tellhimfred.com

When I got home from work yesterday I started thinking about the daily encounters I have with people that could best be described as peripheral acquaintances. These are usually people who are one step above strangers. They are strangers that you recognize.

In my day-to-day routine, I often am on auto pilot when interacting with my peripheral acquaintances. I say “Hi.” and “thank you.”, but that is usually the extent of the conversation.

So last night I decided to make a conscious effort to be more friendly and personal with my P.A.s. I was hungry and decided I was going to take a trip back to a restaurant around the corner from my old apt. in Malden. They have decent, cheap food. They have cheap draft beer. Best of all they have Keno. I drove there to order some take out and see if I was lucky.

This particular restaurant/bar isn’t like most places that have Keno. Instead, they have an employee dedicated to running the machine and nothing else. If you’re sitting on the other side of the bar, you can’t give your ticket and your money to a bartender….you have to bring it to the Keno person.

Well, for the first time I can remember, the bar area was nearly empty, so I grabbed the seat right next to the Keno machine. Standing directly across from me was a woman I’ve seen quite a few times. This might just be me, but do you know some people that just look mean? They just have this look on their face that is sour, and even though you’ve never said a word to them, you already know they’re miserable and evil? This woman looked like that.

I picked my numbers and handed her the card and money. No words were spoken. But after I got my change back, I put two dollars in her tip jar which was empty.

That changed everything.

The woman that I had written off as cold and unpleasant started chatting with me. Turns out her son went to the same college as I did, her day job is right around the corner from mine, and she works for the same type of company. I was able to quiz her on the fine art of tipping when you’ve won on a Keno ticket, and she went into detail about the guy who kept winning $500 without tipping her.

I guess there’s really no point to this post other than the idea that it’s nice to be wrong about people sometimes. And the people you take for granted each day are probably much more interesting than you think.

Have a great weekend.