Had any interesting conversations with strangers lately?
Here’s a couple from me, one recent and one that came back to me with the help of some notebook scribbles in a forgotten notebook (I have lots of these forgotten notebooks, and probably should go through them all properly to inspire some more blog posts – ‘extracts from forgotten notebooks’ a new series perhaps…..anyway I digress).
Brunch Before the Flight
Once upon a time, before lockdown’s and pandemics, I found myself sat very close to two pensioner ladies in a departures airport restaurant. They were off to the Maldives for the second time and said they didn’t think they’d be able to afford it a second time but they’d managed it and were very excited and highly recommend it. Bless ’em. 
They went on to tell me how they were dreading the long mix of planes and boats to get to there, but it would all be worth it.
We got talking when they looked over at the food I’d ordered and decided to order the same thing – the simplest things can start the most unexpected conversations with strangers!! 
……and then……a crowd of swedish ice hockey fans/match-goers entered and literally took over the restaurant, more than twenty of them, all chattering loudly about ice hockey. One of the waiters then announced, ” I watch ice hockey because I’m Czechoslovakian” implying a logical connection between the two things, a connection I’d been unaware of up until this point 🤔
ASBOs in Charity Shops?
I was talking to two charity shop workers recently, they work in a store where all the items are sold for £1 – which I was amazed to hear, and was saying surely they could charge a bit more than that, but they said it was a dedicated £1 outlet for all the items their sister stores had struggled to shift so they were not allowed to increase the prices….anyway they told me I wouldn’t believe the half of what goes on in this shop.
I was all ears…
Assistant 1 ” people are usually queuing up outside the shop when we get there to open up”
Assistant 2 “Yeah, sometimes I dread going in”
Assistant 1 “we have a lot of fights in the shop, the other day we had two women having a physical fight over a pair of shoes, they each had one shoe in their hand and neither of ’em were willing to give in”
Well, if someone is willing to roll up their sleeves for a punch up over a pair of £1 shoes, I say give it to them, they’re clearly willing to risk life, limb and jail time for them. Wow.
I’m not sure which is worse, fights over £1 shoes or fights over toilet roll a year ago!!!
On the charity shop theme – I recently witnessed a man getting really angry and loud in a charity shop because he thought a shirt was too expensive – he said the shirt was still available in a high street shop (brand new) for not much more than the charity shop was charging and he was outraged:
“You’re meant to sell things cheap, do you think poor people have got money to throw around? This should be a pound”
In the end the manager came up to him and confirmed the price was not going to change. Livid, the man then pushed over a couple of displays in the shop and walked out.
Calmly and with a smile, “I’m used to this type of behaviour” the manager reassured everyone in the shop.
I’ve heard that some charity shops have very little discretion over prices and are guided by a pricing structure that comes from Head Office for that particular chain, and Head office sometimes call into branches to check the prices are in line, amongst other things, like the way items are displayed….they also have sales targets, so higher prices are helpful if they’re getting people coming in who are willing to pay them.
Anyway, here’s wishing you interesting and amusing future conversations with strangers 🤗
colinmcqueen
Always surprises me that people assume goods in charity shops should necessarily be very cheap when the purpose is to raise money for the charity. Possibly you might expect to pay a little more 🧐
Cherryl
Yes, it’s a funny one, I agree with you, yet in reality charity shops have become synonymous with ‘cheaper’ and somewhere for people who might be looking for a bargain to get a bit of relief – the two contradict each other, yet exist side by side. It’s pot luck what you find when you go looking I suppose.😊
colinmcqueen
Yes, difficult. You think logical to pay a bit more because it’s for charity. You think cheaper because it’s pre-owned. It’s just the bartering I don’t care for and people getting mad with staff, most of whom are volunteers. Just plain rude 🤨
Cherryl
I know, people get really worked up sometimes, and yes, staff on the shop floor get the brunt of it 🙁
colinmcqueen
I know. When a multi-national organisation screws you about, how likely is it that the sixteen year old on the till is to blame? Take a deep breath, think for a minute and be polite – it don’t take much
Cherryl
👍💯
NattyTravels
I really enjoy having conversations with strangers, I especially like when i connect with someone and learn from somethings they say. Great read 👍🏾
Cherryl
Same here, and sometimes it feel like we were meant to cross paths with ‘random’ people 😊x
Liz Dexter
How interesting! I do like random chats with strangers, I still cherish the long conversation I had with a pastor from Arizona on a flight once!
Cherryl
That sounds like an interesting one Liz, and being sat with someone for a long period like tht is bound go beyond just superficial chat – nice memories💫✨✈️
sandyroybessandbugzy
I just love listening to conversations too. Thanks for sharing that it made me giggle. Haven’t heard anything like that yet!
Cherryl
Thanks, I’ve overheard some funny one’s too – might share a few later, thanks for reading 🤗
Dhirendra.S.Chauhan
Very interesting and absorbing account of the incidents you encountered ,Cherryl !Thanks for sharing💕
Cherryl
Glad you think so, Dhirendra! Just little day to day snippets, sometimes the simple things are quite nice to recall 😊✨ Thanks for reading.
Dhirendra.S.Chauhan
My pleasure