I was sitting in the confines of a doctor's office waiting room to have my swollen eye looked at for about 20 minutes last night. It just so happens that my eye has something called a Chalazion, but that's not what I'm here to talk to you about today.
As I was waiting, I was studying a nice big photo on the wall. It was a photo of a handsome, happy looking Hispanic family - dad, mom, their 3 sons and grandma, parked on a bench in the middle of a happy green park. Definitely a Kodak moment if I've ever seen one. It looked like a stock photo taken by a professional, as it was crisp, clear, and everything was perfectly in place. It was hung as if to tell the person waiting beneath the nice fluorescent lights of the doctor's room (i.e. - me) "Hey, this is a family place - you've got nothing to worry about! Look at how happy we are! We approve of this clinic!"
Upon further study of the photo, something within it caught my attention. Gently nestled betwixt the mother and youngest son was a box of Ritz crackers. It was sitting in there as if it were a member of the family - only the top middle portion was able to peek through the mother and son when the photo was shot, but you could see those Nabisco and Ritz logos loud and clear.
This made me wonder a little bit. Why was there a box of Ritz crackers right smack dab in the middle of the photo and why was this photo displayed in a room with a doctor's table with stirrups on it? Are Ritz crackers treated as a pivotal member of the family in Mexico? Oh, don't snap that photo just yet, let me get the box of Ritz crackers out first.
Was this a Ritz advertisement? The box placement was subtle, yet quite noticeable if you gazed at the picture while you were waiting for a doctor like I was. I also noticed that the boy sitting next to the Ritz box was cradling a tube of saltine crackers in his arms, the label and brand however were illegible. Is Ritz a proud sponsor of the Neighborhood Involvement Program? Did they pay for part of the latex gloves the doc used when he was poking at my eyelid?
My inquiring mind wants to know: What's the deal?! Perhaps this photo was donated to the office and they felt obligated to hang it up. Was this a semi-subliminal advertisement or does this family just really like crackers? Mebbe it was the only way they could get the kid to shut up and sit still for the photo. I dunno.
I do know this much: Every time I see a Ritz cracker from now on, I'll always think of the pleasant feeling I had while the doctor was futzing with my eyelid and giving me the creeps.
