The People You'll Meet

This morning I was in Dunkin' Donuts when the woman behind me (probably in her 50's or 60's, looking slightly down and out and more than reasonably troubled) suddenly said to the man walking past her, "Please talk to me, please talk to me. Please talk to me!"

He proceeded to walk right past her, at which point she lamented, "He thinks I hung up the phone on him. And he's probably gonna hold that grudge for the rest of his life." This was my first true hint that the woman was insane -- the fact that she clearly believed that an accidental phone hang-up could possibly lead to a lifelong grudge. Actually, it was my third hint that she was insane. The first hint was the fact that she clearly looked insane. The second hint was when she started yelling out "Please talk to me please talk to me please talk to me!"

When no one responded to her (clearly we were all following the man's lead), she said, "Fine. Do it." As if to say, "Go ahead, hold that grudge -- see if I care. (On second thought, please don't!)" She then started muttering about how these long lines at Dunkin' Donuts kill her.

She was probably late for a business meeting.