Last week, I was in the mood to observe and I did. I went to various coffee shops and tried my best to just listen, take notes, and write down as much as I could.
Monday: Couburg Starbucks
There is a group of four, two guys and two girls. It looks like they are drawing some kind of chart and they have a quarter out, so I think they are doing some kind of experiment or planning something for a group project. It’s funny because I think they are watching me just as much as I am watching them. Maybe some kind of guessing game they are playing to observe how people will purchase their drinks or if they will stay or go. They seem to be more quiet when people enter and go to the counter. They have no real conversation, just pointless comments.
“1/2 dolla holla!”
“haha- you crack me up!”
I would have sat closer to them, but it is so empty tonight. There is one athletic guy, in shorts and tennis shoes. He has blonde hair and is reading a book. He has two empty espresso shot cups and an empty Izzie bottle that he has stuck his garbage out of like some kind of sculpture.
Another guy is on his macbook in the corner. He has a beard and doesn’t look up often.
The woman who was in front of me in line is now sitting in front of me, but my view of her is obstructed. A single man enters, and leaves. Then a single woman enters and leaves.
Tuesday: Seattle’s Best at Borders
It is election night, I am headed to the lab later, but needed a book. Most people are reading. I can hear one couple faintly, they are reading aloud to each other and really the only other thing I hear are the pages flipping. Sometimes they flip almost all at once, and then there are times they are more drawn out and in no sequence. A man who was at the table in front of me earlier just walked back in from the aisles of books. He is on his phone and speaking really loudly. No one seems bothered by him. I think he is talking to a son or daughter:
“Couldn’t you call your dad and say happy birthday?
Doesn’t it say you get missed calls or something?
What? What’s happening? … You guys, it sounds like crazy things are happening.
Is mom burning dinner?
Is everything okay there? Is this in the house or in the apartment?
Maybe you guys could come down to Borders Books and have some cake?
You can’t?”
This is breaking my heart, I think the person on the phone just changed:
“Hey, how are you doing man?
Sounds like crazy things are going on there, fire alarm..
Yeah, I know.
Hey, can you ask mom a question?
Ask mom a question.
Ask mom if she knows anything about solution grief therapy.
Solution grief therapy.
Solution-grief-therapy.
Can you ask her where I can find a therapist who does that?
How’s your day? Are you cold?
I’m here at Borders for my birthday… I was hoping you guys would come over and share it with me.
….
No. You guys can go, it’s okay.”
He hung up before they said “good-bye” or he at least didn’t get the chance to say good-bye.
I am so on the verge of tears at this point. I take one of the blank napkins I am using to write on and I write the words:
“happy birthday.” I leave it at his table and head for the register in the back of the store. I can hardly keep from crying.
Wednesday: Couburg Starbucks
There is a couple meeting for a date. They tried to sit outside but it was too cold, so they came back in. I am right by the door, so they have walked by me now three times. Once to come in, then go out, then come back in.
Two girls are talking about everything from a mutual friend who is not funny, “No one gets her jokes!” to shaving and how leg hair gets so long that it starts to itch, to class with these guys. Random.
There is a large group that keeps expanding, almost like a family or family friends, people keep joining. Some kind of small reunion.
There are a few others, everyone is really quiet except for these girls.
Thursday: Didn’t happen 
Sorry.
Friday: Midtown Cafe
Tonight’s eavesdropping went terribly wrong. I came to Midtown because I needed a change of pace and realized I was spending too much time over at Starbucks and the Oakway Center. It is just easy over there, I know the hours and it is off of campus. So anyway, Midtown has the open seating section closed off for some catered function that starts at 5:30. I order cider and then go around to the back to see if I can hear anyone in the restaurant or wine bar. I can see the chef in the kitchen, it is clean and organized back there. He wears black. The restaurant is closed off by curtains, and the chatter is really loud. It is hard to pick out conversations with so many happening at once.
“Jeff goes” “also” “as long as he”
I hear a child’s voice.
I hear more adult voices.
Saturday: Turtles
So I didn’t make it to a coffee shop today, but I did go to dinner with my friend David and we went to Turtles and waited a pretty decent amount of time. It’s fun to watch people, especially those typical people who try and be funny and relate the waiting situation to some lame joke that makes it sound like they have been waiting a really long time when in reality they just look like an ass for making a big deal out of it. David and I talk a lot, where a lot of others sit quietly. It is funny, if they were at a table, they would probably be talking, so why not start talking now? Once we were finally seated, I of course was distracted by the TVs on the walls and I hate that. I wish people would stop putting TVs everywhere. No one really can pay attention, unless it’s sports, but even then… I guess everyone wants to be a sports bar.
Sunday: Seattle’s Best at Borders
Sundays are really busy, everyone is out. The seating area is really pretty full. I sit in a comfy chair to write. A man next to me is hanging up the phone, “Alright, I love you.” A woman joins him, and he fills her in, “She’s good. They’re helping her right now. So, she is here right now. She called them and this is guy there is doing it.”
There is another woman looking for a seat. It is hilarious to watch people try and find their seat and get everything rearanged. This woman is completely rearanging the chairs. She adjusts them just to her liking, clears the table, pulls it beside her chair, sets her things down and then gets comfy by pulling her feet underneath her in the chair.
I can hear a couple looking through a few magazines, “I want that.” “I want that.” “oooh I WANT that! I think that’d be so cool!”
There is another man and woman, maybe it’s a first date, he looks like he is carrying on the conversation and it looks pretty boring, at least I wouldn’t be amused.
A man tried to sit next to them with his laptop.
Two women enter the scene.
“We’re in the moving forward phase.”
“Oh, if he ever says anything, what does he say? Does she tell him how she feels?”
“Oh, never!”
BLENDER!!!! Woman working coutner asks, “Did you want whip cream?”
The women continue.
“He emailed her. I think that alone means they need couples counseling.”
“Whenever I hear someone say, ‘I have work to do on this or that,’ I say, ‘what does that look like?’ What indicates that you are working on those things? I mean I can tell you exactly what I am doing when I work on things. I make a list, I work it all out and I can see my progress.”
“Hahaha- You could show the scars from the nails you dug in!”
“I know, I know.”
“She doesn’t know. It’s like, yeah. She isn’t the least bit qualified. If I do that then, in her case, the more he gets invested with this baby she’s counting on a lot of things.
“She is working so hard.”
Over at the register I hear a woman talking to what I think is a child. I can’t see them, because they are behind me. But the way she says, “Who is that?! Amanda? Amanda! Who is that? Amanda?!” makes me think that she is talking to Amanda like that. Turns out Amanda is a grown woman, and she is talking to an actual child, who keeps running off.
The man who tried to sit down with his laptop from before has now moved two more times. Once to the other side of the table, then to the other side of the room completely to a table on the wall.
