Musings

[ApolloBalboa]

I went to the store after meeting my friend at the gym, originally just with the intention of buying stamps, but stopped to get a few other items (mostly refrigerated) along the way. I went to the express line, where an old woman and her husband were ahead of me while the person in front of them was finishing up. As I put my items on the belt, the woman apologized for not moving as she saw me coming, as she was distracted by one of the many gossip magazines parallel to the checkout. I laughed, said it was no problem and asked (tongue in cheek) if there was anything worth reading. She said no and the two of us proceeded to exchange pleasantries until her items were next to be checked out. As she was talking to the cashier, she was talking about how she was waiting for her friend to finish and motioned in what I thought was my direction. I waited until she had finished speaking and then said to the cashier with a wink, "Did she tell you? She's buying my groceries." The three of us laughed and the woman continued to bag her items before putting them in her cart. She apologized for taking so long (even though I didn't think she had), and I told her it was no problem, that patience is never a bad thing to exercise (though I winked at her as I said it). I proceeded to pay for my things and was starting off when the woman (who had gone to the Starbucks counter and was now sitting down with a coffee) yelled out to have a nice day and waved at me. I waved back at her and wished her the same.

It seems like sometimes we are too caught up in our own selves that we forget that we can interact and become friends with other people, even if it's for a short time. Talking to a stranger in the checkout line isn't something I would normally do (because I tend to be shy), but I'm glad I went against my instinct to remain silent and ended up enjoying the brief time I was in the company of new and unfamiliar people.

 

[bw18081]

It seems like sometimes we are too caught up in our own selves that we forget that we can interact and become friends with other people, even if it's for a short time. Talking to a stranger in the checkout line isn't something I would normally do (because I tend to be shy), but I'm glad I went against my instinct to remain silent and ended up enjoying the brief time I was in the company of new and unfamiliar people.

I agree, every once in a while something similar happens to me. Making light conversation is something I'm trying to get in the habit of also as I too usually remain silent in situations where there are unfamiliar people.

 

[Vanilla Bear]

So you didn't bang the old lady?! :lame:

 

[jod0565]

It's nice to be nice - I liked the story.

 

[jinxypie]

Talking to a stranger in the checkout line isn't something I would normally do (because I tend to be shy), but I'm glad I went against my instinct to remain silent and ended up enjoying the brief time I was in the company of new and unfamiliar people.

Yeah, I was in the waiting area of a government office today and a guy was complaining about how he's "paying for someone else's mistake". He actually was, someone had printed something wrong on his birth certificate years ago and it ended up costing him like $54 to correct it... but anyway, he decided to talk to ALL of us in the waiting area about it. I didn't mind, it passed the time.