I ordered a java chip and the cashier asked for my name so she can write it on the cup. I hate it when people screw up my real name by throwing in an 'a' or an 'n' too many so I decided to go for a dubiously generic English name: "It's John."
She looked at me with a slight frown and a twisted smile. "Going for something simpler for me to write down, are you? Well, John is easier to write than, say, Yoaojukulonyihua," she retorted.
"Wait.... How do you know my real name?" I said, trying to be cheeky. And all the baristas burst out laughing.
I usually love making strangers laugh. But not today. Somehow their collective laughing was muted by my own thoughts. The sunny city of Hamburg was full of people, but none of whom actually mattered to me. It might as well have been empty and gloomy, it might as well have been the apocalypse.
During the journey back home, I let Bill Withers mock me on repeat on my iPod.
"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone..."
She looked at me with a slight frown and a twisted smile. "Going for something simpler for me to write down, are you? Well, John is easier to write than, say, Yoaojukulonyihua," she retorted.
"Wait.... How do you know my real name?" I said, trying to be cheeky. And all the baristas burst out laughing.
I usually love making strangers laugh. But not today. Somehow their collective laughing was muted by my own thoughts. The sunny city of Hamburg was full of people, but none of whom actually mattered to me. It might as well have been empty and gloomy, it might as well have been the apocalypse.
During the journey back home, I let Bill Withers mock me on repeat on my iPod.
"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone..."
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