Sunday, September 10, 2023

Tell me a story...NOT!

What about me says, "Come sit next to me and tell me your story?"
Friday morning I went to have my oil changed. It was a nice morning so I took my book and sat on the bench outside the front door to read while waiting on my car.
Pretty soon, some old guy  (I say old guy, but he was probably around my age. He just looked old -- wait a minute -- nevermind.) 
Pretty soon some guy comes out so I grab my book bag and scoot to the end of the bench so he can sit down and wait out in the morning sun, too. He says it's alright and doesn't sit. He lights up a cigarette and starts talking to me.

He was late.
He overslept.
He was supposed to be there when they opened to get something done so he could get his car registered.
Then he was going to be at the DMV when they opened to finish what he started to do yesterday, but couldn't.
I'm sure he told me what he was having done, but I wasn't really interested and don't remember.
He moved here from Ohio a year or so ago and they messed up on his registration then. Somehow he got his MO plates, but the registration didn't go through properly and so renewal was turning out to be a hassle. 
Then this morning -- blah, blah, blah.
WTF?!

At some point, someone from the shop came out to ask him a question. I buried my head in my book and didn't look up when he finished. He sat down, lit up another cigarette, and thankfully let me read.

It's not the first time something like this has happened to me. Maybe people think I'm some lonely old man that needs a friend. I guess I need to work on my Why-the-f@#k-are-you-talking-to-me? face. 
Normally, I like a good story, but his wasn't that good and I had a book.
It's not like he didn't have someone else to talk to in his life. He was missing biscuits and gravy at his uncle's house because of having to be at the shop that morning (a part of the blah, blah, blah). I guess he just didn't have someone else to talk to at the moment
Ugh!
Well maybe I made a part of his story at the DMV. He was waiting his turn and telling the person sitting next to him the whole oversleeping story and I was the nice old guy he talked with (to) at the auto shop.

sigh

John

1 comment:

Mike said...

It's hard to get away from stream of consciousness talkers.