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Cover image via Wikimedia Commons.
Sometimes we overhear things that leave us no choice but to shake our heads and laugh. Today at the grocery store, I got to listen in on one of the funniest conversations I’ve heard since moving to Texas. There’s no reading into it, no learning a lesson from it, just a wonderful fly-on-the-wall moment to bring a smile.
There were two guys (No clue their names, but I’ll call them ‘Bob’ and ‘Jim’ for the sake of this story) chatting while they looked at what seemed like every package of cookies on that aisle. Their conversation went something like this:
Jim: …you still working at that poster place?
Bob: Nah. They had me working too much.
Jim: So what ya doing now?
Bob: I’m just freeloadin’.
Jim: You back home then?
Bob: Nah. I’m at my same place.
Jim: Oh! You mean ‘freewheelin’, not ‘freeloadin’!
Bob: Freewheelin? Oh yeah, I seen that movie! About a shark or somethin’! My wife liked it more than me though.
Jim: What? You’re thinkin’ of Free Wally, you moron! I’m talkin’ about freewheelin’!
At this point, I could stand no more, so I piped up from behind them. “I think you guys mean ‘Freelancing’,” I said confidently, “It’s when you work for yourself.”
Both men looked at me like I was some sort of leper. Bob ended the conversation, put me back in my place and and left me speechless when he said, “No, I meant ‘freeloadin’. It’s where your mom pays your food and rent.”
Ouch. Shot down by a freeloader. I think I’ll go watch that show about the shark named Wally now…
