CHRONICLES OF A LUNCH BREAK (with pictures)

Around 12pm on Friday, I was getting coffee at Starbucks and the line was so long that the baristas were taking names, so as not to confuse drink orders.  When I gave her my name, she repeated it, looked confused, and scribbled something down on the plastic cup with her sharpie.  When (approximately 15 minutes later) the drink appeared on the bar, I looked at the writing above where "N/F" (non-fat), and the "latte" box was checked.  In the space for my name, the barista had written "Rufflag."

I know there are all kinds of crazy names out there, but this woman believed that my name was really "Rufflag."  This was a pretty sad moment for me.  My coworker made me feel better by telling me that I looked "nothing like a 'Rufflag'" and told me that I should start using that as my tag name.  He was extolling the virtues of using tags, since he had recently seen a clever result of graffiti in a park near his house.  There is a fountain that is particularly low to the ground so little kids can reach it, but I guess people let their dogs drink from it, too.  So the sign says "Please do not let pets drink from fountain."  But someone scratched out the "p" and the "s" in pets, so now it reads, "Please do not let E.T. drink from fountain."  I was laughing so hard, I almost dropped Rufflag's iced latte.

When I got back to my desk, I googled "tag names" to see if the name "Rufflag" would fit in with the other "taggers."  After checking out the work of KWAYK (quake), KANNZ (cans), and THA GENT, I was on to the next phase of my google search: randomly clicking on links that take you further and further away from what you were originally looking for.

I ended up looking at some great graffiti.  When driving from Maryland to DC on the Capital Beltway, you pass a particularly jankey patch of road then come up over a hill and this view suddenly appears (see picture above).  As soon as the temple comes into view, there is an overpass across the highway.  Years ago, someone wrote on the overpass in big block letters "SURRENDER DOROTHY."  Maryland police removed it, and unfortunately there are no known pictures of it, but periodically the words will appear on the same overpass again. Brilliant.

Here are a few that I thought were pretty funny:

At this point, I realized three things:
1. I was not going to become a "tagger."
2. This google search had gotten out of control.
3. It was 1pm and I needed to go back to work.

"Surrender Dorothy" blog photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/91499534@N00/536528070/