The Man with a Million Friends

[geronimo]

The Man with a Million Friends

This one came about purely by chance,

 

Many years ago, I was teaching at a private school in Lat Prao, and had a cheap room in a typical Thai Apartment block, which suited me fine. My Thai was pretty good back then, thanks to a complete year of immersion in the deep south, and this was back in the day when a farang was not seen in these parts, making me quite an attraction.

 

The security guard was a likable young chap, probably the same age as I, and we began our little chats with him shouting “Liverpool” or “Man United” as I passed, showing him  a thumbs up. We eventually got to sharing a beer after his shift has ended, and it was then that I had the idea, and during our conversation, I told him I’d been all over the world, which amazed him, and that I had a million friends.

 

This kind of took him back, so I told him that I have told all of my friends my new address, and to be expecting some mail shortly.

What he didn’t know was I had asked 5 M5 classes (a total of 250 kids) to each send me a postcard (in English) to my apartment address. I had also given the same assignment to the M4 and M6 classes, making a total of 750 postcards, if they all completed the assignment.

 

The morning after, I whispered, “the man with many friends” in Thai and smiled.

 

Two days went by, and on my way back, there he was, standing in the middle of the driveway with about 50 postcards, his mouth wide open. I looked at a few, mentioning Brazil, Portugal and Mozambique, and thanked him profusely. The next day I told all the students that anyone who did not complete this assignment would have me calling their dad on the phone and that seemed to invoke the right response.

 

That night it was two carrier bags full and the guard viewed me like some sort of god, I shrugged my shoulders and said I expected a few more than that.

The following evening was the best, a total of 593 postcards, with with my name and address on were waiting for me at his little box, and he was speechless. I mentioned birthdays were great, as all my friends send me money, and his eyes lit up!

 

He left shortly after that, no doubt off to travel the world and befriend everyone he met!

Edited May 21, 2019 by geronimo

[Kwasaki]

41 minutes ago, geronimo said:

I told him I’d been all over the world, which amazed him, and that I had a million friends.

Is DingDongLing one of your friends. ????

[AlexRich]

I used to work with a German guy ... his mantra was:

 

”everyone’s friend is everyone’s idiot”

 

I’ve often wondered if he made that up or it is a well known phrase in German.

 

Generally speaking, I agree with him.

[DingDongLing]

8 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Is DingDongLing one of your friends. ????

good one, I nearly missed it as this thread was long and I pressed back twice in the day before finally reading it,. 

 

And yes but I did not send the post card

[DingDongLing]

8 hours ago, AlexRich said:

I used to work with a German guy ... his mantra was:

 

”everyone’s friend is everyone’s idiot”

 

I’ve often wondered if he made that up or it is a well known phrase in German.

 

Generally speaking, I agree with him.

Great quote

[CLS]

Everyone’s friend is everyone’s fool is a German proverb


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