New Way to Meet Mystery Readers

Funny thing happened on the way to the Boston airport. So cool that it deserves its own blog. We are checking our bags at the Southwest Airlines counter, Karen is lugging this 24x30 color poster of the Walk of Death book while I’m trying to set each suitcase on the little machine to see if it weighs over 50 lbs. I’m giving it the business (*&^%$#@) cause we’re having to shift around to fit the weight requirements. I took out a couple of extra WOD books out of one suitcase, set it up on the counter to transfer it (and its weight) to the next suitcase.

The Southwest Airlines baggage agent, Dave Jaramiblo from Boston, who had been scoping out the poster, matched up the book cover with the poster and said, “You don’t know what a CSI type mystery fan I am. Is that book for sale?” I thought he was kidding, til he pulled his Visa card out and slapped it on the counter, right next to the baggage claim tags. I looked at Karen and she looked at me, not really knowing how to respond.

We do have a new piece of technology that blows my mind; all you guys might have known that it was already out there, but I missed out on this gadget. It is called a square, and if you have one of these, together with a smartphone of any kind, you can be a walking credit card processor, anywhere in the world that your smartphone can make a call. It is about the size of a half inch postage stamp with a plug into the smartphone. Before you could say ‘Jack Sprat’, Karen had the ‘square reader’ plopped out, card was swiped and the Southwest agent had his book in thirty seconds, along with his five dollar tip. This ‘square’ can be ordered online or at any retail electronics store. Once the card is swiped, the customer signs his name with his finger on your smart phone screen, and then the receipt is emailed to the purchaser. The technology is amazing!

The passenger standing behind us to check his bags could work for Comedy Central. His name is Morris Podber, from Atlanta. He tapped me on the shoulder, having just witnessed the incident, and gave me a curious stare as he asked, ‘Excuse me, sir, but are you Mike Tabor?’ Forgetting what he had just witnessed, I admitted to my identity. ‘Is it THE Mike Tabor, the author?’ Now, I was starting to feel important…….that is until I then realized that the joke was on ME, and he was staring into one of the book covers as well as the huge poster which was taking up half the counter. Once I acknowledged my stupidity, he burst out in laughter. ‘No, the joke is not on you, cause I want one too. It’s a long flight to Atlanta, and we don’t leave for another two hours. We’ve all got to work together to get you under your 50 pound weight limit. Let me see what kind of writer you are.’ With that little remark, he snapped his Visa right up there next to the baggage handler and I went scurrying through my suitcase, searching for another copy.

Within five minutes, we had made two new friends, sold two books, laughed our heads off, and made for quite a fitting ending to a wonderful trip to Boston.