Oh the Tragedy

To my right there was a college student in shorts on his mac.  His friend had joined him earlier, but was about to leave.  He was asking shorts kid what his plans were for the night.  Shorts replied that he was going to leave after he finished what he was doing. He said he was going to go home and do some chemistry homework.  After his friend left, he sat there for a few minutes before packing up all of his stuff in a hurry, chugging what he had left of his coffee and left. 

In front of me, there was a very well dressed Hispanic family.  Two men and one woman with a small child.  The little boy was wearing his red sunglasses that he was so proud of, while he spent the majority of the time breaking straw wrappers over his head into tiny pieces.  The rest of the family was engaged in conversation.  Laughing at times, and getting serious at others.  I had a hard time catching some of the conversation because most of it was spoken half English and half Spanish.  Bored, the little boy continued to get up and take different newspapers from the surrounding tables and study the pictures on every single page until they left. 

To my left, there is a guy wearing a cap with a cup of coffee and his laptop.  He started out strolling on Facebook for a while.  From there he read a few articles, and is now playing online war simulation games. 

A table down from the guy in the cap, there are two girls. Both with an iced coffee and a water.  There conversations seem very intense.  One girl with sunglasses on her head is talking about jealousy among the coworkers where she works.  She described the mistakes a new girl had made recently.  She then brought up the fact that the other co-workers that had brought up the mistakes on the new girl make more mistakes and work half as hard as the new girl.  She then described a company meeting where she described to her friend what she thought of every person in the room, despite the nice relationships she keeps with everyone for the sake of her workplace.

I get distracted as the coffee shop worker picks up where the Spanglish family had sat. He swiftly picked up empty glasses, napkin, and the thousands of straw wrapper pieces that the little boy had left for him.   

A girl in her 20’s and a lady maybe in her 50’s both wait for their orders by the register. Both are silent, not facing each other to avoid any form of interaction with each other.  Although so close, it is rather awkward to watch them avoid each other until one of them gets their drink so they can leave.

 

Back to the two girls with iced coffee and waters.  I noticed that I have yet to hear from the girl in the blue shirt to talk.  This whole time, it has been the girl with sunglasses on her head that has spoken.  She has been able to vent about her feelings on her workplace, and has ventured into talking about college classes.  Complaining about a professor and the class load.  Oh the hardships of college.  Makes me wonder if this poor girl sees the good in any situation.  Or is she constantly negative?  Hey, your life could be a whole lot worse.   

A couple sits on the corner couches talking about each other’s families.   They are obviously married, wearing rings talking about having recent conversations on the phone with each other’s in-laws.  They tend to show a lot of affection towards each other by holding hands, with the occasional kiss. The lady goes on to talk about her friend who has too many dishes.  “I just don’t get how someone can have so many freaking sets!” she says.  Her husband chimes in with a comment to try and calm the situation saying, “Well maybe she just likes to collect sets.”  The conversation quickly demolishes after his comment.  The woman keeps leaving the couch to talk to the shop workers.  The couple seems to know the owner and the workers, due to the constant attention the couple is getting, making sure they have everything they need. 

A man and two women sit where the Spanglish family previously been.  With no introductions or greetings between each other, the man gets straight to why the three are there and start talking about life insurance for the older lady of the two.  The older woman had brought her daughter to make sure that the life insurance policy is clear to the older woman and that there is no confusion.  He goes on to explain the different life insurance plans, and the benefits that go along with the plans.  He goes into detail about what would be paid, and what the family would receive if the older woman was to pass away.  A payment plan for a funeral is then brought up and discussed in detail.  Although a sad but necessary subject, the man seems to make the two women as comfortable as he can through the process.  It was such a sad thing to see, but I know that everyone will go through it one day.

With that, I wondered what the girl with sunglasses would say if she saw what I had witnessed.  Because hey, your life could be worse.