Ordering pizza with Tommy Tutone

The other night I was out and heard “867-5309 Jenny” by Tommy Tutone. I immediately thought of pizza. Every time I hear that song it takes me back to the Fall of 1987 when I was in my first semester of university, living in res.

At your service
When I moved into res, I was given a meal card, which was a declining balance card that had like $1,800 on it. Every time I made a purchase, it came off that card until it reached zero – then it was a book mark. The meal card was good not only in the Lister Hall cafeteria, but in that first year at CAB (Central Academic Building), cafeteria, and various food outlets in the Students Union Building, or SUB.

There was also one other, very cool place we could use it. The bottom of the main Lister Hall complex had a student pub called “The Ship”. Like any ship, it had a galley. After the cafeteria closed, until I think around midnight, we could go to the galley and get more fast food type stuff. It also served subs and – pizza.

The added bonus was the pizza could be delivered right to your room. The best part was you could just phone “The Ship”, order your pizza, give them your meal card number, and the total would just come off your card.

Delivery man
The university hired students to deliver the pizzas. One of the coolest delivery people was a guy named Mike Ouchi, pronounced “Ochi”, from Kamloops, who lived on nearby Seventh Kelsey. I lived on 10K.

Mike was a student, but he was also a street performer, and busker. His talent was making balloon animals, and he was brilliant. He was the first to benefit from the loonie as well. One day, he was making balloon animals and, after a day’s work, was sad when he looked down at the hat and it was just full of coins. There wasn’t a single bill in there. Then he picked up his hat and realized it was full of loonies and it was his best day. It was part of a phenomenon that came with the introduction of the loonie. People had been in the habit of just reaching into their pocket and dropping whatever change they had into a tip jar or hat. Only now, those coins were worth a dollar.

Mike often took the orders by phone down at “The Ship”.

The song
The ‘80s was full of novelty songs and one-hit wonders. Although not officially a one-hit wonder because they had a top 40 hit the year before, the band Tommy Tutone released the single “867-5309/Jenny” in November of 1981. It was pretty catchy, and a staple of the junior high dance.

“867-5309/Jenny” went all the way to number four on the Billboard Hot 100, number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and number one in Canada. It ended 1982 at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart.

The order
When I started university in 1987, my six-digit student ID number was 877611. Everyone admitted into the university that year had a number that started with either “87” or “17”. The year after it would be “88” or “18”, and the year before it was “86” or “16”.

So, it was a joke I could not resist telling. One night, I phoned down to “The Ship” to order pizza.

“Ship Pizza”, came the voice on the other end of the phone.

I instantly recognized it was Mike Ouchi, and gave him my order.

“Student ID number please,” he said.

“8-6-7-5-3-0-9,” I said.

He repeated it back to me, then paused.

“Wait, that has too many numbers,” he said.

Then I sang it – “867-5309”.

Suddenly there was this audible laugh.

He had never heard that before. No one had ever made that joke.

Parting thoughts
For me, long before Domino’s, Little Caesar’s, Pizza Hut, or Pizza 73 – there was “Ship Pizza”. It was so cool to be able to stay in our room or on our floor and have pizza delivered to us. Often it was while we were studying, or watching the Jays, or a movie.

It was a cool part of that time in my life I was away from home for the first time, and experiencing new things.

Every time I hear “867-5309/Jenny”, it brings back all those other memories of good times and great friends on 10K.