little bitty girl

I have a tendency to talk to random strangers all the time. I think part of it is because I am naturally chatty (I know, I am stating the obvious here) and part of it is because I am a small town girl at heart. I grew up just knowing the people in my neighbourhood and local shops. I think people who live in big cities tend to be afraid of striking up random conversations with strangers as we tend to be insular. I think part of it is being protective of oneself.

I've never really gotten into that habit. Another thing about me is that I tend to remember details about people so when I re-meet them, I'll ask them about school/family/life event. It just makes this big city seem like a small neighbourhood to me - a la Cheers.

Stefan, who is normally shy always finds it bewildering when I wave to people on the street; like the linen guy who did all the linens at the restaurants I worked at, or the UPS guy from my first job. He'll always exclaim after a brief interchange of words with said people, " Sweetie! You really gotta stop being so friendly! It's ridiculous already."

Yesterday, I called for sushi at the nearby sushi restaurant. The voice on the phone sounded vaguely familiar but I wasn't sure. When I went to pick up my food the person on the other line turned out to be this rather ornery waitress, who hadn't been at the restaurant for the past year and a half. She had gone to work somewhere else. Now, this woman is generally quite brusque in manner so I never really know whether she found my friendly chatter annoying or not. As I started to leave, she suddenly blurted," You know, I've missed you." Incredulous at finally hearing a somewhat friendly tone from her, I looked back and there was a smile; ever so brief and then it was gone.

It made my day.