"Can I help you?" 3

At last it can be told--or, rather, it has to be, because I promised no more digressions.

Back on Thursday, I was taking pictures of an interesting truck in a parking lot in Morristown when I heard a stern voice say, "Can I Help You?"

Here, finally, is what happened next...

I put the camera down. A wiry man with wiry gray hair was standing in front of me with a clipboard in his hand.

"Why are you taking pictures of our truck?"

As I've said, most of these situations can be defused by telling the simple, if unlikely, truth: In this case, that there was something about the truck that intrigued me, specifically the realistic-looking pictures of food products on the side and the way they looked against cars parked nearby.

The man then explained why he was asking (which if you've been following this blog the last few days you know doesn't always happen.) He said he was in charge of security for the food distribution company that owned and operated the truck.

He wore a long-sleeved button-down red shirt in a heavy cotton fabric. And though it was already 80 degrees at about 9:30 in the morning, he seemed quite comfortable.

I think he was also proud of his trompe l'oeil trucks because he turned and looked at the pictures on side in a contemplative way, and nodded. When he looked at me again, he seemed to have let down his guard, but was still a bit skeptical.

So I introduced myself and told him that I was shooting pictures for a photo blog I did on the magazine's website. He said that was cool and introduced himself. His name was Ron Possumato. We shook hands and exchanged business cards.

Just then another man joined us. He wore a blue short-sleeved shirt with his name on one pocket and the name of the company--Performance Food Group--on the other.

"This is my driver, Martin," Ron said.

Martin and I shook hands, and I got the spelling of his last name: Birchett.

Then I took their picture and we all left happy. What a miracle.

Later I looked at Ron's business card. It gave his title as "Vice President, Business Administration."

I could be wrong, but there probably aren't too many vice-presidents who ride shotgun on delivery runs.

Tags: Morristown | photography

Tools: Share | Ask a question