I’m always amazed at what you sometimes overhear at a coffee shop.
Earlier today, I decided that I wanted to get out of the house to get a little work done, so I went to a coffee shop that I haven’t been to before.
It was great. This coffee shop is particularly large, it has several rooms and a lot of seating, and I didn’t have to fight for a spot to sit. I settled down in a leather club chair tucked away in the corner of a small room. There was a middle-aged gentleman sitting at a table on the other side of the room, but aside from the two of us, we were the only people in the room.
After sipping my cherry hibiscus tea for a few minutes, I decided to pull out my laptop and get to work, only to remember that I never asked the barista for the Wi-Fi password. I didn’t want to lose my spot, so I strolled across the room to the man sitting at the table.
“Excuse me, do you know what the Wi-Fi password is?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you knew what the Wi-Fi password is.”
“Oh yeah, give me a moment, I have it written down.”
He pulled out a slip and told me the password. He was very friendly, he cautioned that the Internet at the coffee shop can sometimes be a little slow, but the Wi-Fi works best when you sit closer to the front of the store (which he assumed is where the router must be).
I said thank you with a smile, turned, and returned to my seat. Several hours flew by. I watched a soccer match, I read a chapter from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and I combed through my email inbox.
As I was sitting there, a middle-aged woman entered the room and sat at a table in the opposite corner from where I was sitting. She was eventually joined by two other women, also middle-aged. I didn’t pay much attention to them, I assumed that it was maybe some sort of book club, but they sat and talked for at least two hours.
Throughout this entire time, I had my headphones on, so I was not aware of what the women were talking about. Eventually, they left, leaving the other man and me alone in the room.
Another fifteen minutes passed, and I could tell that the man was getting ready to leave, but he was lingering, almost as if he was waiting for me to say goodbye to him. So, I obliged.
“Hey, thanks again for sharing the Wi-Fi password.”
He turned toward me and asked:
“How did the Internet work for you?”
“It was fine, it worked well. I’m a little nervous about working from here during the week since the connection can be spotty, but this is a nice place to escape to on the weekend.”
We got to chatting a bit. I told him I work remotely, he asked what I did, I asked what he did, the usual small talk. Then, in a hushed voice, he said to me:
“Did you hear what those women in the corner were talking about?”
“No, I didn’t. I had my headphones in.”
He gave a small smirk.
“Boy, did you miss a crazy conversation.”
I laughed. “What do you mean?”
“The women were—”
He then paused for a good five to ten seconds, carefully selecting words in his mind to describe the conversation. Finally, he said:
“...sexually curious cougars who were recounting their experiences with younger men.”
Never in a million years would I have expected those to be the words to leave his mouth.
Naturally, I was shocked and now intrigued, so I asked what the women were saying. He continued:
“There was some sort of kink or fetish element to all of it. In fact, it was like listening to a reality show. For a second I thought I was dropped into an episode of Sex and the City, except there weren’t any cosmos.”
He said that he was trying not to eavesdrop. He even put his headphones on to give the appearance that he wasn’t trying to listen. I told him that I don’t blame him, if I would’ve known such a salacious conversation was happening, I probably wouldn’t have been able to help myself from eavesdropping too.
We talked for a few more minutes, and the man left the coffee shop to continue on his day. But I couldn’t help but thinking three things in particular:
Lastly, I am constantly in awe of what you learn about people just by striking up a simple conversation. If I wouldn’t have asked the man for the Wi-Fi password when I initially sat down, he wouldn’t have said anything to me about the women. And if he wouldn’t have said anything about the women, I wouldn’t have had this story to tell. And if I wouldn’t have had this story to tell, then today would’ve been a lot less interesting.
It’s been said before, and it may be a bit cliché, but it’s true: there are stories all around us, you just have to find them.
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I’m always amazed at what you sometimes overhear at a coffee shop.
Earlier today, I decided that I wanted to get out of the house to get a little work done, so I went to a coffee shop that I haven’t been to before.
It was great. This coffee shop is particularly large, it has several rooms and a lot of seating, and I didn’t have to fight for a spot to sit. I settled down in a leather club chair tucked away in the corner of a small room. There was a middle-aged gentleman sitting at a table on the other side of the room, but aside from the two of us, we were the only people in the room.
After sipping my cherry hibiscus tea for a few minutes, I decided to pull out my laptop and get to work, only to remember that I never asked the barista for the Wi-Fi password. I didn’t want to lose my spot, so I strolled across the room to the man sitting at the table.
“Excuse me, do you know what the Wi-Fi password is?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you knew what the Wi-Fi password is.”
“Oh yeah, give me a moment, I have it written down.”
He pulled out a slip and told me the password. He was very friendly, he cautioned that the Internet at the coffee shop can sometimes be a little slow, but the Wi-Fi works best when you sit closer to the front of the store (which he assumed is where the router must be).
I said thank you with a smile, turned, and returned to my seat. Several hours flew by. I watched a soccer match, I read a chapter from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and I combed through my email inbox.
As I was sitting there, a middle-aged woman entered the room and sat at a table in the opposite corner from where I was sitting. She was eventually joined by two other women, also middle-aged. I didn’t pay much attention to them, I assumed that it was maybe some sort of book club, but they sat and talked for at least two hours.
Throughout this entire time, I had my headphones on, so I was not aware of what the women were talking about. Eventually, they left, leaving the other man and me alone in the room.
Another fifteen minutes passed, and I could tell that the man was getting ready to leave, but he was lingering, almost as if he was waiting for me to say goodbye to him. So, I obliged.
“Hey, thanks again for sharing the Wi-Fi password.”
He turned toward me and asked:
“How did the Internet work for you?”
“It was fine, it worked well. I’m a little nervous about working from here during the week since the connection can be spotty, but this is a nice place to escape to on the weekend.”
We got to chatting a bit. I told him I work remotely, he asked what I did, I asked what he did, the usual small talk. Then, in a hushed voice, he said to me:
“Did you hear what those women in the corner were talking about?”
“No, I didn’t. I had my headphones in.”
He gave a small smirk.
“Boy, did you miss a crazy conversation.”
I laughed. “What do you mean?”
“The women were—”
He then paused for a good five to ten seconds, carefully selecting words in his mind to describe the conversation. Finally, he said:
“...sexually curious cougars who were recounting their experiences with younger men.”
Never in a million years would I have expected those to be the words to leave his mouth.
Naturally, I was shocked and now intrigued, so I asked what the women were saying. He continued:
“There was some sort of kink or fetish element to all of it. In fact, it was like listening to a reality show. For a second I thought I was dropped into an episode of Sex and the City, except there weren’t any cosmos.”
He said that he was trying not to eavesdrop. He even put his headphones on to give the appearance that he wasn’t trying to listen. I told him that I don’t blame him, if I would’ve known such a salacious conversation was happening, I probably wouldn’t have been able to help myself from eavesdropping too.
We talked for a few more minutes, and the man left the coffee shop to continue on his day. But I couldn’t help but thinking three things in particular:
Lastly, I am constantly in awe of what you learn about people just by striking up a simple conversation. If I wouldn’t have asked the man for the Wi-Fi password when I initially sat down, he wouldn’t have said anything to me about the women. And if he wouldn’t have said anything about the women, I wouldn’t have had this story to tell. And if I wouldn’t have had this story to tell, then today would’ve been a lot less interesting.
It’s been said before, and it may be a bit cliché, but it’s true: there are stories all around us, you just have to find them.
