Sunday, October 22, 2006

radio voice

I drove into the drive-through and stopped at the speaker.

A mellow, rich, dark voice welcomed me. A radio voice, clear, warm, FM-easy listening voice. A deep chuckle threatened to break out through, enjoyment of the language, a care over the trite phrases, even a slight pompousness!

I was shocked. Usually one expects a bored, hurried, tinny voice. It might fade in and out. It might echo and be troubled by overlaying vibrations. And never, never, will the voice be made for rumbling gently in your ear, deep enough to touch off vibrations in your belly, deep enough to be the perfect accompaniment to a hot, dark, sultry cup of coffee.

I laughed at my foolish imagination, realizing the guy was probably a pimply-faced teenager with braces. I managed to give my order intelligibly, wondering if he could hear me laughing at myself.

As I pulled up to the window to receive my order, I wasn't wrong about the teenage part of the voice, a pleasant-faced young man, not very tall, ordinary in most every other way.

"It's been a long day, " he apologized.

I was about to complement him on his voice, and make some comment about how I enjoyed his performance. Something made me hesitate.

Was he apologizing for some other fumble, with the cash register, making change, something below my radar? What if he was not apologizing for having fun with being "the FM voice over the microphone"?

He brought my coffee. The moment had passed. I drove away.

I am left wondering if he knows how fabulous his voice is. I should have told him, but I didn't know if it was the right moment, or how to say it.

4 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Heh... I worked at a fast-food joint for 7 years or so, from the time I turned 16 to the time I graduated from college. (It was too easy not to work there during my college breaks, and nice to make some more money for books!) Trust me, he probably would have gotten a kick out of your compliment no matter how you said it... anything to break up the day. :)

He was probably apologizing for being silly with his voice, I bet--we used to have a great time with that when the bosses weren't on the headsets or the manager had a good sense of humor. When we had to close on weekend evenings, a friend and I would often declare theme nights and try to use a single accent all evening. My favorites were "farmgirl nights" (remember, I grew up in farm country) when we would braid our long hair, add freckles to our cheeks via brown eyeliner pencil, and talk in our best "hick" accents!

(Obviously, I have always been easily amused... lol.)

1:38 p.m.  
Blogger Kati said...

what great stories! As my youngest daughter still works in the restaurant industry, she definitely would identify with your stories!

my paying job is in healthcare. as Hallowe'en approaches, I've been thinking about a death-at-Hallowe'en true story which is also involved dressing up...I just can't think of how to tell it without preserving the privacy of the culprits ;)

3:29 p.m.  
Blogger Annie in Austin said...

Kati, I hope you figure out a way to tell that story, keeping the heart of it even if you have to disguise the details.

It's interesting that the heavenly voice belonged to an ordinary, pleasant guy - I've seen many a favorite radio voice in person, and am usually surprised at how different they are from my preformed mental image.

Kim - farmgirl on YouTube for Halloween? Dare ya.

Annie

11:36 p.m.  
Blogger Kati said...

well, if Kim takes up your dare, Annie, I'll probably not see it; my dial-up connection has prevented me from really exploring the possibilities of YouTube. but you had me laughing anyway! and I'm working on that "keeping identities private" problem with my hallowe'en story. stay tuned!LOL

1:38 a.m.  

Post a Comment

<< Home