paralogue.org

my most recent one was meeting a very pretty girl in the town centre and inviting her to come have scones and jam and tea with me at a friend's house. it was a very nice day out, and she crossed up the path i was taking. and i took a second before i turned around and started talking to her, and she said 'sure' when i asked if she wanted to come with me. so, have you had any interesting random encounters out in the world lately?

oh this reminds me of something that happened to me recently!

so, a few years ago, back when i started working at the place i still currently work, i frequently had people asking me if i also worked at the starbucks inside the grocery store nearby. when i told them that i didn't, they'd say that there was someone who worked there who looked just like me, and that i must have a doppelganger here in town. since i don't really drink coffee, i didn't have much reason to have ever stopped in, but i was curious how closely we resembled each other. one of the people i spoke to told me that her name was something like charity, or maybe canary. and i once tried going into that starbucks to see if i could meet her, but i happened to show up on one of the days she wasn't working… somewhat dejected, i let the story end there, unresolved.

but recently, after getting pissed at how much i was being charged for pretty much all of my meds, i decided to change my pharmacy from the national chain nearby to a local one (which turned out to be a great decision). while calling them to order a refill, someone named canary picked up the phone on the other end. they were able to fill my prescriptions same-day, and when i walked in i saw canary also working at the counter. another of the workers flagged me over and got me my meds, but before i left i turned to canary and asked:

"this is kind of a weird question, but did you used to work at the starbucks at [location]?"
"i did! i managed it, actually."
"oh interesting! because a few years ago when i was working at [workplace] i had a bunch of people ask me—"
"…if you also worked at starbucks?"

i got the impression that she also had people asking her if she worked where i was working too. our conversation was brief but pleasant, and above all else i was happy to finally get closure on this years-long mystery.

though at this point you may be wondering… do we look alike? i'm not sure; i guess we look about as similar as any other pair of tall white women with glasses and long, curly hair. since she had a mask on it was tough to know how close our faces resembled each other's, but my workplace had a mask policy at the time so everyone else would've had the same amount of information to go on here too.

I suppose you two arent still in touch? If you are you should totally post a pic next time you hang out. I'd love to meet my own doppelganger! (also of note i looked up what this word meant in my old dictionary and theres an alternative word for this: cowalker. thats such a good word).

sinku wrote:

I suppose you two arent still in touch? If you are you should totally post a pic next time you hang out. I'd love to meet my own doppelganger! (also of note i looked up what this word meant in my old dictionary and theres an alternative word for this: cowalker. thats such a good word).

unfortunately not… as neat as it would be to hang out one day and see what kind of relationship we might have beyond just being cowalkers, and as personable as all of the pharmacists there are, i have no clue how the hell to make that conversion when one of the parties involved is standing behind a register, you know?

i was just there yesterday morning to pick up post-surgery meds, but apparently she wasn't there, and i was still so doped up from sedation that there was no way of coming away from that looking cool anyway. my wife said that, when i went to sign for the payment, i stooped down real close to the pad and ended up writing a signature that looks nothing like my normal one. i have no memory of this.

watermoon wrote:

i have no clue how the hell to make that conversion when one of the parties involved is standing behind a register, you know?

i was just there yesterday morning to pick up post-surgery meds, but apparently she wasn't there, and i was still so doped up from sedation that there was no way of coming away from that looking cool anyway. my wife said that, when i went to sign for the payment, i stooped down real close to the pad and ended up writing a signature that looks nothing like my normal one. i have no memory of this.

I'd just throw an offer out to hang out and grab coffee with a couple of your other friends + wife. Straight to the point, maybe even "it would be a really good bit" is an angle I'd go for.

ough, I have no idea how to sign on those pad thingies. They never feel like paper and the lack of tactile response makes me sloppy. I wish they would just let me use paper in those sorts of scenarios but its always digital stuff nowadays, like when I have to take a package at the front door. I practically smear a line onto the little PDA printer-terminal thingies the delivery men carry around because its so unweildy to try and sign. Can't imagine trying to do it zooted on painkillers.