(Diary)(humor)
So, I”m waiting my turn in a mall outside the Apple Store hoping my MacBook Pro doesn’t explode into flames (I got lost in New Britain because the roads have changed while I’ve been living far away, and while isn’t as bad as Chicago but it’s getting there).
Anyway, as usual, running a little social science experiment as I am want to do at all times, and using my fearless hyper-gregarious disagreablness to discover differences in social responses. (I’m always doing science!)
Some categories are obvious. There are immigrants who clearly feel alienated and lost. There are the obvious overweight people that are avoiding judgement by non interaction. There is a class of timid people who live in phones across the age spectrum. There are an unexpected number of fit young men who look like they live in the gym. There is a class of confident people who are situationally aware and relatively happy. And there are quite a few families with two young children who are happy to provide an humorous response to a query if they purchased them at the cute store. ;). I never address young girls unless stressed because they have been taught to be afraid of men.
When I arrived at the apple store (late) the clerk looked for the next opportunity to ‘fit me in’. And while she’s fuddling with her smartphone and attached contraption I tell her that I’m a massive apple fan. So much so that when I come to the apple store I just want to hug everyone on the staff and thank them. Now, I expected a confused expression with giggles, but I got an “aww thank you” and giggles instead. So then I said “but you know, I’m a white man over sixty, and that could be interpreted as somewhere between creepy and crazy depending on who I hugged.” (Now she’s laughing and can’t focus on the screen or press the buttons). And I finish with, “So I have to tone it down and just thank you personally. She gives me the next appointment, and I tell her I’ll wait. ;)” My contribution to making young black women thing white people are crazy. 😉
In the Apple Store, I’m looking for a small Mac keyboard (no numeric keys) because the windows keyboard keys are in the wrong place and it hogs my desktop space. I found two guys working together, white, and black, and talked a bit of man nonsense with them, then asked one where they keyboards are before asking the white guy if I could pick on the black guy’s pink hat. He said he might be sensitive, and because this was 2023, implying correctly that I should be respectful of the generation gap – which is exactly what I expected him to say. 😉 Followed by explaining he has two daughters so he feels comfortable wearing his two pink shirts. (So do I but it’s because pink shirts are common for the over 55 men’s demographic as a symbol of retirement.)
Now, I’m sitting here typing on my iPad and occasionally look up and naturally smile at everyone, and about a fifth of people smile back, biased to people who are older – because younger people are more antisocial and insecure – older people are more pro-social, less phone-absorbed, and frankly don’t give a hoot. 😉
I’ve approached about a dozen young couples and told them they need to have lots of kids because they’re adorable and we need more beautiful people in the world. The girls have all been thankful and supportive and the men have all reacted positively in one way or another without agreeing because of course all they think of is being ignored by the wife and having to pay for these expensive wife toys. 😉
I asked a question I already know the answer to, of white woman a bit younger than I, and she responded with a lovely polish accent, which led us to a discussion of Poland, and how L’viv (Lvov) used to be polish and being there she saw the beauty of that gorgeous city and lamented it was no longer part Poland (or Austria Hungary for that matter). And so i assured her both Lviv and Kiev are doing fine, and my friends there keep me informed.
Happy happy, Joy joy 😉