star-Author Kester Schlenz considers himself to be an easy-going guy. But he becomes more relaxed when people call him by his first name everywhere.
“Would you like to try the wine?” the waiter at the Hamburger In restaurant asked my father-in-law. He is 90 years old and was surprised. Why did the guy who was around 60 years younger call him by first name? Had he messed something up? Was there perhaps an overlooked grandchild with a bottle in his hand and asked for a taste? No, the fuzzy-bearded guy with an apron and a pigtail was unknown to him. He tasted it, accepted the wine and thought to himself: “Strange new world. Young strangers act as if I had studied with them for the big Latin at boys’ school.”