InASense, Lost… 80’s Pop Culture Reference That I Missed
My sister, Becky, recently started a blog about things she learns everyday called SomethingKnew. Since I’m usually forgetting things, I thought I’d pay tribute to her site by recounting something new that I learned.
Today, I discovered the origin of a nickname I received when working overnight at Target. I didn’t even know there was a basis for the moniker. Whereas most of the other overnighters bounced around departments in the store, my only job was to take care of Plastics – the unpacking and organizing of all large Rubbermaid and Sterilite containers. I always had a bunch of cardboard by morning, and the trash compactor runner guy, Greg, used to call me Baby Plas. He called my friend, John, the Gordon Fisherman for some unknown reason, and my friend, Rodney, simply Dangerfield out of necessity, I guess.
And I didn’t think much about it. I thought it was just an odd yet obvious choice. (For example: if I was dubbed, say, the Trix Rabbit, I would have wondered where it came from, much like I did with John the Gordon Fisherman.) Somewhere inside me, I resigned to the fact that it teetered on the Dangerfield zone of unoriginality.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this facet of pop culture that escaped me:
Baby Plas was a reference to “The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show.” Baby Plas was Plastic Man’s baby. I worked with plastics. I was more the Gordon Fisherman than John would ever be. I was more Dangerfield in every sense of the word.
And I missed basking in the nickname.
For shame.
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