This entry is for Ben, who checks this page for updates far too often.I just remembered this little scene from a few weeks ago in my life that made me smile again today out of nowhere.
I was in one of those public washrooms where everything is automatic. You know the kind, right? It all started with automatic hand dryers .. where you don't need to push a button for the hot air to come through, you simply place your hands under the dryer, and *whooosh*. Right. Well, then came the automatic sinks that work under the same principle. No tap knobs to turn, just place your hands under the faucet for water. Lovely. Of course, that wasn't enough, oh no. They went and extended it to friggin' automatic toilets that flush when you stand up or leave the stall. At least, they're supposed to flush at that point. I find they're either impossible to flush, causing a person to frantically stand and shift their weight and pace inside the stall in an attempt to activate the automatic flusher, and if there's no little button to use should this not work, the person is forced to vacate the stall, head hung in shame, hoping there isn't someone waiting in line behind them to use that very stall ... OR, in other cases, the toilet will flush far too easily, often as soon as the person sits down, causing them to jump up in alarm should they be splashed in the process. Needless to say, I am against this "automatic" trend in public restrooms.
But anyway, I've digressed from my story. I apologize. So. I was in one of these bathrooms with a beaker, because I was at work, and we had this bigass poinsetta plant that needed watering, and our store has no employee bathroom ... so yeah. There I was, at the sink, filling this beaker, and this Jamaican lady in her mid forties walked out of a stall and came to the automatic sink. She looked at the tap in confusion, at which point I said "They're automatic, just put your hands under it.". She did, and actually sort of half jumped, startled, pulling her hands away. She then put her hands back under the faucet, activating it again ... then took them away, turning it off. She repeated this process a few times, and chuckled, saying "Ooh, neat!" in a heavy Jamaican accent. Because this woman was older, smartly dressed, and had stylish dreads, I imagine she normally would've looked and sounded very hip, streetwise, and classy. So this tap fascination was quite the spectacle. Again she said it ... "Hahaha .. so neat!". I just laughed, finished filling the beaker, and left. I was smiling all the way back to the store.
Ah, to be so easily amused. Although I pride myself on being far less jaded than the average Torontonian (it helps that I spent the past ten years in the blasted suburbs, I suppose), there is no way I could ever be so entertained by something so simple. And yet, at the same time, her amusement in turn amused me. Which I guess was good.
Downtown Toronto is good for those odd little encounters with strangers, I think. Even if it's tricky as hell to make friends here, at least you can always get a good laugh out of someone completely random on any given day. I've had far odder experiences with strangers in Toronto than that one, but since that's the one that floated into my head today, I thought I'd share.
Anyone else have any quirky stranger anecdotes to share? Tell me. I live for that stuff.
People are funny. Though usually unintentionally.
I don't have anything else to talk about. Tomorrow I think I'll go out and wander the streets a bit. If you catch me online, send me a message and tell me to get my ass out of my chair, will you please? It's for my own damn good.
Bye for now.
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