Recently, I started tutoring to earn a little extra money, now that I’m no longer working at the antique market. I still have a lot of teaching resources, including children’s books, in one of the guest bedroom closets, so I went through the stack of books the other night, looking for something that might interest one of my new students, a child in grade 2. I found a couple of cool I Spy books and some other fun reads, and then I found a book called Dinosaur Bob And His Adventures With The Family Lazardo. I couldn’t remember ever buying it or even reading it to Kate when she was little, and I started flipping through it. Here’s the gist of the story: An American family named Lazardo goes on safari and finds a dinosaur which they bring back to the States and it causes a lot of issues but in the end, (spoiler alert), the dinosaur helps their town baseball team win a big game. And that explanation is only slightly longer than the title of the book. But that’s not the weird part. The fact that they go on an AFRICAN SAFARI with their small children and find a dinosaur isn’t even the weird part. No, the thing that absolutely confounds me is this. On the cover of this book, which was written in 1988 by the way, and on almost every page, there is a man wearing a regimental uniform and a turban. He is briefly described on the first page, when the family initially encounters the dinosaur thusly: “Jumbu, their bodyguard, said nothing.”
Okay, first, why the hell does this family need a bodyguard?! And why is he some kind of Sikh warrior? But then things get even weirder because based on the illustrations, it turns out that he’s not really their bodyguard—he’s actually their MANSERVANT, and on the second page, the Lazardos are lounging on the dinosaur’s back in their swimsuits while Jumbu is in some kind of ceremonial beachwear and he’s SERVING THEM ALL DRINKS. This book was published by Scholastic and can you imagine the pitch meeting?
Author: So there’s this white family and they find a dinosaur…
Scholastic: Like, dinosaur bones?
Author: No. A real dinosaur. And they bring it back to the United States to play baseball for their hometown team.
Scholastic: Interesting. Are there any quirky unexpected characters?
Author: Well, they have an East Indian manservant–
Scholastic: Manservant? That might be perceived as racist. This IS 1988 after all. Better call him a bodyguard.
Author: Oh, okay.
Throughout the entire book, no one talks to him, no one mentions him, even though he’s on almost every single page serving drinks to the family, playing catch with the kids and whatnot, and no one even thinks to ask “Hey Jumbu, you’re a bodyguard, right? Do you think it’s safe to bring a dinosaur back to the Unites States to play baseball?” Because I’m sure all the chaos could have been avoided by letting Jumbu do his damn job. The only time we hear about Jumbu again is on the last page where the family is celebrating the big baseball game win and “Jumbu brought out the musical instruments” so the family could sing and dance. But then it felt like there was some ominous foreshadowing because right at the very end, “Jumbu smiled.” I’ll bet he did. And the sequel to this book is called, Jumbu Gets Even.
The other thing that completely befuddled me the other day happened when I went into the cannabis store. That’s it. That’s the story. No, I’m kidding. I went into the cannabis store, because I live in Canada and we like weed so much that we have government-licensed and regulated places where you can legally purchase it. I don’t smoke it or anything—I use CBD gel caps to help with my shoulder pain. I ran out of pills, and walked into the cannabis store to buy some more. On the counter at the till, there were two jars. These jars are TIP JARS. Every month, this store and others like it, have a question that prompts you to leave money in one of the jars. Last month, the question was “Is the Earth flat?” and terrifyingly, there was almost as much money in the YES jar as in the NO jar. Like, how stoned ARE you if you think that gravity, physics, and every explorer who circumnavigated the globe are just LYING TO YOU? But this month the question was “What TV show was better?” and the choices were Friends or Seinfeld. However. The questions are NOT the point. The point is, Why is the staff in a government licensed and regulated business asking for tips? First, they get paid $15.50 an hour at the very least because that’s the minimum wage. Second, it’s not like they cooked me food or brought me a drink—like, all the woman in the store literally did was open the locked cabinet that I pointed at and hand me a bottle of pills. And she wants a TIP for that? But I guess people are very grateful to cannabis store workers because there were a LOT of tips in those jars. More tips than I bet Jumbu ever got anyway.
mydangblog 
The book you’re describing reminds me of the series, Your Childhood Ruined.
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Oh those are funny! “The Case Of The Overcomplicated Bong”—I love it!
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Poor Jumbu probably has to clean up all the dinosaur poop too, because you know those kids aren’t going to care for that thing once the novelty of owning a dinosaur wears off….
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This is what happens when you buy a pet while caught up in the excitement of safari day. Then things get real
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At least if I were still back in New Mexico, I could get one of those jobs and gain all that experience unlocking cabinets and musing about Flat Earths in a, oh, what is it, I’ve forgotten my quantum physics readings, a two dimensional world…and self-propelling carts, of course!
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Egads. That book belongs on your burn pile, Suzanne, not that I’m for burning books, but maybe this one (???). Or keep it as a case study about cluelessness and racism in 1988. Eeek. And I also wonder about tips for almost zero effort. It’s not like the person had to crawl through a spider-filled basement to get the bottle for you or deliver the pills to your house. Ah well.
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Best show, Friends, or Seinfeld?? They might as well ask, which theory is the most valid, the Flat Earth theory, or the Hollow Earth theory?
Oh and tipping. There are so many things wrong with the way tipping exists in our culture (here in the lower 48) I don’t even know where to begin. I do tip reflexively, when I know servers are getting lower than minimum wage, but when I ask for a cup of coffee and I’m handed a paper cup and the “barista” tilts his or her head toward the thermos style coffee pots over in the corner, I not only do not tip, I am actually tempted to reach across the counter and take some of my money back.
This is what Jumbu knows: he hasn’t gotten a tip since he began service with the family back in ’58, but he smiles because he has poisoned all of them and each day slips the temporary antidote into their drinks. It’s called job security.
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Well that was a weird post😀 At least you weren’t stood over by the person waiting on you, making you guilt out of you don’t leave one. That’s a large hourly minimum. Wish it was here in the states.
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They never mention the tip jar at least, but it’s in a very prominent spot!
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I am absolutely fascinated by this children’s book that you have described here. So, I went to Amazon to check out the reviews, which are overwhelmingly positive–people are just loving the “dreamy” artwork. So, I checked out the handful of one-star reviews–and they seemed to be the only ones concerned for Jumbu. Here’s a direct quote from one of them: “I felt horrified to continue reading this to my toddler. Into the recycling bin it goes.”
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Yeah, it’s weird. You almost don’t notice him —I sure didn’t when I got the book (don’t even remember from where) but now as an older person, especially one with an eye for the strange, it was the first thing I saw!
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Out of this entire story what amazed me the most is that Canada has a minimum wage of $15.50 an hour!! That absolutely blows my mind because minimum wage in the U.S is $7.25! I’m still n shock about this. And now those tip jars are kind of a scam if you ask me, but not as much as the U.S minimum wage compared to up north, that’s a scam…🙄
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I know, right? The base wage here is so much higher than other places. Make me a steak and pour me a glass of wine, or spend 45 minutes doing my nails and I’ll tip 20%, but open a cabinet…!
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I have no idea why Jumbu is there either, but what fascinates me is that the dinosaur in that story clearly inspired by the Mokele-mbembe, a creature that is described as looking like a brontosaurus that supposedly lives in the Congo River. And it reminds me of a book I read as when I was a kid about a boy whose Scottish grandfather sends him a tadpole so he can learn about frogs. Except the tadpole turns into…the Loch Ness Monster.
I have to see if I can find that book. Clearly the ’70’s and ’80’s were a big time for cryptozoology in children’s literature. No wonder some people now really believe the Earth is flat.
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Could the Mokele-mbembe play baseball? Imagine the World Series then! And send me the link to that book—I’ll read anything about the Loch Ness monster!
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Found it: the book is “The Mysterious Tadpole” by Steven Kellogg. It’s a fun story!
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I’ll have to read it!
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Good grief, that storybook sounds like bad Steven Spielberg fan fiction: What if we combined the plot of Jurassic Park with the cultural insensitivity of Temple of Doom?
I remember first seeing tip jars in coffeehouses, right around the time “that kid behind the coffee counter” was rebranded as barista. Now I routinely see tip jars in delis and bagel shops. I poured coffee and made sandwiches in an Irish deli here in the Bronx all throughout college, and the very notion of tipping never occurred to me or any of the customers. That was something done in restaurants. Now, I see tip jars everywhere. I think it’s a sign of how underpaid and undervalued so many blue-collar workers are, alas.
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Up here, they make $15.50 an hour to start but i think because it’s government regulated they might get more. Weed barista—that’s a hoot!
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Here in the Pacific Northwest, even folks making $15-18 an hour expect tips when minimum wage is $13. I have seen tip jars in some of the untippiest of places, too!
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Really? The biggest tip I ever got at the antique market was a quarter! And we didn’t even have a tip jar!
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Whoa – was surprised to learn the results of theFlat Earth “survey”! But maybe it’s not so surprising. A few months ago I was researching something on YouTube and fell down the Rabbit Hole – you know how it is – and ended up watching Flat Earth videos. I did not realize this whole thing was a raging controversy.
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I’m going to avoid doing that—I’m sure it will make me insane!
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