My inspiration for this post came from my dear, longtime blogging friend, Debbie @ Musings by an ND Domer's Mom, who is not only a gifted...
Ok, I admit it…I love to eavesdrop on people’s conversations.
But I really don’t like to call it eavesdropping.
I prefer to think of it as “investigative reporting.”
How else do you think I get my blog posts?
And I especially don’t consider it eavesdropping, when I’m listening to a woman who’s standing 100 feet away from me in the post office, SCREAMING at the top of her lungs on a cell phone, “WHY DID YOU HAVE TO CHEAT ON ME, YOU BASTARD? AND WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE WITH MY SISTER?!?!”
No…that’s not eavesdropping. That’s called hearing.
One of my favorite things about eavesdropping, is trying to make it look like I’m NOT eavesdropping. I mean, if I’m going to be nosey….I want to at least be clever about it.
One of the greatest places for me to eavesdrop is at Starbucks.
Maybe it’s all the caffeine that people are drinking that makes their lips flap so freely, but I always hear some of the most interesting conversations there.
Like the other day, when I stopped in for my afternoon grande’ coffee and a cinnamon chip scone.
I was sitting all alone at a table, listening to these two guys talking at the table next to me. And the whole time I was eavesdropping, I pretended that I was going through my wallet sorting out debit slips, yet my ears were glued to their every word. And after I finished sorting out my wallet, I then pretended to write a grocery list in my little notebook, but what I was really doing, was writing down their conversation. I decided not to post it though, because what started out as a very good conversation, ended up being about what color they were going to paint their bedroom walls in their new apartment.
“Do you think we should paint the walls in that Ralph Lauren khaki color? The Laura Ashley periwinkle? Or eggshell?”
And in my mind I’m thinking, “How about FUCHSIA with a CHARTREUSE border, ladies??”
I especially love Starbucks in the morning, because the place is always filled with tons of office people bitching and moaning about their co-workers. And I always feel so much better after listening to them, because it reminds me that we all have at least one asshole at our job. Now when I eavesdrop standing in line, I usually just pretend to be looking at all the pastries in the case. Sometimes I even pretend to be listening to the music that’s playing in the store; making it look like I’m really getting into it, by bopping my head and moving my hips a little. It’s the perfect cover-up, because no one ever suspects that I’m listening. They just think I have really great rhythm.
I think I’ve missed my life’s vocation.
I should have gone to college to become a nosey television journalist.
And can you imagine….?
“Hi…this is eavesdropping NBC news reporter, Ron Carnavil, coming to you LIVE from Starbucks.”
Have a wonderful eavesdropping weekend, everyone!
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