Judgment Day
[Before I get started, welcome to my two newest readers -- you know who you are -- and if you have any thoughts on pseudonyms I can assign, please share them!]
I judge you when you're eating out.
It's true. It makes me sound like a terrible person, but if I see you when I'm in a restaurant, odds are good I'm judging you.
In all honesty, it falls more into the "people watching" category than the "outright judging" category; I'm watching the strangers around me and trying to figure out what they're doing, what's going on in their lives. I'm quite good at picking out the first or second dates ... and I suspect I'm pretty good at determining who will get that second or third date.
Could just be arrogance, since I don't have any proof of that last part, but I prefer to assume I'm right. Naturally.
That's not the only time. To be even more honest, I can't always turn it off. If I'm bored in a store, or sitting in an airport, or in almost any random public spot odds are good I'm creating a story for you in my head. Sometimes it's entirely fictional and mildly fantastic; sometimes it's nothing more than, "Oh, he's in trouble -- that's for his wife." Sometimes it's hopeful; sometimes it's downright mean. Usually it's probably so far from reality that I wouldn't dare share what I'm thinking.
And sometimes I have to ask a stranger a random question.
95% of the time it's perfectly harmless. And the other five? Well, that usually involves people I already know. And I often tell them what I'm thinking. Maybe not always, but occasionally.
Somehow that makes me feel a little less judgmental.
I judge you when you're eating out.
It's true. It makes me sound like a terrible person, but if I see you when I'm in a restaurant, odds are good I'm judging you.
In all honesty, it falls more into the "people watching" category than the "outright judging" category; I'm watching the strangers around me and trying to figure out what they're doing, what's going on in their lives. I'm quite good at picking out the first or second dates ... and I suspect I'm pretty good at determining who will get that second or third date.
Could just be arrogance, since I don't have any proof of that last part, but I prefer to assume I'm right. Naturally.
That's not the only time. To be even more honest, I can't always turn it off. If I'm bored in a store, or sitting in an airport, or in almost any random public spot odds are good I'm creating a story for you in my head. Sometimes it's entirely fictional and mildly fantastic; sometimes it's nothing more than, "Oh, he's in trouble -- that's for his wife." Sometimes it's hopeful; sometimes it's downright mean. Usually it's probably so far from reality that I wouldn't dare share what I'm thinking.
And sometimes I have to ask a stranger a random question.
95% of the time it's perfectly harmless. And the other five? Well, that usually involves people I already know. And I often tell them what I'm thinking. Maybe not always, but occasionally.
Somehow that makes me feel a little less judgmental.
Comments