Warm welcome leaves wife cold

Over the weekend I heard the story of an Orange County woman who first began to suspect her husband was cheating on her when he took her to a fancy restaurant for the first time. Seems the maitre d’ greeted the hubby by name and said it was nice to see him again.

That reminded me of the time a new assistant manager of an L.A. hotel got the bright idea to send out thank-you notes to guests who had spent the night there.

He was soon swamped with calls from indignant wives demanding to know what he meant by saying their husbands had stayed there and calls from panicky husbands asking if the hotel couldn’t just say it was all a mistake.

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Thanks for the warning

After seeing the headline that Ann Fanning of Ridgecrest sent me, I don’t think I’ll be making any credit card transactions in San Bernardino County (see accompanying).

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Such modesty

Joseph Wojcik of Claremont was surprised that a tutor looking for business would admit to a less-than-impressive SAT score (see accompanying). Commented Wojcik: “Maybe he tutors athletes.”

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Bargain of the week

Sure, it’s only Tuesday, but I defy you to beat the $200 savings that Marty Rauch of West L.A. found for what must be some really delicious shrimp (see accompanying).

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More food for thought

In Colton, Craig Walker of Orange noticed a restaurant where you evidently don’t order a meal, you bid for it (see photo).

Wondered Walker: “Will prepared meals be showing up on EBay soon?”

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More Kinky stuff

As I said the other day, I thought I was telling a feel-good story when I wrote about a cat named Kinky who made an unscheduled trip atop his owner’s ladder rack on the 91 Freeway and survived.

But after that item appeared, you may recall, I heard from a wiseacre reader who wondered if Kinky’s name indicated that the cat was leading an immoral personal life (in fact, the feline merely has a kink in her tail).

Since then I’ve been chewed out by a reader who lectured me that all cats should live indoors, both for their own safety and for that of the bird population.

Well, I do wish that instead of bringing down songbirds, cats could be trained to hunt crows.

At the rate crows are reproducing in my neighborhood, I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before they start hunting us.

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miscelLAny

Sunday will mark the 23rd anniversary of a musical landmark -- the day that Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire while he was filming a Pepsi commercial at the Shrine Auditorium.

On Amazon.com I found a memoir by Phil Dusenberry, the late ad executive, who discusses the incident. The book’s title: “Then We Set His Hair on Fire.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com