Social Experiment: People Waiting

Recently I had the thrill of waiting at a cafe for someone I had never met. I had talked to this woman on the phone, had been given a brief description of what she looked like (long dark hair, nose piercing) and had given the time and place to meet. Naturally, for a single man who doesn’t meet a hell of a lot of women*, I was excited and tactically got there early, even though this was purely a business meeting…

I had no idea waiting for someone could be so much fun. I have always been a HUGE fan of people watching, but people waiting is on a whole other level. Over the next 20 minutes I convinced myself at least ten times that the particular woman currently in view (the cafe was in a relatively busy part of Sydney, so there was an acceptable flow of people), was the one I was waiting for – even though they didn’t fit the description I’d be given on the phone…

A leggy blonde mum with kids roaming beside walked by – “that’s her!” I heard my mind yell…

A short-haired brunette with an aggressive swagger powered into shot… “fuck I hope its that hot bitch” I felt myself whisper…

My mind even considered the aging red-head with clearly no facial piercings who sat next to me as possibly being “her”…. this was probably because she was showing a bit of skin…

What I learned from this occasion (apart from the fact I’m a desperado who is easily excited by attractive 35 yo women) is that this game needs to be played more often. I’m not exactly sure how you do it, but it sure beats sitting in the office for the arvo. It doesn’t matter if you’re single or married, or waiting for a man or a woman, arrange some meetings with faceless people (not literally, unless that’s your thang) you talk to on the phone. Get there early and settle in for an exciting and enthralling 20 minutes… and I haven’t even mentioned the whole range of emotions that comes with the moment the person you’ve been waiting for arrives…

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* Nothing beats George Costanza’s thoughts on meeting a new woman as seen in the Episode of Seinfeld ‘The Pitch’

JERRY: I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. What were you thinking? What was going on in your mind? Artistic integrity? Where, where did you come up with that? You’re not artistic and you have no integrity. You know you really need some help. A regular psychiatrist couldn’t even help you. You need to go to like Vienna or something. You know what I mean? You need to get involved at the University level. Like where Freud studied and have all those people looking at you and checking up on you. That’s the kind of help you need. Not the once a week for eighty bucks. No. You need a team. A team of psychiatrists working round the clock thinking about you, having conferences, observing you, like the way they did with the Elephant Man. That’s what I’m talking about because that’s the only way you’re going to get better.

GEORGE: . . . I thought the woman was kind of cute.

JERRY: Hold it. I really want to be clear about this. Are you talking about the woman in the meeting? Is that the woman you’re talking about?

GEORGE: Yeah, I thought I might give her a call. I, I don’t meet that many women. I meet like three women a year. I mean, we’ve been introduced. She knows my name.