Due to the many wonderful responses from you on my postings about my late uncle, Oscar Moss, the printer, I present to you (drum roll) …
Another Oscar Moss story! And, yes, it actually happened. I had a previous effort from this particular prompt, but it was lame. And a late-night gabfest from my cousin, Pat (Patricia) prompted this because the photo is of a shop and Oscar and had a print shop, therefore …
Rochelle is the FF Head.
Ted Strutz is the pic-man.
+++++
“I leave messages for myself at home. Here.”
He dialed his home number and put the phone to my ear. I heard his voice. “Hello, this is Oscar Moss. Please leave a message.” (BEEEEEEEP)
Then, I heard his voice again. “Uh, hello, Oscar Moss, this is Oscar Moss … keep up the good work!”
I laughed. “That is hilarious! And it keeps the ideas coming?”
Oscar presented to me the header for his new memo pad. “Whattaya think, kiddo?”
It read: “Moss —- Built On Fifty Years Of Mistakes! Moss has now made ALL of the mistakes. HE IS NOW AN EXPERT!”
+++++
My uncle Oscar Moss … “meshuganah” to the core.
wmqcolby 
I love the idea of an advanced qualification in mistakes
… and it saves time, too.
Dear Cuzzin Notnek,
If you have to do something, always do your best, right? Of course right! Wish I’d gotten to know him. Good one.
Shalom,
Cuzzin Shelley
Thanks. Before Published it, I had the two halves reversed with the phone last and the header on the memo pad first. i think it worked stronger this way.
What a heartwarming story, it seems your uncle was quite a character. You’ve done him good.
Aww, thanks, Loré. I’m wanting very much to get my cousins into this. They have SO much more, I’m sure.
Oh dear!
At least his dedicated to his cause.
Hahahahaha! And he lived it. 😀 Actually, he was very successful because he took his work seriously, he just didn’t take himself seriously.
Still chuckling!
Thanks, Graham.
I can feel your fondness for him through your stories. He sounds a real character.
You would have loved him. He was just a funny guy who laughed a lot. His daughters are the same way.
So how quickly did he learn to grow on the north side of a tree?
Hahahahahahaha! Are you kidding? HIM? His family grew up under a ROCK! 😀 😀
I love the idea of leaving yourself positive messages – genius! Love the memo header too. I think if you can get to the end of your life and say you made all the mistakes, you must have had one hell of a life! Great stuff 🙂
Thanks, Lynn! I’m sure if Oscar were here, he’d love the sentiment.
He sounds like a very entertaining man 🙂
He certainly was a very entertaining man.
Sounds like it 🙂
Uncle Oscar set the bar pretty high. I haven’t made all the mistakes yet, but I’m sure working on it.
Hahahahaha! He’d love that answer, too.
What great ideas, I will have to try them out, memo pad first, now what was I going to write?🙂
YOU having trouble on what to write??? Au contraire. 😉
He certainly had a great sense of humor. It’s always a pleasure to be around someone like that.
He was very much a pleasure to be around.
Awesome! Gotta try that at home! 😀
You really think it’ll work? Well, he DID tell me it worked for him. Me? No. It’s like knowing the trick before the show.
Haha! He’s luck then? But it’s still give it a try, who knows?
What could it hurt, right? 😉
Keeping up the good work I see. What a great outlook.
Tracey
Hey, he lived to be 91, I think. Must be something to that, huh? 🙂
Absolutely
Your Uncle Moss, what a character. It’s great to be an expert at making mistakes.
He really did put that on his memo pads. He put other stuff on them, too, that are just as funny.
He sounds and looks like a man I wish I’d known.
You’d have liked him a lot. Liz. 😉
Seems like a man one would like to know, knowing he would like it!
You are correct. My cousins think he would have gone crazy with today’s technology. Before he died, he was into desktop printing. This was, oh … about 1993 or so.
Not so long ago!
what a self-effacing guy. in this instance, it’ll be a mistake to take his words too seriously. 🙂
I couldn’t have said it any better than that, Plaridel. Marvelous! 🙂
Sounds like a fun guy. I think it’s great to memorialize him here.
I think so, too. Thanks, Dawn.
Great story, Kent. I think there’s a lot to making mistakes and learning from your failures and probably the bigger the success, the bigger the failures. What better way to be an expert than to know what NOT to do! Your Uncle was a wise man. Five out of five beeping lights!
Thanks, Amy. I remember the editor of Parade Magazine once said that, in interviewing many famous people, he found that a string of failures led to their successes. Like Tom Edison inventing the light bulb — he said it wasn’t that he failed 10,000 times, but that it was an invention that took 10,000 steps to perfect. We have to remember this as we write our stories, of course. 😉
Someone once said that if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough. I like how you’ve portrayed Oscar Moss. He sounds wonderful. No wonder you want to bring him to life again in your stories. Nicely told.
Ha! Ha! Nice one and great words. I am an ‘expert’ too.
I love funny notes and messages. He sounds like he was someone full of personality. When combined with business expertise, no wonder he was successful. My husband got some sticky notes once that had a cow grazing in a field. The caption was “Outstanding in the Field”. Good writing, Kent. 😀 — Suzanne