Kai Ryssdal: This final note on the way out today. What if we do this: put the serious news of the week behind us, and take a second for the tidbits that didn’t quite rise to the top?
It comes to us courtesy of Rico Gagliano, Brendan Francis Newnam and select members of the Marketplace staff.
Rico Gagliano: Jennifer Collins, reporter for Marketplace. What story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Jennifer Collins: I’m going to be talking about dinner napkins.
Gagliano: Exciting.
Collins: Well they’re actually getting smaller, by a third in the last 25 years.
Gagliano: Which seems ironic, since Americans have been growing by, I think, about a third at least.
Collins: But the thing is, people aren’t wearing as nice clothes, so they don’t need to cover them up by these huge napkins anymore.
Gagliano: But if that were the case, wouldn’t we be seeing people walking around with giant spaghetti stains on their cheap T-shirts all the time?
Collins: I guess we’re also getting better at using forks.
Brendan Newnam: John Haas, editor for Marketplace. What’s your story?
John Haas: A guy got a ride from his mom to rob a convenience store.
Newnam: What?
Haas: Yeah, he robbed a convenience store at gunpoint, then jumped into the car. And when the police pulled the car over, they found him and his mom.
Newnam: And people say the modern family’s falling apart. You know, family values endure.
Haas: The problem is, the police were tipped off by a bumper sticker on the back that said, “My son’s an armed robber at Cumberland Farms.”
Newnam: It’s the hubris that gets you every time.
Gagliano: Millie Jefferson, director. What story are you doing to be talking about this weekend?
Millie Jefferson: Well, it seems that Frito-Lay is going to start making their chips with all-natural ingredients. Except for Cheetos and Doritos.
Gagliano: And why is that?
Jefferson: Cheetos and Doritos are really big among teenagers, and they feel like labeling it “all-natural” or “natural” will scare them off.
Gagliano: So teenagers like unnatural things, is that what we’re going to get from this?
Jefferson: I mean, where have you been? They like vampires.
Gagliano: And Lady Gaga.
Ryssdal: There’s more where that came from, by which I mean the podcast Rico and Brendan do. It’s called The Dinner Party Download.
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