Was it run by Max Fischer?
You had to drive past my house to get to the Hoochie. I hoped you had a good time in our fair city.
Not to tell anyone how to run their business, but does it not seem a little odd that a haunters convention is happening in June?
We’ve been to MHC for the past several years. I always enjoy Columbus.
Fun fact: When I was in high school and the internet was all newfangled, my friend and I wanted to start a website. For whatever reason, we started a Wendy’s fansite. We’d drive to various Wendy’s locations and review them. Eventually, Wendys invited us to the original location in Columbus (since closed). We were featured in the local news (TV and paper), probably because few people understood the internet.
@divedivedive Not at all. The season itself is in October, so everyone’s busy at that point. The months leading up to it are build time. A lot of the props and costumes take a while to make, since many of them are custom made. The big shows are always in Spring and early Summer so that there’s plenty of lead time. Would you expect Christmas vendors to meet in December? Heh.
I take your point, I guess I just misunderstood the purpose. If this was like a convention or something, where vendors got together to show off their stuff, make sales, yeah I get you. But this sounds like it’s open to the public? Which is cool, don’t get me wrong, I’m just thinking about walking through a haunted house on a warm evening with the sun still barely in the sky. Not quite the same.
On the flip side the hot and humid weather probably really enhances the atmosphere and horror of the ‘Tampa Bay driving’ room.
Actually the timing makes perfect sense to me, since my day job I deal with production on a lot of seasonal and holiday items. Last week we were producing the placards, danglers, signs, etc for Thanksgiving greeting cards. We’ll get Christmas just after the fourth of July.
This one is open to the public. There’s still an entrance fee. Other shows restrict attendance to those in the industry. The reason this one is more open is so that actors can go without trying to get their haunts to sponsor\pay for them, and also so that home haunters (unaffiliated) can attend. In our case, we started going as home haunters, but now that my wife works at a haunt (and my niece does as well), we fill both boxes.
The haunts open primarily so that haunters can see them. During the season, it’s impossible to get away and see other haunts - even local ones - because you’re busy the same nights they are. So a few open up sporadically like this for just that reason - to entice haunters to come see. Coincidentally, we’ve been to a couple in the past few weeks that opened for just that reason. Along with that, each year, one region of the US will host the “Legendary Haunt Tour”, where three (or more) well regarded haunts will remain open into November so that haunters can take time after the season to check them out.
I like that there is a group of people out there who call themselves haunters.
It’s been pretty bad here lately with the rain. Humidity approaching 100% daily. Today is better, 76% at 83 degrees and cloud cover. Great day for a walk. :)
So around noon my WIFI went out. That was troubling because earlier my cable TV went out and I had to make a payment. I figured this had something to do with it. So I call Spectrum and am talking to a rep when someone knocks at my door. Juggling my phone and the dogs doesn’t work, so Gizmo gets out and runs at the Fedex guy who is getting into his truck. Across the street. Gizmo just misses his ankle. I yell at him to get back in the house. Meanwhile Fedex guy is all, “Not cool! Not cool at all!” I apologize and agree that it is indeed not cool. I bring the box in and finish up with the cable rep. Just a mix up, WIFI will be back on in a few moments. Thanks, goodbye.
And that’s how I got my HTC Vive two days early.
Edit: to make it clear I’m usually the person with the loose dogs… it happens
When those sorts of things happen, I sometimes end up getting mad at the person. I get it, you are mad because i fucked up… but yelling about it won’t help. Instead just accept that it was a mistake and I’m a reasonable human being who isn’t trying to do this on purpose. So I try to think of it in terms without emotion.
“You have broken the social contract which stipulates your animals should remain inside and not interact with me unless I have positively permitted such contact.”
“I am sorry that the contract was broken. I will endeavor to control my animals and not cause you distress in the future. This was simply a mistake that I take full responsibility for. I do not expect you to change your opinions about how animals should be controlled; I was clearly outside of normal social expectations and do not believe otherwise.”
“Ok. I have established that I do not need to continue talking to you, since we both agree on this matter. I will continue my day and allow you to discipline your dog in the way you deem necessary, and make any changes you might need to in order to prevent this from occurring later.”
“Thank you, goodbye.”
Let’s roll the die and … oh, I’m sorry, critical miss! A little yippy dog ripped open your femoral artery and you bled out and died somewhere around “positively permitted such contact.” Would you like to create a new character?
Deadly pupper.
Rich did the right thing. This happens. I had my dog up with me when I was loading stuff in the car. Sometimes I let her frolic in the front yard, but never when I’m not there with her. She’s medium-sized. Kind of a German Shepherd type with a bit of greyhound or something in her. Superfast. Really even tempered. I turned away for a few seconds and she was down the street going to meet this little white dog a woman was walking. The woman got totally freaked and pulled her little dog up into her arms. I called Honey and pointed her to the door. And apologized profusely to the woman.
It happened in an instant. The woman was nice about it all things considered, but I could tell she was upset. That was my fault. I wasn’t controlling my animal. I felt horrible.
Think about the Fedex guy. It’s not a
thing. The Fedex guy deals with that, or things like that, several times a day. And if he’s a dude who doesn’t like dogs, or is phobic, think of that. I think about that with my postal delivery guy (his name is David) all the time. They always have to be wary of dogs.
So I get the guy’s reaction. And I appreciate the way Rich just apologized and rolled with it.
-xtien
I like to tell both my nephews these days that I am officially old. This is why, occasionally, I have to do things to help with my back, why both of them, especially the 8 year old, are too heavy to pick up, and why I sometimes sit after hours of walking, especially in sandals.
Yesterday I experienced my very first case of vertigo. I actually had to look it up because i had no idea what happened to me. I’m prone to motion sickness, so I thought it might be that for some odd reason until I almost fell down and kind of remembered to grabbed my stone counter top instead of hitting it which was nice.
I hate going to physician offices. I know; I know. It’s my health industry but I find it as much as a pain in the ass as anyone, and I do hospitals not physician offices anyway. All signs point to my recent fight with sinus pressure issues as being the source of this hellish experience. I don’t know if it’s allergies, which I typically haven’t had, because it’s just pressure in my ears and front head, nothing gross really like most allergy sufferers i know.
So in the last 2-3 years I’ve experienced my first migraine, ever, induced by a concussion I had in an accident, and vertigo. I can’t wait to see what age brings me next! This is so much “fun”.
Yeah, it’s all you can do. It’s the right thing. You apologize, make sure nothing happened to the person, apologize again, and move on.
I’m really just talking about the times some dude just has to read you the fuckin’ riot act for 2 solid minutes because it happened. Usually while you are trying to subdue your dog and simultaneously be polite.
I get it, man. It sucks. It sucks and I feel like shit for letting it happen. But it’s happened, and I’m here apologizing, and you aren’t making it better proportionally by how much you yell. It’s not like you can yell at me enough that I will stop making mistakes. Mistakes happen.
Funny thing is this wasn’t my regular guy. I know my UPS and my Fedex guys. The both joke with me about ‘Killer’ getting them. This guy was probably a temp. He had his back to Gizmo and so only heard him barking and snarling at first. No doubt he’d heard horror stories about dogs. And Gizzy is a lot louder than he is big. I don’t blame the guy at all. And he really didn’t go off, just two comments as stated. I was more embarrassed for not controlling my dog. And then kinda terrified by the thought that a car could have come by, and, you know. That was the worst part. The what ifs.
Yeah, sorry I dumped my rant on your post, I know it was only tangentially related. It just made me think about it. Last few times my dogs got out have been very shitty experiences.
Hey, not a problem. I completely understood your point. ::hugs::
Exactly how I felt that morning. Or the other day when my dog got out because we had a visitor who didn’t know any better and let her out the front door and forgot he had done so. I was actually away and had this weird premonition about it. I’m at my kid’s year-end band concert and suddenly I thought…hmm…what if Honey got out right now. I think I forgot to put her collar back on this morning before I left. Crap.
I’m not superstitious or anything. It was just a coincidence that I thought that. And then I get home and find out that exactly happened and she went to a neighbor’s house and hung out with them and they fed her chicken and after a short time we got her back. Now, of course, she wants to move in with them because they fed her chicken and all she gets here is dry food.
But yeah…the what ifs.
-xtien