2015 - Person Number 23

"Mr Talkative"

So if you actually read my last blog post, then you'll remember a guy I overheard claiming to try and guess where everyone worked? Not ringing a bell? You're a bad follower! Well, he was back and again he tried guessing what course another customer was on. Safe to say he got it wrong this time as he hadn't done his prior research like the last time.... (Don't know who I'm on about? Read the last blog dammnit!)
Well he was back and he was now chatting away to the customer he'd incorrectly guessed. Later on after about 4 pints of Carlsberg, he approached the bar again and we got talking about age and he noticed we had a Wham/George Michael tribute coming up. He then told us a story of when George crashed his car into a store and someone wrote the word 'Wham' next to the crash site in graffiti. I laughed because, I understood the joke, but my younger collegue didn't quite get it. (Wham used to be George Michael's first band. Wham could also be used as a crash term - for anyone else a bit clueless)
"MR Talkative" then said he felt really old at the fact my collegue didn't understand it. This then lead onto the conversation about age and music.
"I felt really old the other day as well. I had two 19 year olds in my class. Basically I'm 26, but I haven't always been in IT teaching. I used to work for a company that promoted big artists. I've been part of the crew that helped promote some of the biggest artists in the world! This one time I was working on Beyonce's tour and another time it was for Usher. So pretty big names and I was discussing it with my class and the two 19 year old's asked me who Usher was.."
"That's awesome! I know how you feel with age gaps and stuff, I speak to people about Waynes World and they don't get it!"
"I actually turned round to him and called him uneducated! Even if you don't know Usher in his 'Yeah' days... he's got stuff out now that kids should know right?!"
"So how comes you left that job then? It sounds amazing!"
"It's always better than it sounds. You'd spend 15 months working your arse off in an office, for about 4 nights of fun.. But the final straw came when i went Self employed. It was shortly after I'd won 'Youngest Event Planner of the Year' so I was pretty happy.. But this one event just flopped. I took the crew out for a Macdonalds after a show and after all that I ended out £10 worse off... this was before salaries and everything. It was just one of those jobs that could either go really well or not so well. I didn't want the risk. But I had the time of my life and I wouldn't change it."


Until Next time!
Kisses J xx

2015 - People overheard

Sometimes getting to know people all stems from overhearing their conversations with others. Now I don't mean holding your ear to the door and purposefully listening in... I mean the occasions where you accidently hear snippets of their chats. I work in a hotel restaurant and bar and so I hear varied conversations on a daily basis.
Our hotel holds conferences and serviced offices holding very important people. Some days I'll hear about world events and other times ill hear a group of policewomen spending two hours discussing their cats. I've heard motor groups saying how where you sit at a table correlates with the kind of person you are... apparently independent people tend to leave spaces in between others and if the space is to the left then it shows you like the power... like in driving a right hand drive. A lot of the conversations I hear are about their sleep and how comfortable our beds are!
Last night however, on the bar I heard a customer approach another customer and ask if he can guess what sort of industry they worked in.. He guessed she worked in 'hospitality or travel'. She was impressed as she works for a massive worldwide travel operator! He then smiled and said 'I cheated, I spoke to one of your collegues earlier!'. Then they split off and started talking to each other. It really is that simple to get talking to someone... and yet sometimes people still struggle. Listening in to people conversations makes me realise that a conversation doesn't always have to be exciting about some crazy adventure... It can literally just be about... cats!

Kisses xx

2015 - Person Number 22

"Conversations with strangers"

Now this is pretty much what my blog was all about in the first place, getting to know people and making the world that little bit smaller. Much like my first post, I didn't actually interview these people, yet we made a small difference to their day. That's what its all about isn't it... I work in hospitality, that's totally customer based and it's my job to make people smile and ensure they have a good time. In all reality, I'm a waitress/barmaid, some may find that boring but personally I enjoy it. I love making a difference to people's experience in the restaurant. Here's how I made some customers smile today!

I approached the table and started clearing their plates, they're regularly in the restaurant and so I feel comfortable around them. One of them was looking at their phone, complaining about spam emails from Louis Vitton handbags... I'll explain here that he's a male customer. His colleague next to him made a joke asking if he's sure he doesn't want a Louis Vitton Handbag... I chimed in with "But it would suit you" and the table erupted with laughter. As subtly as I came in, I left... Walking past their table a few moments later, they're still laughing about it. Later on, I was in the other room, clearing up after lunch service and a member of the group approached me and told me that "he's ordered a pink handbag with white spots". He then proceeded to talk to my supervisor about how my comic timing was impeccable! So yeah, although I didn't think it was that fantastic, it obviously made them smile. This is important to me, sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference to someone's day. It made me so happy to know that I'd made someone laugh. 

"Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day" - H Jackson Brown Jr.

Make today the day you make a stranger smile! 

Kisses, J
xx

2015 - Person Number 21

"Metropolis Madness"
I met a man today and we got chatting about New York and Los Angeles. Having been to both myself, I preferred Los Angeles, I found more to do, the weather was better and you've got Santa Monica beach! I love a good Beach!
This guy, had also been to both. I asked him his preference, this is what he said.
"Which City is your favourite and why?"
"I love London. I've lived a lot of places and yet I loved living in London the best. I just get this feeling when I go there. Its a kind of excitement that I never got living in the smaller towns. My wife's from the local area, so we moved back up here, but I do miss city life. I love it and when I went to New York, I got the same feeling, but stronger. I think it's because when you're in New York, you're still a 'foreigner'. People come up to you and they're like 'OMG You're English'. There's a fascination with that. Also because it's not your home country, everything is still new. It's all a new adventure with new things to learn." 
"I'm most definitely a home bird. I love England and my small town I live in. I don't think I could live somewhere that's hot all the time. Personally, I love the snow, the rain, the sun, the change!"
"My wife said that too. I don't get it, why would you WANT seasons?"

Kisses, J 
xx

2015 - People numbers 18, 19, 20

"Music To Our Ears"

So this time I posted on Facebook a question with regards to music and it's memories that we connect to it. At various points in our lives we all have a song or a few songs that relate to a certain memory of ours, all be it good memory or a not so great memory. I know that I have a song that reminds me of when me and my other half got together (Ed Sheeran - Where we land). The relationship was new and we were taking it slow, seeing 'where we landed' so to speak! It's now progressed to Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud! (Ed's one of the few musicians we agree on with my partners strong routes in hip hop and mine being in Rock and country!) I also recall that time I was singing in Cambridge Mill Road Winter Festival and the look on my teacher's face when I sung "Read All About It Part 2: Emile Sande". That made me happy, he was proud of me and that meant the world to me! 

So we all have 'our songs'. I asked the world of Facebook what their song-related-memory was: 

"What's everyone's song related memory? We all like songs for different reasons, some remind us of good times, some of bad times. What song reminds you of when?"

"Aerosmith: Don't want to miss a thing. Reminds me of my husband as it was our first dance song at our wedding"

"Ol Dirty Bastard reminds me of when I first met your mum and dad and Jason and we danced to it in a nightclub"

"Living On A Prayer and One Wild Night: Bon Jovi, reminds me of when you and me and your mum used to belt it out on Karaoke"

So here are just 3 people who have song related memories. This shows that songs have a strong connection to memories that we retain. 

Kisses J xx

2015 - Person Number Seventeen

"Off to a Flying Start"
So this person spent 3 years studying Travel and Tourism, with aspirations to be cabin crew on board a plane. This was all going off to a great start until one holiday something traumatic happened. Now she's been put off for life and only fly's when she has to.
"Typical, my plane was the one with the crash landing! The wheels wouldn't come down. We made an attempt to land but couldn't. The climb back up wasn't gradual like normal, I can only describe it as: Stealth at Thorpe Park. You ever been on it? It was like that, straight up. That's when we knew something was up. We had to circle for 3 hours whilst waiting to see if we could emergency land at the airport where we were supposed to or if we had to be diverted. In the end we were diverted. It was terrifying though, during the many attempts to land, people around me were crying, the air steward was crying. People were calling family and friends saying 'Goodbye'. Some guy next to me, a stranger was holding my hand saying 'it will be okay' but when the stewardess started crying, I was like, great now we're definitely doomed!"
"Where were you going, what happened in the end? Obviously you're okay?"
"That's the worst part, it wasn't even a long flight, it was London To Dublin. Had to be diverted to Belfast and they supplied a coach took us to Dublin. Belfast had all the emergency services there and when we landed we got to go down the slide, but it was flat because the plane was on the ground. I've been on a plane since but I just couldn't do it as a career."

Kisses xx 

2015 - Person Number Sixteen

"Card shop crazy"
So the other day me and my best mate went shopping. We got the bus and I've discovered that people tend to talk to you at the bus stop... whether it's just to pass the time, there seems to be an openness to bus commuters. It could be just some older commuters on the way to town to buy some veg from the market or some younger commuters en route from work with their fold up cycle! But this isn't how I met number 16. He spoke to us in the card shop and enlightened us into his journey last year. 
"I walked to Wales last year" he told us, irrelevant of the conversation. "I walked from Ely to Wales. I left around 9am on the Friday and two weeks later around 3pm I was at the top of Mount snowden".
My friend asked the question we were both thinking 'did you walk back?'
"No, of course not! I think I even got the train down from the top of snowden to the bottom" he laughed.
I believe the intention of him telling us this anecdote was to prove that no matter how old you are, you can still achieve whatever you want. So yeah! Good on you you Crazy Card Shop man!
I'm off to the shop in my car! ;)

Kisses J xx