More 'power of the press'

Telling of all my press credential exploits in my last blog, Cynthia said it would only be fair to tell of a time when I took my dad to visit the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield , MO.

It was the original Bass Pro Shop, and I had never been to one of the stores previously. Neither had dad, he had just heard about them through hearsay.

So, up to the store we drove and it took more than a few hours to get there from Heavener – not just an afternoon drive, I mean.

When we finally arrived, I told him to let me “take it from here.” I marched up to the front door, went in and asked the first young lady I saw, “Pardon me, ma’am, could you please direct me to your Public Relations person.” She said, “Certainly but may I ask what your need for him might be?” I said, “Well, I wanted to speak with him about getting press credentials to go in and look around. This is our first trip here.”

She said, “Sure, but you can just go inside, it doesn’t cost anything.” I told her I didn’t realize it was free and went back to get dad. I told him, “It’s okay, dad, I got us in.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him there was no admission charge and, in fact, never really did the whole time we were in there...or when we returned home!

I don’t know if he actually thought I was really important and had used my influence to get us in or if he bragged to his buddies like Lonzo Hudlow about what I was able to do.

I’ve laughed often with Cynthia about it, “Guess what John did for me ...”