Category: convos with strangers

10.21.15

Me: *places salad by cash register* *puts fudgey brownie on top of salad container*

Guy: *smiles*

Me: I gotta keep it balanced.

Guy: *smiles*

Is it really a conversation if he didn’t say anything? On the other hand, do I get bonus points since I initiated the contact? Do I get points on top of bonus points since he rejected my offer of conversation?

I think I already know the answers and I’ve collected the points and cashed them in for that fudgey brownie. It is quite possibly the best brownie I’ve had. Ever. Their name is Dave’s Fresh Pasta, but my heart knows them as Dave’s Best Brownie in the Whole Wide World Brownie Brownie Brownie Yum Yum Give Me More.

9.21.15
PHL airport

I’d been traveling for approximately 9.5 hours already and still had one more flight to go before I could rest my weary head on my own pillow. I decided I’d earned a snack. I grabbed a bag of Chex Mix snack mix.

Lady worker: *eyes my snack* Would you like a drink with that?

Me: Oh, no thanks. I’ve got a water bottle already.

Lady worker: That’ll be $4.

Me: *pauses while pulling out cash to sneeze into the crook of my elbow*

Lady worker: Bless you. We have tissues and allergy medicine for sale over there. *winks*

Me: *smiles* You’re a good salesman, but I’m all set on that front too.

And with that transaction completed, I returned to my gate where the plane had begun boarding and I was one step closer to home.

8.11.15

Me: *transfers laundry from washer to dryer, carefully sorting through what gets dried and what doesn’t*

Her: *flies down stairs* *adds cash to laundry card* *holds up card* Do you like this thing?

Me: Oh, I LOVE it.

Her: Really? I wasn’t sure if I had money on it and I had to run to the ATM.

Me: Well, I had to collect quarters before. This is so much better. Once you added the money, did you find you hadn’t needed to?

Her: I mean, yeah, it was on zero and I’m in the middle of my laundry, but I had to go out to the ATM.

Me: At least the ATM gives currency the card takes. Quarters are hard to find when you’re in the middle of laundry.

Her: True.

She didn’t seem entirely convinced with my arguments, but to me, quarter-fed machines = college to me and upgrading from quarters to a plastic card means I’m moving up on the adulthood scale.

8.6.15

I spent last night hooked up to an at-home sleep study machine which included tubes and wires and tangled bouts of sleep. Barely any sleep, actually. Having reached the Starbucks point of my walk, I decided my usual decaf americano wasn’t going to cut it. I was going to go big.

J: Good morning, Abby.

Me: Hi, J. Can I have an iced grande half-caf americano?

J: There are 3 shots in that. Do you want it 1/3 decaf and 2/3 caffeine or…?

Me: Oh, umm, I don’t care. Surprise me.

With the order paid for, I moved down the counter to wait for my drink. R was in charge of the espresso machine. He held up the marked up cup that said “1/3” under caffeine. “Do you really want it as 1/3 caffeine?”

Me: I’m not sure. There was math involved. Too early.

R: I sort of overheard your conversation with J and I can actually do this fully half caf. I mean, I can pull all three shots as half caf.

Me: Oh! Yes! That’s what I want. Please and thank you.

R: No problem.

Okay, so, I’m kind of a regular and neither J or R was a stranger, but it was an interesting lesson in espresso making.

8.1.15

Her: *turns on faucet* Oooh, that hot water feels so nice. I’m freezing!

Me: *smiles* *turns on cold side of the faucet* *soaps hands silently*

In the mirror, I could see a name tag pinned to her shirt, so presumably she’d been in the gloriously air conditioned shop for quite some time whereas I’d just come in from the scorching July temperatures. It’s amazing how perception works.