People watching

[5thDragoons]

I'm not a cell phone zombie, so I watch people to amuse myself while waiting in public venues. Earlier this week I was in wally for dog food and paper products. I go early to get in right as they open & avoid crowds. Also waiting for the door to open was 2 girls in a very beat up car. Both got out - leaving the door open - and in they went with me a distance behind them. Maybe just out of HS age - very casual dress - not bad-looking at all but I imagined they were stoners.

Grabbed the few things I wanted & out the door I went. Turned out there were 2 guys in the car. Real scuzz bags. Which caused me to reflect on their hopes and dreams at graduation. If pressed for those, I can't imagine they actually wanted their lives to take the direction they were going. But there they were.

Took wifey to an appointment a couple days later. Behind me was parked a nice, newer car - SUV style. Young lady got out - well-dressed - fit - early 20s - laughing while talking on the phone - wedding ring easily visible. No way to tell for sure, of course, but it appeared to me she had put some thought into which way she wanted her life to go.

What contributes to a flawed life plan? Drugs? Poor parenting? Bad friends or wrong crowd? Maybe a combination of all those?

In fairness, I wasn't sure where I wanted my life to go at graduation, so I enlisted on the theory it would give me time to reflect on the matter. Things didn't turn out so bad. SW

[lyman]

interesting observations

as a retailer, brought up basically (started in high school, and left after 35 yrs) a grocery retailer, we from minions to management were instructed to watch people,

sometimes it drives my wife a bit nuts, since I observe folks, and sometimes comment to her on them, and once in a blue moon when shopping together, I will direct her from one lane to another etc etc,


people , in general, are good, unless startled or in mass, then they sometimes get sheepish and cause trouble, and act stupid,


working in that biz, I met both as customers, Coworkers, and employees, a lot of good people that went places,

the other side of the coin is some did not,


all you can do is watch sometimes,