When I was in college I spent my summers working at a couple different places as an engineering intern.  It was a glorious time of slow computers, bad golf shirts, and scads of homemade ham sandwiches for lunch which I stored all morning in an unrefrigerated desk drawer.  Things are so much different today.  Now I prefer turkey sandwiches.

I worked for one engineer who at one point had one of the only two computers in a very large building.  For this computer to have been more primitive might have required a pull-starter.  Surprisingly, this computer did include some sort of video game.  The engineer had a technician buddy who would come in occasionally during lunch or on breaks to play the game for a few minutes.

Eventually the technician started talking primitive video game trash.

The game had one of those leader board features from the old arcade days where players could type in their initials (or, more likely, their favorite crude three-letter word) if their score made the top ten.  The technician’s scores dominated the leader board and he made sure the engineer knew it.

So the engineer stayed after work one night (after the technician had gone) and posted a score in the top ten.  A few nights later he played again and achieved the top score.  The technician was a little bummed by this but undeterred.  He increased his efforts and over the course of the next couple weeks finally got the high score back.

The engineer stayed after work again and reported the next morning that he had once again taken the top spot.  The technician was good-natured but visibly frustrated at this news as he left the engineer’s office.  It was clear he did not at all like how easily the engineer overtook him.  I witnessed this exchange and the engineer must have felt guilty enough that it was time to come clean.

Or maybe he was just so proud he couldn’t keep it to himself.

It seems the engineer barely even knew how to play the game.  You’re guessing he was having his kid play it for him, but no.  After hearing the technician bragging one day, on a hunch the engineer poked around in the file directory where the game was stored.  He located a simple text file with a name that was something like HIGHSCORES.TXT.  Every so often he would simply go into that file and type himself up a new high score and move his buddy’s efforts down the list.  To this day it remains one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of a guy pulling a fast one on a friend.  Brilliant.

I guess the lesson here is the guy who is good at the game will always be topped by the guy who can game the system.

Papa John’s is based in Louisville, where I presume Mr. Schnatter lives.  Once in the late 1990’s I was in Louisville for business and stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant.  I was with two co-workers.  One of them was a buddy named Nathan, and I confess I’m not 100% sure who the other guy was, so I won’t give him a name here.

Early on during the meal, I looked across the room and thought I saw Mr. Schnatter, who is pretty recognizable from television commercials.  He was eating with another gentleman.  My co-worker also thought he was Papa John.  Nathan was facing the opposite direction and didn’t pay much attention, but commented that his family really liked a new Papa John’s pizza that had recently been introduced.

Throughout our meal I confess glancing over at Mr. Schnatter frequently.  Considering I don’t get out much anyway, dining near a local celebrity was not something I did every day (unlike my current lifestyle of abundant galas).

Mr. Schnatter and the other guy finished their meal and stood to leave.  Mr. Schnatter started to put on a striking leather jacket.  It was obviously custom-made in the red, white, and green colors of Papa John’s (and perhaps not coincidentally, Italy).  It was a little garish, but I thought it was cool.  I turned to my co-worker and made some remark indicating that considering the looks of the jacket, I thought it was safe to conclude that he was indeed Papa John.

Nathan, who you will recall was not sitting where he could see all this happening, had a revelation upon hearing that Mr. Schnatter was leaving.

Nathan is not a shy person.  He stood and excitedly said something along the lines of, “I’m going to go tell him how much we like that new pizza!”  And he took off across the restaurant.

He strode up to Mr. Schnatter and friend.  Keep in mind that Mr. Schnatter was wearing the bold Papa John’s jacket (which may have even had his name embroidered on it), and his face had been on dozens of different TV commercials over the years.  Nathan smiled really big and asked, “Excuse me, are you Papa John?”

Except Nathan said it to the other guy.

I may have literally put my head into my hands in dismay.  The plain-clothed guy smiled, shook his head, and pointed at the guy next to him wearing the garish Papa John’s jacket.  Mr. Schnatter looked amused.  Nathan was unfazed, turned toward him, and proceeded to compliment him on whatever the new pizza was and encouraging him to continue offering it.  They exchanged pleasantries and Nathan returned to the table, still unfazed.

I think what makes me love this story so much is not just how entertaining it was to watch in all its good-natured awkwardness.  It’s how much funnier it must have been to Mr. Schnatter and his friend.  I imagine them going outside and the friend saying, “Do you think that guy considers how big a coincidence it is that I just happened to be having lunch with the very guy he mistook me for?”