I gotta think when you're thinking up a name for a business, character, a child or even what to call yourself a lot of thought goes into that choice. So why do you see so many mis-matched names?
Here are two ironic names I saw today.. The first one was just extra special because of my frustration with shopping in Cork.. (watch out , here comes a tangent)
I got out of work today a little before 5 and called a cab, my thought was that I wanted to get back to the hotel, drop my stuff off and get over to a store to do some shopping. Well as you can probably tell by the statement of "my thought" that didn't happen. I got back to the hotel, dropped my stuff off and got to the store at 5:45 - oh right, they close at 5:30 which I knew but then doubted because really, why would a retail store close at 5:30 when everyone has to work during the day. Anyway, there is strike one - now onto another store which I KNOW closes at 6:30.. Funny thing actually, today they closed early to train new employees!?! They really can't train people while they are open? /sigh and strike two! Ah-ha, there is one shinning hope.. There is a medieval fantasy store I saw last night while looking for food that is in a mall that's OPEN! Bet I got you excited, but no because you see although the mall was open the store sadly closed at 6:00, what time is it now - let me check my phone - wait for the buzzer ladies and gentleman, it's 6:03! So, I guess Strike Three - I'm out and heading back to the hotel with nothing but a pocket full of change, I really need to get a pouch of some sort to carry change in.
On another side note (I know this blog is a side note of a side note, but wait I am getting to my point which incase you forgot was "what's in a name") I am meeting John Ryan at 8:00 for dinner and then we are going out to a bar afterwards. Yes, that's right I'm going out again tonight after only getting an hour or so of sleep last night and no, I'm not going into why I didn't get any sleep - lets just say the bed in this hotel is way to hard and I had a bunch of un-happy things on my mind which are all gone and buried now (the thoughts, not the bed unfortunately). Where was I? Right, a name.. Or was it that I was meeting John for dinner? No, no, I remember now - heading back to the hotel...
On the way back to the hotel I decided I would stop for some coffee and I saw a girl standing outside a coffee house drinking what smelled like a great cup of coffee so in I go.. What do you think I found? That they had just closed!! WTF - I mean seriously, do retail stores not understand that if you stay open when people are actually NOT working you'll make some real fucking money!? Ok, sorry for that outburst... I turn away slightly upset and as I'm walking out I see the name (yes, here it is, the whole point of this blog).. The name of the closing coffee store, is called INSOMNIA COFFEE!! Are you kidding me, you're going to call your place Insomnia coffee and close at 6pm! That's not insomnia that's not even slightly tired! I mean come on, how can I be wired and tired when a place called insomnia closes at 6pm!?!? Side note should be mentioned - I am actually tired and grinning like a fool which is why I'm so upset I'm not also wired!
Ok, so now what? Well, I decide to walk back a new way because I'm still holding out hope that I can find an open store to either get a coffee or a change pouch (the kind that snaps open but that is not too big so it still fits in my pocket). On the way back I see a really cool looking African sign for a restaurant called Zanzibar, I have had South African food a few times and I have really liked it. So over I walk to Zanzibar to check out their menu. The menu is orange and red with a watermark of Africa and has items on it such as lasagna, burgers, pizza, Irish steak, and fish & chips! Could you even pretend to have one African item on the menu?
So, I guess that bring me to my point.. What's in a name? If you're going to open a coffee shop and kicking around the idea of naming it insomnia can you please take a moment to consider the hours you want to be open, if that answer is 8am - 6pm you may want to go with something more like Sunshine Coffee. If you want to open a restaurant that serves British pub style food you may want to call it something like, honestly I don't know what to name that one, but I can tell you it would NOT be Zanzibar!
---
See that line? It means this is a totally new topic, I didn't really want to post a second blog for this so here goes... Blog Part II
So, on the way home today I rode with an awesome guy, he was an old Irish pikey with the thick accent and all. Luckily I have training on understand that accent (thanks Jerry). Anyway, I got in the car and was about to hit play on the book I'm listening too, which btw is God's Delusion (I need to update that section), and he just looked over and smiled and said what kind of a name is Linkens? I said it was a German name and that my family has lived in the states for a few years. He asked how long I was over and when he heard only till Friday he got so upset because I was not going to be able to see Kerry Ireland. He went off on a rant about the land around Kerry, his descriptions of the castles and of the ocean crashing against the side of the rock roads really made me wish I could just drive there right now. It's apparently an hour or two from Cork Center and it sounds truly amazing. He was talking about the people there and all of the great times he has spent there. He said he was not a man who believed in god, but being in Kerry makes him think there is some kind of higher power at work when creating some locations. That somehow got him talking about how the land is mis-treated here in Ireland and we started talking about how man kind is destroying the earth with building cities and motorways and the such which of course brought him to the British and how everyone blames them for Ireland's problems. What he sees is, without the British coming into Ireland the Irish people would still be speaking Gaelic and would have no trade with the rest of the world so although he does not like some of what they did he said them coming over was the best thing that could have happened. He was just a very awesome guy who really just sees the best in his fellow people, he does not like the politics of countries and wars but who does.. He made a comment about how Bush started the conversation with Saddam with insults and accusations and how if he had started the conversation in a civil way maybe we could have spared all those lives. It is so true, how you can start a diplomatic conversation with someone with insulting them? For that matter how can you start any conversation that way?
No comments:
Post a Comment