We spoke two weeks ago of how easy it is to be utterly lonely in New York City. But today we're going to talk about how you can weirdly bump into people you know at really random times.
I’ve run into friends on the subway in the middle of the night while coming back from a league tennis match. I’ve run into former work colleagues in the early morning hours on the way to work--both of us half asleep and recognizing the other verrrrry slowly.
I was once coming up out of the subway at 72nd Street, talking out loud to my wife, and when we reached the street level, hearing the person in front of me turn around and say, “Is that Dan Koontz?”
It was a high school friend I hadn’t seen in 16 years.
Of course, New Yorkers always seem a bit distracted or absorbed in their private thoughts (actually I’d even go so far to say they wear a psychological force-field around themselves at all times as part of their redefining of privacy).
Thus the average resident here rarely operates in “Hey, I should look around, I might see somebody I know” mode. They can be oblivious to the point where you have to be standing right in front of them shouting their name in order to get their attention. And even then, their attention comes with a long delay as they swim up out of their own thoughts.
So you can still bitch in a loud voice about your jackass boss or what a jerk your coworker is. Even if he (or she) is right behind you, he’ll never notice...
I’ve run into friends on the subway in the middle of the night while coming back from a league tennis match. I’ve run into former work colleagues in the early morning hours on the way to work--both of us half asleep and recognizing the other verrrrry slowly.
I was once coming up out of the subway at 72nd Street, talking out loud to my wife, and when we reached the street level, hearing the person in front of me turn around and say, “Is that Dan Koontz?”
It was a high school friend I hadn’t seen in 16 years.
Of course, New Yorkers always seem a bit distracted or absorbed in their private thoughts (actually I’d even go so far to say they wear a psychological force-field around themselves at all times as part of their redefining of privacy).
Thus the average resident here rarely operates in “Hey, I should look around, I might see somebody I know” mode. They can be oblivious to the point where you have to be standing right in front of them shouting their name in order to get their attention. And even then, their attention comes with a long delay as they swim up out of their own thoughts.
So you can still bitch in a loud voice about your jackass boss or what a jerk your coworker is. Even if he (or she) is right behind you, he’ll never notice...
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