bryan suddith dot com

Hello! I am Joe, filling in for the “vacationing” OG. I am honored to be allowed to post here, so a big thanks to the OG for letting me fill in with this guest spot. Now for the other two faithful readers, sit back and enjoy yourselves. But seriously, let’s keep the OG and his mission team in our prayers.
I wanted to BLOG this story at my own site, but the time just got away from me. Still, I think it’s a story worth telling. Some friends invited me and my wife to see Lord of the Dance. You know… the cloggy Riverdance-type show. It’s probably not something I would have went out and got tickets for, but hey, we were invited. The whole show was a little over the top, filled with “Look how great of a dancer I am” moments. The main character danced around with a giant “Lord of the Dance” belt on. It felt like a scene from Saturday night wrestling. I could probably fill this whole spot with my observations from the show, but that is not my point today.
The real story happened when we were scouting for a place to park in front of the Schuster Center. We were looking for a parking garage and spotted two structures across the street from each other. The first looked garage-like, but the second one was definitely a parking garage. So, I suggested we head over there. We pull in the entrance and we are the second car in line. The swing arm goes up, the first car goes in and we pull up. The guy working the garage is not actually in the booth but standing between it and the swing arm gate – red flag #1. The wives comment that it’s a shame that they have to bring in people after hours to work the garage for these “special events.” He says “3 dollars” and we pay the toll. Unnoticed by everyone else, the guy reaches down to the back of the structure holding the swing arm gate, flips open a panel and the gate goes up – red flag #2. This all seems a little fishy, but we press on. We get to the parking level and there are only 5 cars up there for a sold out show- red flag #3. Whatever…we gotta get to the show. Lock the doors and hide the valuables. So we ride down the elevator that has the sweet aroma of fresh urine and head into the aforementioned WWF meets Flashdance extravaganza.
After the show, we try to get back in the building to ride the elevator up, but it’s locked. We find some stairs leading up to the garage and take those. We get to the car and everything seems intact. We drive out and I ask to stop at the booth. I check out the gate and sure enough, the back panel of the swing arm control box has a lock that’s open. I pop open the panel, find a switch, flip it, and the gate goes up. Case closed! So, in the end, some street-smart entrepreneur made out with about $20 for the 30 minutes that he worked the garage booth. You have to admit, his whole scam was pure genius! Here’s the lessons I learned that night:
a) A little street-smarts goes a long way
2) Don’t pay money to see Lord of the Dance
d) Never judge a parking garage by its structure!
Thanks! Goodnight! You’ve been a great audience!
Pilot #1