The Mountain Man Is In The Building

I just went downstairs to find some lunch and saw the Mountain Man setting up in the lobby. If you're not from around here, I'll explain that Mountain Man Nut & Fruit Company has people who travel around to various businesses in the Denver metro area with a big cart of snacks that you can buy. I think it's a local thing, because I've never seen it until I moved to Denver.

Anyway, seeing the Mountain Man reminded me of my first experience with Mountain Man. Thinking of it made me laugh, so I thought I would share it.

When I moved to Colorado, I worked in downtown Denver in a big office building. There was a building-wide PA system that the staff at the security desk downstairs could use to make general announcements. Usually it was things like "The north elevator isn't working, use the other elevators." or "The phone systems are down and maintenance is working on it."

On this particular day, I was sitting at my desk when the PA system beeped. The announcement came: "Your attention please. The Mountain Man is in the building. I repeat, the Mountain Man is in the building."

That was all. No further explanation provided. I was very confused. Was this a joke? Was this some kind of code word? What did it mean?!?

I obviously looked very confused, because my office-mate tried to explain. "The Mountain Man is here."

That didn't really help me. She tried to explain further. "You know, nuts and fruit?"

Still confused. Finally she explained using short words and a loud voice. "The Mountain Man. He sells nuts and fruit. He's here. To sell nuts and fruit. Go downstairs if you want to buy some."

Tee-hee. Still makes me laugh to remember it!