EJ Revealed, Robot Gives Pity Money
In response to yesterday's post about the blonde helping a bank-bot give away $5 bills on Fifth Avenue, several readers sent in tips regarding said blonde's identity and history. She's Erin Jividen — aka EJ, not to be confused with the eponymous luncheonette — once described by the New York Daily News as an "aspiring pop tart." She seems to be all that and more, pursuing a Britneyesque path to fame via NYC club and promo appearances, plus an "off-Broadway" musical. Another reader familiar with her history notes that she used to date a gent by the name of "Laser," and "they had a group together called Disco Express, until too many people made fun of them for having the same name as Ed O'Neill's character's 70s group in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane." Certainly the unkindest cut of all. But what about that sexy robot? Thrilling first-hand account after the jump.
I went out to find the $5 giving robot. There were about a dozen people standing around it, at least three were capturing the moment on film. A late 30 something non-suited man, the type that would wear a fanny pack and make good, practical use of it, went up to the robot, who bleated, "Good timing." At this, a man behind me whispered, "It sees him." The robot said that in order to get the $5, the man had to answer the following question: How many miles are there between the Earth and the Moon? The man's shoulders slumped forward in disappointment when he heard this question. Not wanting to back down, he walked even closer to the robot so that their noses, the robot's much bigger than his, were almost touching. From that intimate distance, the man whispered something to the robot. Predictably, the robot emitted a "wrong-answer" buzz. The bystander closest to the robot giggled to himself, then turned to his friend and said loudly enough for others to hear, "Did you ... did you hear that?" His friend shook his head no. "He said ... [giggle] ... he said twenty thousand miles! It's ... [giggle] ... dangerously close!" Then everyone who overheard that turned to the man, still intimately embraced by the robot, and laughed with open mouths. Then the robot asked the man an easy question where the answer was the bank that the robot was marketing for, he got it right, and the robot gave him five bucks. Then we stopped laughing and were quiet/wistful/contemplative. Then I went back to work.
And ... scene.
