Real Fake Mr. Drysdale

The advisor looked like a thirty something version of Opie Taylor and sure enough, he hailed from Mt. Airy, the home of Andy Griffith and the setting for the fictional town of Mayberry. Of course, we liked him immediately.

Lynn had visited Mt. Airy a few years ago and had met Thelma Lou, Barney Fife's girlfriend. Our financial guy recalled encountering Thelma Lou a few times in his childhood at the supermarket.

Let's call our advisor Doogie because his last name is Howser.

Doogie is the second native North Carolinian that I've met in the month since we've been here. Truthfully, I have met more people from Rochester, Chicago and Boston down here than folks from North Carolina.

The other guy was a banker as well.

Yeah, the accent is pleasant.

Lotta bankers in North Carolina....no wonder Charlotte's a boomtown.

Any how after running down a number of services available to the "preferred", I asked Doogie if he ever watched The Beverly Hillbillies. He gave me a weird look and said that he had as a kid growing up in "Mayberry".

(Now if you have never seen Beverly Hillbillies....let me tell you about it. It's the story of a man named Jed..a poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fed than one day while he was shooting for some food, up from the ground came bublling crude....oil that is...Texas tea. The next thing ya know, Jed's a millionaire and his kin folks tell him to move away from there. They say California is the place he ought to be so he packed up his stuff and he moved to Beverly...hills that is....big cars...movie stars etc)

I said to Doogie.." well from what you're telling us about your function in the bank....you're our Mr. Drysdale."

Mr. Drysdale is the uptight banker in Beverly Hills who is trying to manage the finances of Jed and is continuously flummoxed by hillbilly ways.

Doogie laughed and said "exactly".

Then he introduced us to Joe. Joe is the guy to see when it comes to trusts and all that jazz.

I always love meeting guys named Joe...cause I know what to say. I always say, Hey Joe, and throw Joe a strong handshake. I had a best friend named Joe for awhile. My friend Joe was from Merrick on Long Island. The banker Joe must have picked up on this because his vibe changed a little and he hit me with a 
"how you doon?".

We all started laughing that's when Doogie, who seemed subdued during the conversation with Joe gave us this how did you connect the dots information.

It seems a couple of years ago, they had a Halloween party at the branch. Doogie and five of his cohorts decided to come as The Beverly Hillbillies and Doogie came as Mr. Drysdale.

I asked Doogie what he wore to disguise himself as Mr. Drysdale. He said he came as himself wearing the same suit he always wears but with a fake moustache and a name tag that said "Mr. Drysdale" 

This only added to the hilarity which got a little muted when I asked who came as Jethro. Doogie said, with a hint of sadness.."uh, he's not with us anymore"

I bet that's a whole other story.

Nevetheless, we were all amused by the Mr. Drysdale thang.

We walked out into the 95 degree heat as the dream that is North Carolina continues.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?