I’m waiting to meet up with some
friends. This morning is a little colder
than I expected it to be. I was one of the late arrivals at the coffee shop,
because when I got there, it was super packed.
I wait on line eyeing the only table that’s open. I look away for one second to look back and
see a little old lady had snatched the table.
So I take my number and enjoy the sunlight outside. A table inside opens up so I quickly make my
way to sit down, just in time for my order to be brought out to me. Over the past month, I have started to feel
like a regular because of how many times I have been here. The shop workers
recognize this as well. They pretty much
have my order memorize, and they have become more personal with me. They ask how my day will be and if I need
anything else. That’s more than the
typical get your order and thank you very much attitude I got when I first
started coming here.
By the
time I had settled down, the shop had done the same. More than half of the costumers had left
leaving only 4 occupied tables. All of
the tables surprisingly were ruled by people 60 and above.
The table
closest to me sits a balding man. He is sitting there with a book and a golfer’s
sun hat laying on the table. He seems
like he can’t concentrate. He seems very jittery and is not really looking at
his book. He looks at everyone that
walks by his table, and is easily distracted by sounds in the shop like the
closing of the register and the sliding of chairs. He finally starts turning some pages as the
shop comes to a slower pace.
The table
next to the balding man is another older man who is also reading a book. As the server brings out his order of bananas
and yogurt, he gets the biggest smile on his face. It was a nice gesture, but at the same time I
think he was just happy to get his food.
With a little sprinkle of brown sugar on top of his breakfast, he continues
reading his book. He only continues eating his breakfast only when he finds an
appropriate stopping point in his book.
The little
old lady that jacked my table. How could
I be mad at her? She is just too little and filled with joy when her friends
join her at the table. Her friends could
have possibly been coworkers. The servers
were calling her Dr. when she was ordering her breakfast. They also were asking
about classes which gave me a pretty clear picture of what she does. The four women talked chit chat a little bit
before they started talking about more serious matters. All of them pulled out daily calendar books filled
with little pink post it notes, and discussed their upcoming events.
A
couple replaces the table where the balding man sat before. The lady sits down with a burrito and a chai
tea. Her husband joins her with his
coffee. Both make small talk as they
both read different newspapers. The lady
has a bag with yarn in it, most likely purchased from the store that’s next
door. I thought that maybe the wife had
been here before. But I don’t think her husband was familiar with the
place. I found his choice of clothes was
interesting. He was wearing oil stained
jeans, with a work shirt that was held up with some suspenders. He topped it all off with a camo hat. He wasn’t typically what you would see in
this shop, but hey, who cares, neither am I probably. Most people might find
his attire a little gross, but I see it as respect. He’s a hardworking man and his clothes aren’t
dingy for nothing. They got that way
from working with his hands. So is he embarrassed
that he walked in the shop looking like this? No. Should he be? Hell no. I have been lucky enough to growing up with
oily pairs of jeans layered with dust. Some
would be embarrassed for him, but that’s because they care about what they look
like. I applaud him, because he is part of a dying breed. More and more, I see people struggling with
simple everyday tasks like changing a tire or changing the oil of their vehicles. I have noticed one thing about observing
people. They are becoming more and more consumed
in technology. They rely on it too much
and struggle to do everyday tasks such as these. They rely on other people to do it so they
tend to not worry about it. So what’s
going to happen when all the older people that do these tasks are gone? I have
just been lucky enough to learn ways of relying on myself for getting stuff
done. I guess instead of getting mad, I educate
people on it. Maybe someone will look up from their phone and listen.
The shop
had started to pick up again as it hits the brunch hour. There is a variety of
people in here now. One dude is typing a
rather lengthy email while he drinks coffee out of his own thermos. I guess the shops coffee isn’t good enough
for some.
A young
couple in their 20’s is in earshot of me.
From what I can hear, they had a pretty late night last night and ended
up staying at the boyfriend’s brother’s house.
They looked pretty rough as well.
The girlfriend was wearing sunglasses inside and she was carrying her
overnight bag along with a makeup pouch.
The boyfriend had a super case of bed head as he downed his cup of
coffee as fast as possible. They discussed
going back to the house to do a better job of cleaning up the house before they
left town. The girlfriend quickly agreed
because she wanted to go back and look for her nose ring that had gone missing
during the night.
Well my
friends have finally shown up. Time for
me to catch up and relax. Maybe I’ll be
a subject of observation now. Or maybe I
have been ….
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