Rough Day

It’s an early Sunday morning and I have finally gotten to sit down and take a break from my Sunday activities. I sat down at my original field of observation, the coffee shop and order my beloved coconut iced coffee. It was a little cold outside, but many decided to gather there for their morning drink, so I did the same.

I look up from my computer to see a lone woman sitting at the table in front of me. She had with her a book and her baby daughter who was fast asleep next to her in her car seat. We will call this woman Samantha. Samantha had long brown hair that she had pulled back in a ponytail, brown eyes and was around the age of 20. She is wearing a white button up shirt with jeans and has on a black apron. I found the apron strange, but I figured she worked at the restaurant and was taking a break. I wonder why she has her baby with her if she is working. I have never seen her working here any of the times I have come to get coffee, which is very often. The book she is reading was a decent sized book and it looked as if she had just been reading it for a few days. Samantha seems to be having a hard time staying focused on her book, frequently looking around or at her phone. Her sorrowful expression and the gloomy look in her eyes tells me that she is not having a good day. Samantha gets a phone call and appears to be making arrangements with her mom to drop her daughter off. The phone call lasts about two minutes and then Samantha returns to her book. At this point, Samantha and I are the only two outside of the coffee shop. Suddenly I hear the baby wake up, and she sounds grumpy. Samantha tends to her upset baby desperately trying to keep her from crying but she is not successful. The baby bursts out into a loud wailing cry. Samantha try’s everything she can to calm her child but nothing is working. After about a minute of crying, Samantha stands up apologizes to me for the crying and leaves the coffee shop with her things. I feel bad for Samantha and wish I could help her out, but I can’t help but wonder why she was wearing a black apron if she wasn’t working there. Perhaps she had just gotten off work, or was taking a break from a separate restaurant.