Many postures for talking and listening

This scribe shook out of bed early on March 20 (the first day of spring) to gather a rider and head to the Country Café in Schoharie along with many of the Old Men of the Mountain.

When this scribe and the rider left the Hill, it was 8 cold degrees. When we arrived at the Country Café in the valley, we found out we were the warm ones. There were reports of 0 to 3 degrees from those who lived in the valley. This is the first day of spring?

One OF commented that, when he watches the weather on TV and it shows the traffic around us, for instance, headed up the Northway and Clifton Park, or the Thruway at Coxsackie, there is not even a snow bank. “Is God mad at us on the Hill?” he muttered under his breath.

It is fun to watch the OFs as they all converse, and it isn’t only this scribe who does it. At Tuesday morning’s breakfast, it was noted that the other OFs watch all the other OFs as well as listen to them as they talk.

It was found that the OFs are just like everyone else — some sit with their arms folded while they talk; others, when they go to interact, lean forward when they speak. Some just lean back and talk, and it was found most of the OFs who did that were the ones with naturally big voices. Others do as much talking with their hands as they do with their words; some move in and out with their chairs.

Tuesday morning, a hand talker was speaking and his hands were moving in rhythm with the conversation, so much so that another OF commented on it. The interesting part was the OF using his hands kept them moving with his conversation while unconsciously raising them over and around objects on the table.

The OF never hit a thing! The ketchup stayed upright, and the coffee urn remained vertical. Nope! Not an object was disturbed.  

Spectrum of diligence

The OFs have discussed this topic before but, as with many repeated topics, the approach was different. This subject was about hard workers. The OFs who were in on this conversation were all in agreement.

The OFs used their own experiences to draw their conclusions and it was found that working for people with different concepts of work is hard. It is hard to work for a hard worker because the hard worker expects everyone to work as hard as they do.

At times, work is an obsession with the hard worker and is that worker can be unreasonable. The OFs came to a social conclusion that only other people that are work obsessive can keep up.

They went from that discussion to talk about people who don’t do anything, and in this they found that many kids today are so into their electronic devices that they don’t know how to work. Every now and then, the OFs said, a good kid comes along and keeps his nose to the grindstone.

The others work a little, text a lot, work a little, text a lot. The OFs are out of the loop, they say, and this way of working might become the next norm. One OF suggested when the OFs were young and on the farm, digging a ditch might take four hours.

Today’s kids digging the same ditch may now take six or seven hours. Then one OF piped up and said, “It is not fair to dump all kids in the same brew. Some kids are darn good workers.”

Then another OF said, “Watch out for them — they will turn into the obsessive ones.”

Dressed for success

Last week’s column was a tweak on fashion according to the OFs. This week, part of the conversation was in the same vein, i.e., how the OFs dressed when they were working and how they dress now.

One OF remembered that when he was young his father told him to buy one dark suit for weddings and funerals. The OF said he still goes by that today.

All he owns is one dark suit, with one pair of shoes to match. That suit is older now and a little out of style and a little tight but still manages to fit the bill.

Another OF alleged he never owned a suit. Most noted they have a dark blazer and a couple of nice shirts, and one pair of khakis along with another pair of gray pants to go with this blazer. They have one tie for each pair of pants and these OFs maintain that will get them anywhere.

Pay based on locale

Many of the OFs have worked in other parts of the country other than New York. The OFs found that there is quite a disparity between what workers get paid for the same job.

New York City seems to have the highest paid workers for the same job; however, it also costs a ton of money to live there. The OFs thought even though people made less money for the same job in other localities they made more money in the long run because it costs so much less to live in other places than it does in New York City.

One OF said it’s not only New York, but he thought that, in other major cities, the pay would probably be more. That OF also was of the opinion that what could be done with the money in the bigger cities would actually be less.

The OFs who made it to the Country Café in Schoharie, regardless of what the cost of living is in New York, were: Roger Chapman, Roger Shafer, Harold Guest, John Rossmann, Bill Lichliter, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Ray Frank, Chuck Aelesio, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Otis Lawyer, Marty Herzog, Ted Feurer, Jake Lederman, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Mace Porter, Bob Fink, Bob Benninger, Elwood Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, Mike Willsey, Warren Willsey, Gerry Chartier and his wife, Wilma Chartier, and me.