“People watching” helps me appreciate being a nurse

Who doesn’t love to “people watch?” It is one of my favorite past times. My favorite place to people watch is the airport but that isn’t so easy to get to on a Sunday afternoon. So Starbucks is a pretty good second.

I went there this afternoon to study, picked a table in the corner (good lighting, good people watching placement, and comfy) and started to buckle down to my Multivariate Stats book and a highlighter. Every once in awhile someone or something would catch my ear or eye and I would stop studying to eavesdrop or stare (not inappropriately of course).

I saw one lady walk in who was so skinny I wanted to buy her a panini and then she was soon joined by a man wearing a pilot’s uniform. I thought it was weird he didn’t change out of his pilot’s uniform (the nearest airport is, like, 30 miles from where we were)…so I thought he might be trying to impress Ms. I-Need-A-Sandwich. They had a strange conversation about divorce, wood flooring, and airplane meals. I couldn’t figure out if they were dating, married, or about to get a divorce.

They eventually left and a pair of men sat down and were talking so loudly I couldn’t concentrate!  Normally wouldn’t mind this, but the conversation wasn’t in English so I couldn’t even eavesdrop! It must have been a good story though because they were laughing and seemed to be having a great time.

Then there was a family of seven (yes, seven!) who all sat down to enjoy their blended beverages and I was wondering how much overtime that Dad had to work to pay for all those drinks!!!

I finally had to leave because I was starting to smell like coffee beans and I was starting to people watch more than I was highlighting!!

Sometimes people watching helps me remember why I chose my profession. My job is to help people return to a healthy functioning base line so they, too, can go to Starbucks and watch strange women pretend to study! 🙂