I walked into Big D Burgers for lunch one day and noticed that there were two Ziploc bags hanging near, but not directly over, the two doorway entrances. Each bag was filled with water and contained a penny. Why? Do they represent cash flow? Liquid assets?

No, you cunning linguist, you! The purpose of the water-filled bag with a penny in it is far more practical than mystical. Mauricio Vargas of Big D Burgers enlightened me with the true story behind this mysterious fixture. Vargas said his boss had gone to a restaurant up north (in a city whose name he could not recall) and saw the bags hanging over the doors and asked why they were there. To keep the flies away, they told her.

“My boss thought it was funny because she had spent about $400 to keep the flies away with other methods. So, she asked me to hang up the bags with the penny and the water,” said Vargas. Did it work? “All of a sudden, we noticed fewer flies. We would see a lot, especially in the summer, but now there aren’t as many as before. A lot of people come in and ask about those bags,” added Vargas.

Personally, I have never heard of such a thing. Even after hearing the story, which I thought was just fantastic, I ran a search on Google to see if this remedy was a well-known one. I typed in the words “bag with water and penny” and voila! The first hit was titled, “Home Remedies to Get Rid of Flies” on www.associatedcontent.com. The total amount of hits came in at 405,000.

So why does this remedy work? According to the user who submitted this solution on the aforementioned Web site, one theory is that the clear bags cast images that resemble spider webs and flies avoid spider webs (for obvious reasons). Well, if it truly works, it sure beats fly tape (yuck)!

What is Glad You Asked?

Glad You Asked attempts to answer readers’ questions. Do you have any questions bugging you? Send them to me at dmontanez@napanews.com or call me at 256-2224.