Funny NIN story

     As you know, I am a big fan of Nine Inch Nails and have been since 1990 when I first heard Head Like a Hole on the radio. When I left the Army in 1993, I lived for a year or so in my hometown with my parents and started working at my current employer just after New Years, 1994. I spent a couple years in one position then got accepted to another position in another building nearby. 

     While living at home, I would go to the nearby city for whatever reasons and while walking in the primary mall one day, I saw a man about 50 yards ahead of me with a black leather jacket adorned with a large, white NIN logo on the lower half of the jacket's back. He was obviously at least as big a fan, probably more so since I was not one to wear any NIN gear at the time. I thought it was cool but did not think much of it at the time. A few weeks later, maybe months, I apparently saw him again but at a Blockbuster Video. Again, I said nothing.

     When I started my first day at my new position, I was wearing a NIN t-shirt from the Self Destruct Tour in 1995. I think it looked like this. During one of the breaks, a guy came up to me and asked if I was a NIN fan. I said yes, of course, and he said he was, as well. I think we chatted very briefly then parted ways since he worked in a different part of the building than me at the time.

     When the shift ended at midnight, he called me over to his car and I recognized the woman in the passenger seat was a woman I saw working there that night but had no idea they were together. We talked more NIN stuff and I told him of seeing a person in town twice who had a black leather jacket with a large NIN logo on the back and thought it was very cool to see such a fan. His reply was, as he reached to pick something up from his back seat.... "You mean THIS jacket?"

     I WAS FLOORED!!! He was the guy wearing the jacket! We became friends, of course, but we lost track of each other when I moved away for a couple of years in 1999. No need to elaborate beyond that but how fun was that story, huh?