Joining is Mandatory

Hub's team took him to lunch and invited me today. We all met at the Roma Cafe, Detroit's oldest restaurant establishment in the Eastern Market area. Sam the waiter didnt fail me and held me in a long conversation, which stunned more than a few of Hub's co-workers. I didnt have anything to do with picking the restaurant, but I have patronized Roma's for almost 30 years. Sam (from Morocco) has been there the whole time.

I recognized almost everyone at the table: Chitra, Mischel, Andye, Brenda, Leah, and then there were a few I had not met before, but heard of: Neal, the new senior mgr (a recent southern transplant), Mithra and a guy from Korea that no one seemed to know very well. He sorta just showed up.

Much of the chitchat was in the vernacular of tax geeks which left me feeling like I was listening to a foreign language. Translations were infrequent. I turned to Neal and asked how things were going for he and his wife in the Midwest. Neal acknowledged the cultural differences and I thought I might help. I shared a little pearl with him about Midwesterners. I told him that we are nice, but not necessarily polite. We dont say Yes sir and Yes ma'am. We may not greet you when we walk into a room, at least not immediately. But its not personal and he should not think we are rude, perhaps just remiss. But Neal gave me a fantastic pearl of wisdom that I will not forget. He said that one of the first things on the order of business was to find a church and join it. I thought it odd that he should say that, but he went on to further explain that we will be bugged non-stop by everyone we meet to join their church and it wont stop. It wont stop UNTIL we join a church. Attendance is optional but joining is mandatory. Quid Pro Quo. Thank you, Neal.