Monday, March 11, 2013

Strangers of the day

So today, I tried hard to notice strangers.  They're human beings after all, and they live all over the place, buying things, indeed selling things in the same shops we do, even working in the same places as us.  (And I say us in the comforting sense of we, me and you, my lovely blog readers, who I know individually and treasure dearly - give an aul wink into that Webcam, you never know how clever my blog might be at reaching out... but enough creepiness, and on to creepiness directed at others....)
Here's what I found out -
The delivery man for the company that dropped in three boxes for a colleague of mine, likes to pretend he knows his customers by their first name, "I've a few boxes for (Colleague) here" he said with a knowing wink, ok not really a wink, but he probably did blink, I didn't see his face since I just signed his electronic signing thing with a nostalgic feeling - reminding me as it did of the old etch a sketch.. - see I noticed the thing more than the person there... next challenge puhlease (as I chant to myself, I am a people person, I am a people person)
Lunch time - what better time to make new friends - I sat with one IT person I know, and two other probable IT people.. and they are people - believe me, I saw them eating - well actually I saw them with plates of what looked like an absence of lunch on them... wait a minute!  They advised me on my IT problems, with competing grandeur and fake excitement befitting the glamourous world of IT - it's like OZ, same exact number of vowels and consonents - coincidence?


On my way home I tried to notice strangers in traffic - people coming against me - well lit by an orangey snow ridden low winter sun, that was blinding them all and making them look probably a lot more annoyed than they actually were - one couple were very similar to each other in their "sun grimace" a remarkable show of unibleness (unity in miserableness), while another young lady in a beetle should have looked cool and popular, but she just looked hassled.
Bottom Line: Not one stranger in traffic or anywhere else today looked like someone I wanted to be.  Nor do I think I'll be winning any people person prizes, but then the prizes for those things tend to be rubbish enough and I do not need another goldfish.
What do you notice about the strangers around you?

6 comments:

The Bug said...

I'm kind of a head down & don't make eye contact with people kind of person. I have to REALLY work hard to be pleasant in public. It's difficult. When I do make the effort I notice whether they look like they might bite my head off or not & then adjust my approach (or NON-approach) to them accordingly.

Niamh B said...

It's actually very true for me too Bug, I'll spend my first half hour in company of a new person being incredibly quiet till I have them figured out too. It does seem safer that way doesn't it? But it's probly a waste of time! We should all just dive in.

The Dead Acorn said...

I tend to notice that they do nice things for other strangers. Just little things that don't take a bunch of effort ... maybe I'm just filtering out all the nasty things they do, but I don't think so.

Niamh B said...

they sound like some nice strangers Acorn!

Anonymous said...

I notice frequently that most strangers have horns, or are likely to have horns on closer inspection. For that reason, to me at least, they are strange, in fact even stranger...I'm not against people having horns, but now strangers having horns thats another matter. In the wise words of our ancestors, it's all fun and games until someone looses an eye!

Niamh B said...

Horns on strangers can be especially intimidating... Thankfully my eyes are tightly fitted - hardly ever loose at all.