Hmmm? Isn't it? Banana?

George from Heaven.

The card is so hard to read (it was dark in the restaurant when took the picture), but it was mainly so I would remember to mention this guy, rather than through any attempt for you to read the card.

He is a taxi driver in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a very jolly, constantly chuckling black guy from Ghana, with a consequently very distinctive accent. Of course, one of the american people's hobbies is to ask "So where are you from?" whenever they hear something out of the ordinary. George started telling people at first, but being as "Ghana" was so often met with blank 'where the hell is that"' looks (no, really), he got bored and, for a joke, started answering "I'm from Heaven".

His conversations consequently go:

"So where are you from?"

Oh, I'm from Heaven.

(consternation from american at odd answer) - " No really, where are you from?"

Heaven. I told you.

"Um."

But if you mean "What country were you born in, it's Ghana, but I, myself, am from heaven. Where are you from? Hell? Alaska?"

They either stop asking, or start laughing.

It mainly started off as George just being bored of having the same old conversation over and over again. But it had an interesting side effect. Everyone remembers "George from Heaven, the taxi driver from Charlotte". Everyone. He often gets calls from the various taxi firms because somene has asked for him personally - sometimes never having met him, but just being told about him. The story just sticks in people's heads, and he is a real laugh to talk to, all chuckling and enthusiasm. So much so that he can be an independent contractor with no fear of being short on fares, as he will always get a firm calling him to say that they have another person asking for him. He even picked up some woman on a business trip from the airport not long before we were there, and she asked his name. When told, she was delighted - "Oh! You're George from Heaven, aren't you?! I heard about you! My friend told me!"

A superb bit of accidental marketing, I thought. It's amazing the stories you hear on a ten minute taxi ride if you chat properly with the driver. Not always, but every now and then you get a gem.

posted by Brock @ Saturday, September 02, 2006