Who are you here with?
Red goatee, shaved head, white hoodie with the sleeves bunched up past his elbows. His friend with aged eyes and dated cell phone* is in conversation with someone else. Truly alone, he finishes his drink while she chats. Fifteen minutes go by, he begins fiddling with his phone. Is this the way he imagined how the afternoon would un-fold?
Finally! Her important call is over. Away goes the phone, and on goes the lip gloss. Maybe now would be a good time to turn the beast off, or at least ignore it.**
They decide on a second helping of caffeine and for her, another cell phone fix. This time she multi tasks…phone, coffee and with steady hand and the precision of a surgeon, some lip liner. Matched only by the velocity of her speech, his mind appears to be darting in many directions. My basis for this diagnosis? His eyes. They’re everywhere.
Time to go. He clears the table while she now entertains a third call. They’re out the door. She leads the way, he lags a couple of steps behind.
*From my perspective it seems that cell phones age in dog years.
** Perhaps cell phone companies should require potential customers to complete a phone etiquette course before they hand over the boorish devices.
Filed by Joe at November 14th, 2006 under Office Stories