Zurich bartenders & American lemons

During the summer of 1993, while working for Pre skis, I was traveling in Europe with Kip Pitou and we were making a short stop at Zurich airport while waiting for a flight to Sofia, Bulgaria. We had a drink at the bar and the waitress was a Spanish gal by the name of Vega; anyway, that's what her name tag said. If you lived in America in the 70s and 80s, it’s hard not to relate the name “Vega” to a terrible sub-compact car made by GM and sold by Chevrolet. This automobile was a dud and was symptomatic of what was to become the beginning of the end for the American auto industry. A few moments later, our hostess Vega was suddenly joined by what sounded and looked like a male countryman and colleague. When I looked at his name tag, I couldn’t believe the uncanny coincidence when it read Pinto. Okay, “Pinto” was just the equivalent of the “Vega” sold by Ford and was in all points as flawed as its Chevrolet counterpart. Thank god, no other dwarf employee or bartender called “Gremlin” ever showed up at that point; I would have had to order a triple-martini and drink it on the spot. Now you know what a Swiss airport bar and two American “lemons” have in common…