It is my pleasure to officially introduce you to our newest Carrier Sales Representative, Kendra Rhodes, who has been with us for three months now. You can read Kendra’s bio here, which begins: “Kendra Rhodes has an elite status in this town; she’s one of the few true locals, born and raised in Wilmington, NC.”
The town where we’re headquartered has seen rapid growth in recent years. In the past decade alone, our population surged more than 40%, making it one of the country’s fast growing cities. For example, Money magazine named Wilmington, NC one of The Best Places to Live and one of The Top Ten Cities in which to buy real estate. As a result, you’re far more likely to find a ‘transplant’ (like me) than a ‘local’ (like Kendra) “within spitting distance”.
But even long-time transplants remember when traffic was less congested and entire sections of the county were far less developed. For example, consider “Monkey Junction”, a funny name that makes newcomers chuckle and wonder why what is now a major commercial intersection with restaurants, strip malls and big-box retailers would have such a name. A busy, growing neighborhood surrounds the intersection with a library, a fire department, and several schools. Ashley High School, where Kendra matriculated, is one of them.
Monkey Junction used to be a quiet rural area. The biggest tourist attraction was a gas station owned by a man with a pet monkey. Word spread, and people on their way to Carolina Beach (where Kendra was Assistant Manager at a beachwear store for several years), would gas up at this fellow’s station just to see the monkey. Locals and long-timers are quick to tell newcomers: “I’ve lived here since there really was a monkey in Monkey Junction!”
Of course, now that she’s a Carrier Sales Representative, Kendra’s reach goes much further than Monkey Junction, Carolina Beach, or Wilmington! She spends her days talking to carriers across the country as part of the team that handles our shippers’ needs. In honor of the old Monkey Junction monkey, Kendra dug up this joke for you:
A trucker was driving down the highway when he noticed a lone monkey sitting along the side of the road. Confused, the trucker stopped the truck and opened the door. “You need a lift?” he asked. The monkey just stared back at him and scratched his butt. Eventually the man got out, picked the monkey up, put it in his front seat, and started down the road again.
A state trooper cruising in the opposite direction happened to see the man pick up the monkey. Knowing that it was not only illegal to pick up hitchhikers, but also illegal to have a monkey, he pulled the trucker over a few miles later. The trooper chewed the trucker out for picking up the monkey and told him to take it to the zoo immediately. The man agreed, started up his truck, and drove away.
The next day the same state trooper saw the trucker driving down the highway with the monkey again. The trooper pulled the man over and said, “I thought I told you to take that monkey to the zoo.”
“I did,” replied the trucker, “and we had so much fun, today we’re going to Sea World!”
Monkey around this weekend,
~Bob
