Bus Gossip 2

It's like the 'loudspeakers' on the bus heard me and decided to give me a present: more hilarious things to tell the world! Yesterday's conversation was over the phone, so naturally I only picked up half of it. But from what I heard I think I can extract a pretty accurate storyline. After all, what hasn't been deduced by my impeccable perception skills can be easily substituted by my imagination. The story "relayed" to me was by a younger woman, apparently on the phone with her friend. Here's enough to know about her to completely scare the crap out of the girl if you should ever meet:

Apparently she is either a very close friend of, or dating, a man who has a small child with another woman. Last week it was his birthday, for which his parents threw him a party. He asked the girl later why she didn't come, and she had to endure the awkwardness of the moment in which she told him it was because the parents haven't invited her. Apparently, the guy has shared custody of the kid and either lives at home or just drops him or her off at his parents a lot, because to answer the question whether the grandparents mind, she said that they don't because at least this way they can ensure that their grandchild is fed and has everything.

An unusual answer, but apparently the mother is slightly crazy. To save money, she disconnected electricity, which is what heats up the water in the house. In order to bathe, she boils water in pots on a stove. For lighting, she uses candles. The girl was dismayed about a lifestyle like this with two elementary school age kids in the house. (She should try living in Russia... Nothing unusual about that there!) From this I deduced that the mother also has a child with someone else.... oh the drama of life! Why the girl would want to get involved in a situation like this remained a mystery to all on the bus... Juicy as the story was, the second one she blabbed was just as good!

The girl told her friend that she doesn't work "there" anymore and has a new job now. Apparently, there was something fishy going on at "the French place." The owner was also the manager because nobody else stepped up to the position. This was annoying, because she let people go for no apparent reason. After about a month of working at the place and being very helpful, the girl got called into the owners' office and told that "it's not working out." She was given reasons that in her mind were simply irrelevant. The reasons were that her coffee service is too slow and that she stands around too much. (Is it just me, or does this sound like a pretty relevant reason?!) She was offered the option of staying on call. But apparently has found other employment. She also suspected that half of the employees at the place worked under the table, since the owner never asked her to fill out any W-2's or anything. (I think she meant W-4's though....)

I think that it's time for me to make business cards that say "read about this conversation tomorrow at this link," and pass them out on the bus. I'm sure people would get a kick out of it.

Bus Gossip

Apparently a good profession to be in Seattle is a therapist. Yes, there are several in this great city, but they all have waiting lists. And how do I know? Bus gossip. What exactly is that? It's when two friends, completely oblivious to the rest of the people on the bus, tell each other their deepest, darkest secrets, all the while thinking that nobody can hear them or is interested in what they are saying. Unfortunately, those types are usually only few on the bus, so their voices carry REALLY well, making the others interested even if they weren't in the beginning. They just have no choice. And yesterday's story was pretty entertaining.

Apparently the two friends both have only recently moved to Seattle. From what I understood, one of them was from New York (Why would someone do that to themselves?!). Both have joined meetup groups and went to several meetings around the city in hopes of finding friends. Instead, they got constantly clogged e-mails. Both have now stopped going. One of them works in a medical profession, which I know because she was talking about referring clients to a therapist. That's when the story got good.

The two women griped about how there aren't any good therapists in the city, at least that insurance covers. And how it's a shame that to see them there is a huge waiting list, and when you finally make that appointment, you never hit it off. One of them then proceeded to tell a story of her friend Katie, who, apparently, wouldn't mind her telling it because she told a room full of people. (Probably completely unaware that the entire city will soon find out!) To an open heart-to-heart about relationship issues, Katies' therapist proceeded to tell her that she has a good friend that Katie would be perfect for and that she can hook them up! After Katie didn't make any more appointments, the therapist called her and asked if it was something she said. The women went on and on about how unprofessional that was. I sat nearby "not listening" intently.

I have to say, I love when stories like this happen. And I just wish that the whole Seattle read my blog and wondered who the heck I am. Because then they would all be careful about relaying confidential information to each other on busses and trains and keep it down. And the rest of us commuters would have an opportunity to listen to our i-pods and read our literature without having to become involuntary witnesses to stories about people we've never met. No matter how entertaining they might be.