Riding down from my mom’s office on the ninth floor, the elevator stopped on the fourth floor. A bubbly brunette eagerly climbed into the elevator and noticed that, oddly enough, I too was traveling to the first floor. Within seconds, she started up a conversation about how happy she was to have a job, and as an added bonus, she also found that instead of being an administrative assistant (embellished term for “secretary”), she would actually be doing more with her degree in law.
From the fourth floor to the lobby, I shared in her excitement and as we exited the building together, I congratulated her again on the achievement and parted heading in the opposite direction. As I rounded the corner, I wondered what would have happened had I made a different choice – perhaps said, “lets go to lunch and celebrate.”
I run into people every day – from those I barely make eye contact with, to those whom I actually exchange words with. For instance, the other day a friend and I met for lunch and on the way back I collected two more penny friends. One was the young woman at Starbucks who comp’d my triple-Venti, nonfat, extra-hot-with-whip white mocha. (And, I love when they ask if it is hot when I say that…no, I want an extra-hot, iced latté.)
I accidentally left my wallet in the car and I only realized my ass felt less-padded moments after sputtering out my order. The cashier was ready to wait for me to run back to my car, but almost immediately she looked up from re-stocking the pastry case and kindly said, “well, then your drink is on us today.”
Awesome points: plus one. I thanked her two-and-a-half times before getting back to my wallet (and, incidentally, my car). On the way back to the office (it’s coming September 27!), I found myself stopped next to, what I had to assume was a UMKC student. She was clearly listening to her radio and having a private jam session when she looked over, mid-verse and noticed me noticing her. Simultaneously, we both broke into laughter and smiled at each other fourteen times before we hit a fork in the road and headed in separate directions.
Penny friends: noun – could be just like any other friend, but you know nothing about where they have been, nor where they are going. Names are not important, because you’ll most likely never see them again, and if you do, it will consist of you trying to figure out where you saw them and that just gets awkward…like run-on sentences.
What if you met a penny friend named Penny?
