Day 47 ~ Counter Encounter

Day 47 ~ Counter Encounter 

Feb 16, 2014

My first: I talked with two foreigners (India) in line at Wal-Mart.

I was in line at Wal-Mart after a long evening of shopping at three different stores for those "final touch" things for my master suite renovation. And this was after a day of painting, cleaning, and moving furniture.

As usual while in line, I was checking out magazines. I was in the process of taking a photo of the cover of one of them and texting it to a friend. When I turned around, a couple got ahead of me in line. I didn’t say anything and just attributed it to my inattentiveness to moving as the line moved. Very noticeably, the couple was not “from these here parts”. I decided at this point to do my “first” for the day and make conversation with them. I asked the man where they were from and he said India. A moment passed and I asked how long they have been here. He said 5 years. And, me being me, I asked if they liked it here. He said yes. I contributed some information (he wasn’t waiting with bated breath) from my end and said that I liked it here too although I had never been to India. His wife was keeping her distance as I asked him if she spoke English. He said yes. This was getting nowhere fast. As I was pondering up my next question, they stepped away and went to another line. I’m guessing they left because this line was moving way to slow due to a “coupon lady” ahead and a less-than-ambitious cashier.  It COULDN’T have been me and my interrogation, right?

Feeling that I still had what it took to be friendly to strangers, I noticed the young man ahead in line playing a game on his phone. I went up to him looking over his shoulder asking him about the game. He told me the name…Clash of the Clans. Then, amazingly enough, he put the phone away and opened himself up to converse with me. I told him how tired I was and he said that he was too. He had just gotten done working out. I said good for him. We talked about the amount of money we were spending for what we were getting and innocent pieces of ourselves. He was very open to sharing. I leaned over and confided that he was much friendlier than that couple from India. As we parted we both admitted it was nice talking and wished each other luck…him with his working out and me with my room renovation.

I proceeded to talk with the cashier and briefly looked back at the young man as he walked away. Most likely, I will never see him again. But what a light to my day he was…as I hope I was to his. 

As far as the couple from India…they missed out.