The Naming of Snookum

How did I get this name? Would you believe it came about as the result of a totally innocent thing? I didn't think you would. Ok, sit back, relax, and read on for the tale, "The Naming of the Snook."

It all began after meeting the customer service manager at a company that I worked with out of Orlando Florida. In my position where I worked at the time we did quite a bit of business with them and so it came about one day, when I was in Orlando, that the opportunity arose to meet with the CSM there and have lunch, to discuss business of course. Lunch was good and I said the next time I was in town I'd pick up a meal and the CSM agreed.

About a month later I was in Orlando for training from Sunday through Wednesday, so I called ahead and arranged for a dinner meeting with the CSM for Sunday night after my meetings. We meet and had dinner, discussed people we both knew in the business, generally making fun of them, and overall had a nice time. My company had just released a new brochure and marketing literature so I told the CSM that I'd send some down when equipment was returned to them on Thursday. Did I mention the CSM was a lady? umm, , nope I didn't, , ok, , the CSM in question was/is a lady.

Upon returning home I arranged the literature and put a little post-it(tm) note on top of the envelope with the comment "Sunday night was Great, thanks. I'll call you when I get back into town." and sent it down with instructions to my driver to just give it to the warehouse manager for delivery to her. *chuckle* yeah, that was mean, , but hey, ,my humor is just a little twisted ok?

4 hours later, I got a phone call from the CSM. She seemed to be a bit annoyed, I won't repeat the exact words she used, the FCC would be miffed if I did. For some reason, the little package I sent to her was delivered just as she was arranging a date for that evening. And for whatever reason the date ended up being broken right then and there. So, she informed me, in an oh so sweet manner, that I had Snookered her plans, , (snooker is a billiards game btw, case you didn't know) and so, the Snookum was born :)

Now, before you, either condemn me or begin arranging my eminent demise, read on. The guy she was arranging a date with was scum, though I didn't know that and certainly didn't plan to ruin her night.
Also, I later made it up to her by taking her to dinner, meeting her father, who incidentally knew the entire story and was incredibly amused that someone pulled one over on his daughter. And, she and I are friends to this day, my wife and I even attended her wedding reception.

One day she will be one of the leading physicists in this country, and so then I will finally personally know someone truly famous. Though her being able to pull a prank on me using advanced physics sets me a little bit on edge, I have a couple of years to get ready for it.

So ends "The Naming of the Snook." I hope you enjoyed the tale, and return to the Just Snook section for more stories of how the Snook is amused by the world.