Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Coffee Shop Psych

I spent 4 hours at a coffee shop today because they're replacing the pipes in my apartment building and the water was shut off. Argh. However, I got my Monsoon socks done (pic to follow) and got to hear a lot of interesting talk.

One thing I like AND dislike about coffee shops is that you get to hear the conversations of the people in your vicinity. Sometimes this is frustrating, but other times it's very enlightening. Today, the theme seemed to be psychology. The first couple to sit near me discussed how the personality of one woman's replacement in some sort of league (I couldn't figure out what the "league" actually was) caused the "sustainers" to withdraw support. The next couple was a psychologist or social worker and a little boy. The social worker was having the boy describe his week so far and talk about how big brothers should treat their little sisters. The final couple seemed to be a woman with her brother-in-law, and they were trying to see if they could still be friends since the woman was divorcing the brother-in-law's brother.

It was really neat to listen to these interactions and see the similarities in the way people talk out problems. If I would have had my mp3 player with me, I probably wouldn't have heard any of their conversations. The brother-in-law had a great saying: being human is bloody hard. It sort of summed up all three of those conversations.

I'm going to be visiting my in-laws in Missouri for Easter. Who knows what interesting conversations I'll hear!

1 comment:

evejolie said...

That's funny what you said about the coffeeshop. That's my favorite part about coffeeshops, listening to conversations! A few weeks ago while in starbucks, I noticed that a local anchorwoman was at the table next to mine with a friend. I tried my hardest to eavesdrop, but she was much too discreet.