Early Night Social Interactions

Tonight is the first night of Daylight Savings and it is pitch black outside at only 6:30 p.m. There is very little movement, noise, and people in the corner café today! The music is reggae-like music and is being played at a very low volume. No one is talking about a low speaking voice, not quite low enough to be a whisper but not loud enough to be a regular talking voice. The lighting is dim and there is hardly any sound coming from the coffee machine. It is pretty chilly out tonight so everyone has their “Fall” clothes on which mostly consists of hoodies and boots. No one really has any drinks out except for about three people. This is pretty surprising because it is just assumed that people would want to get hot chocolates or hot latte’s because of the weather change.

            There are maybe ten people in here tonight and everyone, as usual, are on their computers studying or doing homework. This time, there are two groups of people working on homework together. They are the only one’s really talking. No one is in the comfy chairs today, and there is a perfect balance of older people to college student-age people in here. The first man that I am observing is the one sitting right next to me. He has a stack of pocket books out on his table and has his laptop out. He seems to be half doing homework and half emailing/messaging/going onto social media. There are moments where he is typing at lightening speed and has a loot of pure concentration on his face, and other times he is laughing and smiling at the screen while typing or scrolling. When I first walked in, I noticed him sitting there and that the table had an empty seat. I was on the phone and he had earphones in, but I looked at him and he looked up. I then pointed at the chair and lipped “is anyone sitting here” to him and he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. He was so nice about it and it just made me think of how I’ve never come into contact with a “mean” person here. Almost everyone is willing to share a table with you or to move if a bigger party needs the table, or to just answer simple questions like that. I think that we, as people, often assume that people are hard to talk to, or we are scared to talk to strangers in these types of settings and situations because we don’t know how they will react or what will happen. At least, that is how I am sometimes.

            Another example of these social interactions would be the man I noticed by the bar. He is the only one sitting there and has a ball cap on, and since they are not busy at all, all of the barista’s take turns talking to him. Personally, I would be nervous to talk to him because he doesn’t really have any expression on him face and he was just sitting there drinking his coffee and keeping to himself until they started talking to him. I can hear that he has an accent and speaks with some broken English. There are a few moments where the Barista’s have to ask what he just said, but overall they seem to be building some great relationships over there. Everyone that works here are so nice and they always try to get to know you if they have the chance. They are asking him about where he is from and how long he will be here. One guy also said that he recognizes him because he comes so often. The said he is from India and that he comes here so much because they have the best coffee he’s ever tasted (he’s is one of the few people who actually has a drink). They are having such a nice conversation and I think that he enjoys the company.

            The place has almost cleared out since I got here. They don’t close for another three hours or so, but it looks like they won’t be busy for the rest of the night.