My Day at Starbucks
First and foremost, I would like to start this by saying this by saying that I consider myself to be an expert amatuer at people watching and observing social interactions.
I’m currently sitting in a starbucks in southern-esk Indiana (don’t worry, I’m still far far away from Kentucky). It’s a saturday, around 2:30pm and this place is surprisingly not busy. It’s awesome and it makes studying easier…Until I get distracted and decided to attempt a blog thing.
*ahem*
Anyway, back to the people interaction stuff. So I’m sitting here, in a corner table, with my school stuff all strewn about around me (when I go to Starbucks on the weekend, I camp out for the long-haul), and then this 20-something girl (let’s call her Veronica) and a 20-something dude (and we’ll call him Dave) show up. They sit at a table about 6 feet away from me, which is far enough for them to be private, but close enough for me to still be in earshot of them talking, which disrupts my delicately-structured study zone.
So they sit down, the Veronica sits next to the window, and the dave is directly across the table from her. She had a drink, he did not, by the way. Veronica sits down, crosses her leg and says, “tell me about yourself,” to Dave. At this point, Dave sits down on the edge of his seat and doesn’t know where to put his arms. He starts off with saying something like “well, I want to know more about you…*awkward pause* …but I’m a really hard worker.”
At this point I would like to point out that Veronica picks up her drink and politely begins to chug it, one mouthful at a time (one might compare the chugging to the way someone finishes a shot of whiskey before doing something stupid).
They talk for about 30 minutes, she’s obviously in control of everything going on with the meeting/date/interview thing. That’s another thing! I couldn’t figure out if this was an interview, a coffee-date, a date date, a “let’s hang out at Starbucks today and get to know each other” thing, I have no idea. But they talk for about 30 minutes, she asks him lots of questions about his life, where he grew up, family stuff, the usual. And poor Dave does most of the talking while acting incredibly nervous. She talks some, but more in the interviewer role than the conversationalist.
Their conversation finally ends. I don’t really know what they talked about specifically, I zoned in and out a lot because I was trying to study and whatnot. But they stand up to leave, (Veronica told him that she has a friends wedding to help plan) and what do they do? I love this part, it warms my heart in a unique way…No hug, no high five, no kiss or whatever, not even a fist bump or a side hug. She gives him the handshake, and while still shaking hands Dave places his left hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. The kind of squeeze that says “I’m gonna be banished to the friendzone for this.” It catches Veronica by suprise, and then she makes a b-line to the door. Dave hangs out for a while after, still with no drink. He looked like he was in a bit of a daze. At this point my interest is gone, and I go back to studying.
FYI, if you’re a dude and you decide to wear a sweater vest, do not tuck it in. And if you do decide to tuck it in, please, only tuck it into your pants and not into your skivvies as well. That was gross and upsetting.
Then, an hour later, Veronica walks in again (’m still in the same spot, except now I have figured out how to lean the chair back onto two legs and prop myself against the wall) and she sits down in the same spot, but this time she has a girl with her. And it’s like deja vu! The exact same thing happens again…sort of. This time Veronica and…lets call this one Franchesca. Veronica and Franchesca sit down, same places, Veronica crosses her legs again and opens with “tell me about yourself.” Franchesca looks a little uncomfortable as Veronica goes through the same series of questions in about the same order as before. They’re here for about 45 minutes this time, and then they do the handshake thing and leave.
I swear, Starbucks on a Saturday is more entertaining than watching the masses on Black Friday. And I am thoroughly confused now about what the purpose of those meetings were. I wonder if she’ll come back in an hour again. That would be funny. Haha