is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Happy Endings.
Back when Gus and I drove up to Vermont to visit my Aunt and Uncle at Eagle Point, right there on the border of Canada, we found ourselves on a highway for a longish span of time. And you know how it is on highways in the U.S. A person gets hungry, and then a person has little choice but to east some greasy fried food. You're just not going to find a healthful vegetarian restaurant or choice bistro. So Gus and I went to Friendly's. I had a Fishamajig sandwich and a coke. He had a burger, and with his burger he got a bonus dessert called a Happy Ending. And no, I'm not kidding.
I wouldn't have thought that there were people who don't know this, but "happy ending" is the name for the concluding portion of a massage that ends in sexual stimulation/release. But I don't think Friendly's is the kind of restaurant that would name their bonus dessert that on purpose, as a joky reference or anything. So there must be some people in the world, including the world of advertising, who don't know that "happy ending" also means "sexomatic massage session."
So now all the Friendly's waitresses have to live with burger-eating guys saying, "hey, I get a happy ending, right?" Right.
Don't worry. Gus didn't say it. He didn't say it to the waitress, but we did spend a lot of time imagining the brainstorming session that came up with the name, and the various ways it has been used at Friendly's since then.
In the meantime, since I knew Gus would be getting a happy ending made of ice cream, I decided against the milkshake I had started to order. And then when I didn't order dessert, the waitress congratulated me on my willpower. It would have been too strange to explain to her that if I wanted ice cream I would have it, because she clearly thought we were bonding. But that felt kinda sad to me: women bonding over the things they deny themselves.
But maybe she just thought it was refreshing to see someone not eating more than was needed for the next stretch of driving. Who knows.
And yes, I know, "happy ending" has another meaning, the more literal one. And I suppose "free" ice cream could qualify as a happy ending of either kind, on some level. I just don't think Friendly's is in the double entendre business, you know?
11:44 p.m. - August 15, 2008
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