports radio sometimes, only sometimes, and even that, you know, is no good. Radio is just no good anymore. There's nothing to listen to when you're in the car. You have to plug in your phone on Spotify, make your own playlist, but even that gets a little boring sometimes.

Bob The Blade: 8:35

Listen to the radio the other day and I heard a commercial. Dare, I say it. That's what's interesting now is commercial, the commercials. It was Dave Barry, one of the old general managers I used to have. Bless his heart, may he rest in peace. At WRDU. In the beginning he'd always say to me commercials are information bits. And damn it, they are. They are, they're information bits and I heard through this information bit that ZZ Top was doing a concert at a casino, at the swimming pool with three other people $345, you know to have a seat around ZZ Top, but you can get in for 15 bucks and watch them. You know a couple of levels up ZZ Top. Are you shitting me? Zz Top is still playing.

Bob The Blade: 9:21

I went back and I started thinking about skipping study hall. Fifth and sixth period at Fayetteville, terry Sanford and John Patton and I would walk across the street to the laundromat and we'd plunk in 50 cents and we'd play tush and just got paid the B side, you know and play pinball all periods, fifth and sixth period and come back for the last period, zz Top. And that was 1977. 50 something years. Zz Top is doing this Amazed.

Bob The Blade: 9:54

And then I saw this Emerson Lake and Palmer are coming to do a date here in Phoenix. How can Emerson Lake and Palmer do a date here when Emerson and Lake are dead? That's worth looking into. Now, carl Palmer, that guy I've talked to before, he's an anomaly man, he's a pisser. He said look, I've never done a drug, you know, I don't even drink, you know. So he's the one that's left and I guess that makes sense right now. Wait a minute, how can emerson, lake and palmer play when two of them are dead? Let me just read you what it says in the advertisement. It says rare footage returns Keith and Greg to the concert stage performing alongside Carl Palmer and ELP's Legacies Live. Wow, that has all the potential of being really weird. So let's think here so you'd see Keith Emerson playing keyboards on the left In sync I'm hoping and Greg Lake playing guitar and whatever other things he does on the right On video screen from days gone by, and Karl Palmer, basically, is playing along with them, playing along with the video.

Bob The Blade: 11:17

I'm just trying to ingest that it could work, I guess. I'm thinking I'd want a 66% discount. I don't know what to think. I don't know what to think. God, there's so many people. America's playing. America is playing at a casino, little River Band is playing at a casino, coming down here.

Bob The Blade: 11:46

I'll tell you again, man, I said this myself. I want to be known for it. You know, it's not that it's anything spectacular, but I love it. It's like when you sign up for the music business, you sign up for life. Sometimes it's out of love and it's like when you sign up for the music business. You sign up for life. Sometimes it's out of love and sometimes it's out of need. Look, the Rolling Stones don't need it, they're still doing it. You sign up for life. What's the deal? I don't get it. That's 15 feet away from the woman who's 15 feet away?

Bob The Blade: 12:14

I took that picture because I'm one of three people smashed up against the door in the back because this clown is 15 feet away from the counter trying to sign in doctor's office, 15 feet away. He has no idea. How. Can you be so ignorant? He has no idea that there are three people smashed behind him. Can you be so ignorant? He has no idea that there are three people smashed behind him. So I finally said something to the three people. I said I will flip a coin and the odd person out has to say something. And they giggled. But no one had any coins. Who has money anymore? So we just ate it. There's only gonna. There can't. It can only be one. It's got to be a restraining order. That can be the only reason. That guy they've got to know each other, that old lady and that guy they've got to know each other. That's a restraining order. Is what that is. It makes no logical sense in this world.

Bob The Blade: 13:11

Listen, just a quick tip. I have a buddy that lost like $2,000 in a matter of two minutes gambling football on a preseason game $2,000. You can't gamble on sports. I learned cards a while back because I was going to go deal at the casino. Just deal cards, you know. But I'm not quick enough in my head to do it. You got to be really smart and quick and boom, you got to do, do, do, do, do. You know. And you got to know like a hundred games, you know, and I couldn't learn the games fast enough and I couldn't deal fast enough and I didn't have good enough memory left to do it. I tried it and I said, nah, those guys are good, those dealers they are.

Bob The Blade: 13:51

But during the school it was fascinating because they would tell me there's four dealer teachers and they taught everybody how to play cards at the dealing school and they were seasoned veteran gambler dealers Trust me, drug dealers, you know. They gambled, they lived that life, they did that tough life, you know, and they looked at like they did and the one thing I would get from each one of them every single time was this the one sure thing I got was never bet on sports, I may say as a subtopic, there are no systems. Never bet on sports, so I never have. I've seen so many people lose money and so many people go up for a little bit and so many people go down. I have friends that say oh no, no, no, no, no, I've made plenty of money, I'll let you see my checking account. The minute they say I'll let you see my checking account, that's when you know they're in trouble. I've just seen know that from experience.

Bob The Blade: 14:50

Do not bet or gamble on sports. Nothing but trouble. It's going to ruin the world. It's going to ruin the sports world. I don't watch sports anymore. I really don't. It's too expensive to watch. Buy it on cable. Hell, you pay $300 a month to get all the channels you need. I just don't watch sports anymore. Go to the internet and get the final score. Don't miss it a bit. Welcome back, my friends. Is the name of the Emerson Lake and Palmer tour. Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Come inside. Come inside. There behind the glass there's a real blade of grass.

Merced Regent Outro: 15:37

Come see Emerson Lake and Palmer. Here in the desert you can crash on Blade's couch. That's it for the Blade video podcast, the best of its kind. See you next time.