It was late evening when she killed the engine and stepped out into the slight drizzle. Running across the street towards the sheltered area, she started to climb the familiar staircase that she usually frequents every month or so. Coming to a halt at the locked doors, the scene that met her eyes was that which was slightly out of the ordinary. However, since it was the weekend, the crowd was nothing she did not expect. As the owner lets her in, she is told that she has to wait for two more customers to be done before her turn came. Resigned to the fact that waiting is part of getting her hair cut during the weekend, she settled down on a chair, pulled out her phone and logged onto Facebook. After replying to some notifications, she logged out, put her phone away, and just sat and observed the conversations ensuing between the owner and the customers, allowing herself to just relax comfortably after a fun but tiring day.
As the owner ushers one customer into another room to have his hair washed, she was left alone in the vicinity with another stranger who was getting her hair dyed. As she picked up a comic book and pretended to flip through it, not understanding a single Chinese character printed all over the pages, she suddenly heard someone call her name. Looking up, she realized the stranger was addressing her. The momentary feeling of surprise was dwarfed by the activity that started going on in her head, despite keeping a calm façade and answering politely. In her mind, she snapped a mental image of the stranger and started running it through the database of her acquaintances, desperately trying to find a match. This desperation was peaked when in the ensuing conversation going on outside her mind, the stranger revealed to know a lot about herself and her family. It did not help that this stranger was having her hair dyed and had it bunched up in a peculiar (if not humorous) way and was also wrapped in the usual hair salon protection sheet, watering down any trace of familiarity at all.
After awhile, it was as if her mind beeped and said “No match found”. Giving up trying to identify the stranger, she continued the conversation with good grace, taking down some features of the lady, making a mental note to describe the stranger to her mum later, at the same time doubting she would ever find out who this stranger was.
Fast forward, a few minutes later, the owner comes back out, expressed surprise at the unexpected acquaintance and thankfully, as the owner continued talking, reveals the name of the stranger. The name rang no bells, but it would be sufficient for her mother to identify later she was sure. She silently uttered a word of thanks to God that the owner liked to talk.
Conclusion: Apparently it is not as hard as it may seem to be, to hold a conversation with a person whom you consider a stranger, but does not consider you so, and yet make yourself appear to know perfectly well who that person is. The trick is to just answer their questions obediently and occasionally ask about their general well-being. Do not ask about their family as you do not know who they are and may make a costly blunder. Of course, it may very well be that the stranger identified your ignorance, but was gracious enough to play along. I sure hope that wasn’t the case.
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I can't believe it has already been more than a year since i posted on this blog! My brain feels saturated working on drives and motors right now, so i grabbed at the first non-technical escape i could think of.
Yes, Facebook is banned at work.
