My Personal Experience of Being “Cool Hand Luke”

Another humdrum Friday afternoon at the office, so I thought of what interesting thing to do. I shared my resume on this blog. I was kind of impatient waiting for comments and Plusses from the people whom I tagged in the share. Actually, they are only two. So I chatted one of them, Carlito, with the link to the blog post. This is how our chat began which end prompted me to write about my personal experience about being “Cool Hand Luke.”

Luke Skywalker

I and Carlito chatted about plans in career and life, as my blog post is my resume. Again, just like when our face-to-face chat (real chat) around almost six months ago was cut short, I was prompted to write a post. This time, he had to go because he is taking the remaining half of the day on leave. So he bade goodbye to me by saying “may the force be with you,” the very famous Star Wars line that all males with a “Luke” in their name usually gets.

Cool Hand Luke, The Film

Then, I replied, “and the Cool Hand, too,” referring to the 1967 Paul Newman starrer “Cool Hand Luke.” Carlito jokingly replied “I dont like Cool Hand Luke... hahaha... i cannot see the moral of the story.” This is what prompted me to write this blog post. No, I will not write about what moral lesson we can learn from this film which is about criminals and inmates. What I will do is write about why I like the phrase “cool hand Luke.” I will talk about my personal experience of being “cool hand Luke.”

The Lukes of the World and of the Internet

I watched “Return of the Jedi” in the theatre when I was just a child. Starting from high school to my working years, I get the “may the force be with you” line from people every now and then. But it is only two or three years ago that I was referred to as “cool hand Luke.” It was from Carlito himself. I myself came across the moniker just a few months before that. I was “Googling” and “Wikipedia-ing” the word “Luke” back then and found entries and webpages about the movie.

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My Cool Hand Luke Experience

My personal experience of being or, at least, feeling like a “Cool Hand Luke” was when I worked in a garments company some 10 years ago. I was first assigned at its main office. The experience started when I was transferred to a satellite office in one of its warehouses.

The people employed there (truck drivers, warehouse helpers, a stockman and a logistics officer-in-charge) already knew me because I went there every week to hand them their wages and every month to count inventory and because of company parties. But actually joining them to work with them is different.

After a whole day of settling in with my new assignment and location came the part where I will be called “Cool Hand Luke.” Not exactly literally back then but at least now that I already came across the existence of such a moniker in the film. After the official working hours, my “new co-workers” invited me to a betting game of basketball shootout. No worries there because you only need to bet P1 for every chance or round to shoot the ball. I can no longer recall exactly how many participants were there. Maybe between six to nine. That means, my P1 can increase by P5 to P8 for every round or chance if I make the shot.

As my new friends invited me to play the game with them, I can see and feel their sincerity in welcoming me to their home turf while at the same time their eagerness to show me their shooting skills. The game starts and some hit and some missed, including me. However, it did not take long for me to find my range. Sooner, rather than later, I was able to make my first successful attempt. And because I was last in the sequence of shooters, I did not need to wait for others to take their turns and I picked up the bet “pot.” And it was only the start.

Starting from that round, I was able to make my shots and shared the money pot with one or two others who also made their shots. But it was only good for a very few rounds. After that, for a couple more rounds, no one converted a goal, except me. That is when I picked up the whole money pot all for myself for a string of rounds. The logistics officer-in-charge, who was there watching us at the sidelines sitting on a chair leaning his arms crossed on the top of its back part, dumbfounded uttered “you have great hands... you shot the ball with calmness and coolness...”

It was only the first day of my new assignment. After it, we played more shootouts, shootarounds, five on fives and three on threes. And I continued to make my shots and took on the reputation of being a feared and admired shotmaker.