Recent Encounters With "Strange" People

Despite frustration with my job at times, I must say that I love the diversity I encounter due to the fact that it is customer service oriented. For the size of the city I would also say it is quite diverse ethnically and by socio-economic class. I've met some of the kindest people at work, and also the rudest, most hypocritical ones. Yet, the ones that stick out the most are the ones that are the most peculiar.

For example, one woman comes in almost everyday of the week with two small girls and buys a random assortment of items. She is rarely there more than twenty minutes. I always ask myself if she has OCD, or is very forgetful. She is very quiet and soft-spoken and I then think perhaps she just needs a reason to leave her house each day. Everyone needs to "get away," but some people do not go as far as others. Former President Theodore Roosevelt went all the way to Sub-Saharan Africa after choosing not to run for a third term, so maybe the store down the street is like Sub-Saharan Africa to some people?

One man has been known to hang around and talk people's ears off for hours at a time. He has a voice I cannot seem to place, but I am constantly expecting him to finish his sentences with a Canadian-style "eh." "This coffee sure is good eh?"

The other day I discovered that the trend of wearing one's pajamas in public has gone beyond those born after 1980. People in their forties now sport dinosaur pajamas and an assortment of other patterns, but I will give them credit for being fully covered. But still, it just seems awkward.

Then again what do I know? I thought it was fun to dress in drag. It also took me awhile to realize that other people find that strange. However just as I believe in reincarnation, I believe everything is cyclical, and perhaps my thoughts on people being labeled as "strange" will go out of style. Lots of things to do. Slavery, New Kids On The Block, corsets...well sort. That all depends on the crowd you roll with.