On Saturday I was in McDonalds with 4 of my friends and we were not really doing anything special just eating and talking.
I noticed this heavy set, grey short haired woman staring at us from a few tables away. So I asked my friends if they noticed we were being stared at and they said something stupid like “She likes you…go get your woman.”
Anyway I finally gave her a nod to acknowledge that she was there and she got up and kind of limped over to our table and said that we were so lucky to be young and that we looked like we didn’t have a “care in the world”. She said that during the school year she loves to sit and watch all the young people that come into that Mcdonalds because she loves the way they interact.
That was not expected so I just said Thanks, one friend thought she was weird and one thought she was lonely everyone else just wanted to finish eating.
So as far as I know she likes to come in McDonalds and watch young people eat.
Weird or Lonely, what say you? :dubious:
Lonely.
Oh, yes…lonely.
I see myself, 20 years from now…
Lonely.
In a kind of weird way.
If you reverse the genders of the main characters in your story it would border on creepy.
Can’t she be both, like the late Earl Warren?
Or me, for that matter.
Seriously, if she reads that post she’ll be very upset. And don’t go thinking it’s highly unlikely - 90% of this board is one or the other. THIS IS THE INTERNET, BABY.
She is weird because she is lonley.
What?
Weird and Lonely. But a good kind of weird. She did something that a lot of people probaby act out in their mind but never do.
There are plenty of times when I’ve imagined saying or doing something profound but that would probably brand me as weird to the shallow sheep that inhabit most towns and cities.
If only the weirdos I encounter were all that friendly 
I don’t think she’s really either. I’ve done the same sort of thing with any group I’m unfamiliar with, it’s fun and interesting.
I mean, I’ve gone to places where younger people hang out just to see what’s up, and how they do things these days. It’s neat to see what they’re wearing and guess how old the girls are.
Just kidding. 
I guess it depends on her motivations, I could see it being weird, lonely, or neither, really.
Oh, come on, Marge, now who’s being naive?
I remember when I worked at a small diner, the same elderly woman came in everyday, alone, and ordered the same sandwich. Another waitress and I were talking one day, questioning why she was alone and such. Then one of us had the idea to talk to her because she always looked, well, lonely. Turns out she was, and…
Oh wait, that was a commericial for the Book of Mormon from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Nevermind.
Maybe she was lonely. Maybe she was bored. Maybe if you hadn’t nodded at her, she would never have thought to approach you. I don’t think she’s weird because of that, though.
She was neither nor.
She was you in 50 years.
The clue is to enjoy what you have and be thankful.
As someone far wiser than myself once said, “youth is wasted on the young.”
Sounds like nostalgia to me. She is probably remembering her young days with her own friends, before the problems associated with adulthood really set in. Maybe she’s had a hard or unhappy life.
I don’t care how hard my life is, you will NEVER catch me chatting up total strangers like that, unless they initiate something.
Thankyou! I’ve been wheeling that one out on message boards for years now. Nobody ever gave me that line, which was, of course, what I was after. Although one bloke did find some old pictures of Earl Warren and photoshop them into combinations of whatever was being discussed, so that he was both a duck and a didgeridoo. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the original scene, Marge never said anyone was naive, did she? That was entirely Homer’s invention.
Who the hell is/was Earl Warren, anyway?
Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969, noted for leading the Supreme Court during the civil rights era (Brown vs. Board of Education decision of 1954 overturned the doctrine of “separate but equal” in education) and for heading the commission that determined that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy. More info here.
All the older people I’ve hung out with have been great observers. And, you know, older folks aren’t necessarily the most inhibited people. I don’t think she was weird at all, just contemplative (is that a word?) and uninhibited. Sometimes that scares the whippersnappers.
If everyone felt that way, then the world be a lot less friendly, IMO. (Despite bouts of depression, I tend to be an optimist, and believe most people around the world are decent.)
Anyhoo…
I find it to be neither.
I love people watching, I always have. Sitting in airports and train stations is fun, to me. Not because of some sick voyeuristic drive, but because we are a part of the human species, and being aware of those around us is a good thing to be.
I’ve seen heartache, bliss, eros, joy, calm, sadness, distain…all the best and worst, saddest and most elating adjectives. I always watch people’s faces, and interactions.
I plan to for the rest of my life.
And I say here publicly that it’s sad that at 24 I could sit in the playground with my kid running around, watching the kids play but at 42 I’d be the reason for someone to call the police. What if I am reminiscing about my childrens’ childhoods??? It doesn’t make me a stalker or a paedophile, all it makes me is someone who loved having toddlers in his house, and misses that part of things.
Cartooniverse
DeHusband and I occasionally buy lottery tickets. Do we expect to win? HA! But for a dollar, we get to dream of building the perfect house and giving money to all our families and how we could help people. That’s well worth a buck.
Now this lady, for the price of a Big Mac and a Coke, sits watching you but she’s actually seeing her past, her friends as they were so long ago. Innocent and stupid and so full of life. I think she’s beautiful. And I think she was very brave to come up to you and tell you.
Lonely… If you ever see her there again say hey. Maybe even strike up a conversation. What’ll it cost? A few moments of your time.