Are you a Phish Ninja?
Do you have a job or some reason where you may not fully disclose your love and in most of our cases addiction to Phish?
I started at a job in September and I have not really told anyone that I have this addiction to Phish. Mostly because I do not want to be labeled as some hippie Phish kid at my place of work. I was just curious of any similar situations with work or other reasons why you may not be very "public" about touring and listening to Phish.
I am a Phish Ninja. I am not sure if I am proud of it, but either way, I get to see Phish and I am happy its back in our lives.
"Hi, my name is mopper_smurf and I am a fully qualified :phish: ninja."
"Hello, mopper_smurf."
I feel so much better now :-D
i'm totally out in the open about it at work.
customers grab me just to ask about setlists from a few nights ago when i'm there or to tell me they got tickets to this or that show....
apparently i'm know as the southern girl who says funny words and is a hippie kid :roll:
I was for the first part of my career, for sure. I used to shave my beard for job interviews and important meetings, etc. Now that I'm 10+ years into the career, I don't feel the need. I have proven myself. I have meetings regularly with CxO level people both internally and with my customers and I haven't shaved the beard in 3 years. My screen saver lately has been from Hampton and everyone knows I'm off to roo this week.
I am fully out of the Phish closet at this point. If anybody questions it around here, I can usually point to their UT football season tickets and call them the kettle, if you know what I mean.
Quote from: UncleEbinezer on June 08, 2009, 10:40:09 AM
Are you a Phish Ninja?
Do you have a job or some reason where you may not fully disclose your love and in most of our cases addiction to Phish?
I started at a job in September and I have not really told anyone that I have this addiction to Phish. Mostly because I do not want to be labeled as some hippie Phish kid at my place of work. I was just curious of any similar situations with work or other reasons why you may not be very "public" about touring and listening to Phish.
I am a Phish Ninja. I am not sure if I am proud of it, but either way, I get to see Phish and I am happy its back in our lives.
No. The people I work with know and accept that I am weird like that. Hell, much of the office knows I'm going on vacation for a week starting tomorrow, essentially just to see Phish!
I guess my work performance must make up for my eccentricity because they haven't made me cut my hair, and are
sending me to lawschool this fall! :banana:
At any rate...I have to finish a response before I leave, so back to work!
I don't tell anyone at work hardly anything personal, especially musical tastes, because...
1. They wouldn't get it.
2. I don't want to have that type of conversation with anyone at work. Work convo only is the way I like it...and I don't even really like that.
3. They wouldn't get it.
I used to be big time when I worked at a hipster record store.
These days I don't care who knows so much.
Never have been, never will be. I wear my Phish stripes proudly.
I used to hate the stupid "oh, so you're a hippie" crap but it only shows that ignorance comes in all sizes. :wink:
I keep it lowpro, only so they don't figure out what I'm doing when I'm burning 10x as many DVDs as I should be, or calling in sick the day after SPAC shows, etc.
Ha ha, well, I don't hide it at all. And everyone knows when I take time off or schedule to come in late in the mornings it is Phish/concerts related.
BUT I do have to admit to a recent, one and only time, it has come up, and uncleebinzer was witness to this. We got up at 4 am to catch a flight back from Boston, got to the airport, looking a hot mess, eyes all red and puffy (from allergies-place we were staying had cats) and of course, they pull me aside for a screening. And I've been screened before, metal detector thing, zip, zap, done and on my way. But no, this time, they pull me aside, and two people go through my stuff and start interrogating me, where you going, how long were you here? what do you do for a living? going through my wallet and stuff, and what were you doing here? just came for a concert. where? Fenway? Who was it? Hmmmm, looking down (realize they're going to spot my ticket which was in my wallet for some reason) mumble, phish. Really? (start going through my stuff even more thoroughly) did you have fun? Yeah. Hmmm, didn't get much sleep huh? No, and the whole time I'm trying to run through my head, make sure there isn't anything in my bag and, oh wait, did I smoke that last j I had hidden in my wallet? Luckily, I must have, and all ended well.
BUT still, thats the one time I was a little hesitant to admit my phanness, because it was automatic suspicion....
I'll go with pie-guy and say I was more so in the beginning, when I first started working for the company i have been with for the past seven years. 3rd generation family ran business. This family also happens to be Apostolic Christians. It just now hit the third generation and they are way more liberal and only two of the members remain in the church. One boss was even quoted in the newspaper the other year, when the Bears were on the Super Bowl run, as saying "man, this is what god made Sundays for. Wings, beer, and football". It's all good. They still don't quite get the fact that I need the next two weeks off to go to NC, TN, MO, PA, IN, and WI to follow some band. I guess a lot of people would find that hard to "fathom" though. No longer a :phish: Ninja, more of a :phish: converter nowadays.
I remember when I went on tour in 95 and my told my grandparents i was selling t-shirts on Phish tour, they assumed I knew the band and was helping out at the merch table or something.
I happened to go to 3 shows within the first 2 months of starting my first job and hence got the nickname Phish because of that. That was almost 14 years ago.
I earned my nickname Jerry Phishman on the job fighting fires back in '06. At my current job with a solar energy contractor they know I'm takin a week off for some Phish and probably can't help but notice that both of my desktops have turned to Phish lights and the music is up a few notches from a month ago.... I tried to play it off for a while but I am so integral to the operation here now that there's no reason to shy away from it. Most people, if they aren't into touring, can't comprehend traveling STL to PA to IN to WI to MN in a week...... but might as well let em know whats up. Everyone around here understandthe most important thing: find what makes you happy and run with it! :phish:
I work for a bunch of deadheads, so I dont really have to hide anything. They might not "get" Phish but they "get" going on tour. So asking for time off this summer was not a problem. they were happy that I have something to look forward to that Im so excited about!
I've been at my current employer for over 12 years now and those that have been there for a while certainly know that I'm deep into the Dead and Phish..I am now an Assistant Vice President at a Fortune 500 bank but when I first started there I was still driving my piece of shit Isuzu I-Mark (yes, that was a real car) that was plastered w/ stickers from touring (including a huge "Reality Sucks" sticker that had a huge pic of a shroom! People knew when I was taking time off around specific summer and fall dates..for a while we could wear shorts on the weekends, so out came the Dead tats on the calf -no big deal. i don't talk a lot about it at work cuz frankly I'm just too damn busy at work..but most people know and I let them know I'm damn proud of being a head..the director of my office loves the Dead and we probably talk about them 2-3 times during the week..and same as pie-guy, used to keeo the face clean but most of the time but lettin' the beard flow back now..if others don't like Phish or just don't get it - well, that's a "you problem"
nobody at my work had ever even heard of Phish till I got there.
Quote from: blatboom on June 08, 2009, 08:41:33 PM
nobody at my work had ever even heard of Phish till I got there.
who's phish?
I teach college freshmen. Once every few years one of them calls me out. Usually in semi-private, but one kid @ UNC asked me in front of the whole class.
I owned it proudly.
people at my job know... and I have them put in lottery ticket requests for me :)
Complete and utter phish Ninja, maybe even a whole personal life ninja in terms of work.
I try very hard to keep my proffesional and private life seperate. Luckily, no one at my office is my age really. Closest in age is like 6 years older but most people are about 20 years older then me. I don't really socialize at all with my co-workers, not bc I'm trying to be rude/akward but I just keep things simple and polite. If someone asks about my weekend, I just keep to generalities and leave it at that. I don;t even tell people where I go on vacation but if they ask I usually go with camping and or visiting friends.
Furthermore, as far as looks I try to keep it clean shaven (I just let it go a few days each week) but its a relaxed office in terms of attire and I try to not dress up more then others, unless I am wearing a factory uniform they gave me, but otherwise I personally don't even believe in casual days, don't wear shorts unless I'm playing sports, and have never owned a pair of jeans. My hair can cause some issues though but the women I know all love long hair so I have a backwards mullet of sorts. Long on the top and sorta cleaned up on the back/sides. This allows me to put my hair down when I'm out and about but otherwise I pull it back like christian slater 80's haricut where its long but all slicked back.
Quote from: Blaise on June 08, 2009, 09:00:28 PM
Complete and utter phish Ninja, maybe even a whole personal life ninja in terms of work.
I try very hard to keep my proffesional and private life seperate. Luckily, no one at my office is my age really. Closest in age is like 6 years older but most people are about 20 years older then me. I don't really socialize at all with my co-workers, not bc I'm trying to be rude/akward but I just keep things simple and polite. If someone asks about my weekend, I just keep to generalities and leave it at that. I don;t even tell people where I go on vacation but if they ask I usually go with camping and or visiting friends.
Nice dude. I'm the same way. HA It was 2 months before I had to tell them my wife was pregnant.
the last few years i kept it some what low key... the only peeps that knew of my passion for phish are the ones that have access to one of the company hard drives that house a lot of my phish shows.. :lol:
since oct when they anounced the hampton shows and from the anouncement of the summer tour, i havent been able to hold it back... sooo stoked to see them again.. great feeling! bonnaroo>alpine + gorge... :-D
A few of my friends and co-workers and only a few family members know the depth of my :phish: obsession or the size of my live music collection. I only talk about it with a few clients at work when they are obvious heads or phans. Otherwise, most people I see on a regular basis don't even know phish and have hardly heard of the dead. Sad situation, but in most cases isn't worth the effort to try to educate them.
I don't try to hide it, but I work in a supervisory position in a factory so most of the people who work below don't know who they are and all of my superiors vaguely remember that they played on the base here in '96. I don't go into great detail about my fandom, but that's for the same reason as some others stated, I'm there to work. I'll chit-chat with and will be friendly with my co-workers but I keep them and my real life separate. They're not bad people but they and I have absolutely nothing in common other than we work in the same building.
Quote from: sunrisevt on June 08, 2009, 08:58:05 PM
I teach college freshmen. Once every few years one of them calls me out. Usually in semi-private, but one kid @ UNC asked me in front of the whole class.
I owned it proudly.
At least your students have an idea of the music. My students don't know much past Lady Gaga (is she real?) and whatever else Hip/Hop or Rap artist is the MTV choice of the week. I try to turn them on to good music like Clapton, The Beatles, GD (they think it's bad), and Phish (they think it's silly and can't fathom sitting through a long jam) but they don't get it. Yet. I tell them to listen to it now so when they get to college they are in the know.
At work, colleagues don't really get :phish: so I don't really talk about it at all. I have my circle of friends to appreciate the music with and that's cool with me. I do teach a History of Rock and Roll so there are some people who understand my love of music.
Got a :phish: sticker on my car - makes it kinda hard...
nope. not a ninja. it's always on in my office and there's a big ole' 'HOOD' sticker on my car. well, maybe that's ninja.
No ninja here... During my interview my boss asked me "If there was one act you could see in our building who would it be?". Without thinking, I blurted out "Early 70's Dead!". Cats out of the bag at that point, but I got the job.
I wouldn't have been able to fly under the radar for long though, since my car has stickers for SCI, Phish and Jerry, and my North Face fleece has a well worn Phish back on the back.
Quote from: inourdr on June 09, 2009, 02:11:58 PM
No ninja here... During my interview my boss asked me "If there was one act you could see in our building who would it be?". Without thinking, I blurted out "Early 70's Dead!". Cats out of the bag at that point, but I got the job.
I wouldn't have been able to fly under the radar for long though, since my car has stickers for SCI, Phish and Jerry, and my North Face fleece has a well worn Phish back on the back.
I have to laugh, because this reads like an entry for 'stuff white people like' :)
No offense. Seriously. It just struck me as funny.
Quote from: shoreline99 on June 09, 2009, 02:25:26 PM
Quote from: inourdr on June 09, 2009, 02:11:58 PM
No ninja here... During my interview my boss asked me "If there was one act you could see in our building who would it be?". Without thinking, I blurted out "Early 70's Dead!". Cats out of the bag at that point, but I got the job.
I wouldn't have been able to fly under the radar for long though, since my car has stickers for SCI, Phish and Jerry, and my North Face fleece has a well worn Phish back on the back.
I have to laugh, because this reads like an entry for 'stuff white people like' :)
No offense. Seriously. It just struck me as funny.
No offense taken. I've actually had the jacket since 95 or 96 and the patch went on it before I even wore it out of the house. It was my "I want to be a hippie" phase in high school. Those were the days! Fantastic jacket btw. Can't beat North Face for quailty or customer service.
My boss picked Queen by the way.
I'm not a ninja either. My safety blanket is that I'm the boss :mrgreen:
Phish is played in my office daily and it's fairly well known to my staff and residents that I am obsessed. I no longer have long hair and have to wear a shirt/tie or suit daily, it was a tough call for me to cut it but being fairly young & male in long term care is a tough place to be so I found that it allowed me to make a better first impression than when I came in with my mane :mrgreen:
Quote from: disco on June 12, 2009, 06:58:34 PM
I'm not a ninja either. My safety blanket is that I'm the boss :mrgreen:
Phish is played in my office daily and it's fairly well known to my staff and residents that I am obsessed. I no longer have long hair and have to wear a shirt/tie or suit daily, it was a tough call for me to cut it but being fairly young & male in long term care is a tough place to be so I found that it allowed me to make a better first impression than when I came in with my mane :mrgreen:
You still sport the cape though, right?
Quote from: kellerb on June 12, 2009, 07:38:25 PM
Quote from: disco on June 12, 2009, 06:58:34 PM
I'm not a ninja either. My safety blanket is that I'm the boss :mrgreen:
Phish is played in my office daily and it's fairly well known to my staff and residents that I am obsessed. I no longer have long hair and have to wear a shirt/tie or suit daily, it was a tough call for me to cut it but being fairly young & male in long term care is a tough place to be so I found that it allowed me to make a better first impression than when I came in with my mane :mrgreen:
You still sport the cape though, right?
friday is casual/cape day so I wear it once a week....can't wait to bust it out for the creek, she's been resting for 5 years now
Not only am I a Ninja, I officially run the Ninja School.
I'm not, people who know me in my office know how much I love :phish: I have the inside sleeve pic from LP Vol. 20 hanging at my desk from 29Dec.1994.
To know me is to know my love of Phish. :smoke:
Quote from: mistercharlie on March 10, 2010, 10:41:36 PM
To know me is to know my love of Phish. :smoke:
yep. same here.
Not a ninja. If you walk by my office you will hear :syf: or :phish:
I get some pretty hilarious looks with certain tunes. Dark Star might be my favorite at work, especially when it gets out there and a coworker walks in my office to discuss something.
I'm not a ninja, but I don't really flaunt my obsession.
Unless they ask...
Quote from: mistercharlie on March 10, 2010, 10:41:36 PM
To know me is to know my love of Phish. :smoke:
well said good sir 8-)
Quote from: blatboom on June 08, 2009, 08:41:33 PM
nobody at my work had ever even heard of Phish till I got there.
People realized pretty quickly when I got on here (9 yrs ago) that a lot of my trips revolved around Phish or those types of bands. I would come back from weekend festies with some pretty crazy stories that most would not understand and so I've cut back on that. If people ask, I'll tell, but other than that, I keep it to myself now. And like Pie, I've been here for awhile now so I don't worry too much about being clean shaven or cutting my hair. Just keep it somewhat professional. :mrgreen:
Quote from: mistercharlie on March 10, 2010, 10:41:36 PM
To know me is to know my love of Phish. :smoke:
Nice! I dig that a lot! :clap:
Never have been, never will be.....
BUT....
I am a LOT NINJA!
I don't hide it or put it on display, but I dislike explaining my "FORBIN 3" license plate because it rolls into so much more.
"Forbin 3", what's that
"It's a character from a song"
"What song?"
"Colonel Forbin's Ascent"
"Who sings that"
"Phish plays that"
"What's Fish?"
etc etc etc.
My first few months at all my jobs, I started clean-cut prep like, then after a few casual Fridays, I insert casual Wednesday, and upgrade Friday to Slack-Off Friday. I don't do it a ton but sometimes play Ph in the cube. Someone always comes by during TTE or SOAMule. It's not like they're saying, "this is awesome, who is this?" I'm sure they hear one line of the lyrics and write off the great Mule or hear one passages from TTE and I don't want to admit it's Phish.
I'd say I'm a ninja in white.
Quote from: mistercharlie on March 10, 2010, 10:41:36 PM
To know me is to know my love of Phish. :smoke:
:clap: Egg-zachary.
Quote from: jephrey on March 12, 2010, 01:31:51 AM
I don't hide it or put it on display, but I dislike explaining my "FORBIN 3" license plate because it rolls into so much more.
"Forbin 3", what's that
"It's a character from a song"
"What song?"
"Colonel Forbin's Ascent"
"Who sings that"
"Phish plays that"
"What's Fish?"
etc etc etc.
My first few months at all my jobs, I started clean-cut prep like, then after a few casual Fridays, I insert casual Wednesday, and upgrade Friday to Slack-Off Friday. I don't do it a ton but sometimes play Ph in the cube. Someone always comes by during TTE or SOAMule. It's not like they're saying, "this is awesome, who is this?" I'm sure they hear one line of the lyrics and write off the great Mule or hear one passages from TTE and I don't want to admit it's Phish.
I'd say I'm a ninja in white.
My plate is HV PHUN.
Most people just ask what it means, but don't put the PH together or ask about it.
Since I have been at the company now for 18 months, I have certainly changed my tune a little bit. I still don't flaunt it, but don't necessarily hide it. I think people have already "judged" me and know what I'm about.
I started working here in '95, which was the year I saw the most shows.
"What're you doing this weekend, Kev?"
"Going to see Phish up in Albany."
"Didn't you just see them last week?"
"Yeah, and I'm gonna see them the day before New Year's, too."
"I think your nickname is gonna be Phish."
And that was my nickname for 4 years until I switched departments.
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
Quote from: mopper_smurf on March 12, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
:clap:
second'd
:clap:
Quote from: mopper_smurf on March 12, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
Please pass a +K to that record store owner
Quote from: rowjimmy on March 12, 2010, 11:08:33 AM
Quote from: mopper_smurf on March 12, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
:clap:
Now
that is hilarious!
Quote from: WhatstheUse? on March 12, 2010, 03:20:52 PM
Quote from: rowjimmy on March 12, 2010, 11:08:33 AM
Quote from: mopper_smurf on March 12, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
:clap:
Now that is hilarious!
Awesome.
Quote from: Mr Minor on March 12, 2010, 03:21:30 PM
Quote from: WhatstheUse? on March 12, 2010, 03:20:52 PM
Quote from: rowjimmy on March 12, 2010, 11:08:33 AM
Quote from: mopper_smurf on March 12, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
:clap:
Now that is hilarious!
Awesome.
Indeed. :clap:
yaay for dumb dmb fans!! :clap:
Quote from: tipetoo on March 12, 2010, 04:10:55 PM
Quote from: Mr Minor on March 12, 2010, 03:21:30 PM
Quote from: WhatstheUse? on March 12, 2010, 03:20:52 PM
Quote from: rowjimmy on March 12, 2010, 11:08:33 AM
Quote from: mopper_smurf on March 12, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
:clap:
Now that is hilarious!
Awesome.
Indeed. :clap:
I heard if you pre-ordered that box set you got a little baggie with some of the shit dropped on the folks in Chicago.
Quote from: kellerb on March 12, 2010, 11:55:16 AM
Quote from: mopper_smurf on March 12, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
I visited my favorite record store the other dayand there was this new DMB box sitting behind the desk, with a note attached indicating that it had been ordered.
"Who the fuck ordered that?" I ask. And up steps this elderly frat boy, blushing. "'That'll be me".
The owner of the store gives him his best Jack Black smile and goes: "Too stupid to understand Phish, are you?"
Please pass a +K to that record store owner
I second kellers statement.
September 1991, I change from shirt and tie to jeans and tie-dye before leaving work, meet my wife, and go to see :syf: at BG. The next day at work, I got comments like you went to see the Dead???? (tone of disbelief)
January 2004 (different job) - I get a Garcia tie from my office for Christmas. On the message board, I thanked everyone and told them how much I loved Garcia. One of the woman didn't believe that I even heard of Jerry Garcia until her boyfriend walked in one day, asked if anyone ever woke up and found out that they were the eyes of the world? I asked him if he ever woke up discovered that he was the song that the morning brings. She believed.
My cell ring tone is the Stash intro, personalized ring tone from my wife is China Cat intro, and alert for a SMS is One Way Out, so I can't hide it. Even people who don't know the music love my ring tones.
Quote from: slslbs on March 13, 2010, 03:09:24 PM
My cell ring tone is the Stash intro...Even people who don't know the music love my ring tones.
but how can you tell the difference if they're applause and/or the (wood block) hand claps? :clap:
most people I work with don't have the sense of time to get the handclaps right
:-)
pfft, only a drummer would respond like that. :roll:
:-D
I appreciate the last few posts. :-)