In the 90s before I worked at Cheap Thrills Music I was the Manager of Liquid CD in downtown SLO on Higuera st. I was the project manager/interface designer that had our music store on the web in the mid 90s selling music all over the world. We were ahead of our time.
In the 90s after a night out at the bars in SLO…TA’s (Tio Alberto’s) Burrito and 7-11 next door on Marsh st were a late night hang out. I had picked up my burrito and went next door to get a soda. I walk in and the kid (who I know from coming out to the Flats 80s nights) was working the counter and he had a look of despair on his face and a HUGE and I mean HUGE roll of lottery scratchers all over the counter.
I was like what’s up and what have you got yourself into? He explained he had 20 bucks and bought lottery tickets…didn’t win. Figured if he just “took” a few more lottery tickets he would get his money back and the money back from the ones he took (see where this is going)…it didn’t pay back so he “took” more and more and more to this mountain of tickets was all over the counter. He was like I am all in now…I can’t stop.
Now that I think about it I don’t think I ever saw that kid again. Either way he probably got a holiday out of it…either in jail or I like to think he hit it big and took off to Mexico for lobster and beer on the beach!
I’m a big fan of breakfast burritos. Back in the 90s, I used to live near Higuera street in SLO (San Luis Obispo), and I hardly ever drove anywhere being that close to downtown. I’d walk to work at Cheap Thrills Music, and one Monday morning, I swung by Linnaea’s Coffee shop on Garden St for a breakfast burrito. As I strolled down Higuera street eating my burrito, I spotted a girl walking towards me. Trying to be smooth, I hit her with a casual “Hey” and a head nod. To my surprise, she looked absolutely horrified, and I couldn’t figure out why. Anyway, I shrugged it off and carried on with my delicious breakfast burrito on my way to work.
When I got to Cheap Thrills, my coworker gave me the same horrified look and asked me what happened to me. Confused, I looked down and realized that I had sour cream (a lot of it) all over me – from the top of my hoodie, down to my pants, and even on my shoes. It was a complete mess, courtesy of that burrito. I was part shocked and part amused because the girl’s earlier reaction finally made sense. After cleaning up, I went on with my day.
It was a Monday and I used to DJ the 80s night at Tortilla Flats. After the club let out at 1:30am we would hang around out front and talk. That night, as I was recounting my morning mishap with friends, the girl from the encounter tapped me on the arm and revealed that she had been the one I ran into that morning. She froze up and didn’t know whether to tell me about the sour cream situation or to just keep walking. We all had a good laugh about it, and I figured that while it was a messy situation, it would make for a great story to tell for the rest of my life.
