Today I met a celebrity chef!
We went to a new restaurant called 189 by Dominique Ansel. What I didn't realize was that the reservations we were looking at were for the soft open of the restaurant. While we were eating, we found out that the chef was there as well, giving out free samples of his signature pastry: The Cronut.
He stopped by our table and we chatted a little bit, apparently he loves Hawaii and was just here recently.
Go check him out if you're at The Grove.
Today I met a girl in the Pangea World Theater.
We watched Hamilton today. If you've ever been to a musical or play, you'd know that intermissions only last 15 minutes. There were only two bathrooms, and I was really impressed by the ability of the ushers to guide people in and out of the bathroom in a quick amount of time.
I was wearing a jumper this evening, which is basically a one piece getup that is not easy to remove. I have to basically disrobe to use the bathroom and then dress myself again. I thought I had it bad, but the chick I met in the bathroom had it worse.
She approached another girl and me asking if we could help her button up the back of her jumper. The way her jumpsuit was designed was that there was an opening in the lower back, so there was no zipper or anything that would help her do it on her own.
I admire the fashion, but... I don't necessarily want strangers helping me dress myself after peeing.
Today I met some savage airline check in people.
We had our flight get cancelled from SFO to LAX, and were directed to the check in counter. There were some people who threatened to complain before it was our turn, and we saw these women emotionlessly give them information about the customer complaint lines.
I'm pretty good at complaining about stuff, but I've never been up against some stone cold savages in person.
Today I met a guy who was upset he was labeled a pedophile.
He needed help with something, and proceeded to tell me the story about how he went to Thailand for two months. When he came home, he was detained by ICE (?) where they accused him of having pedophilia and confiscated his stuff. They eventually sent it back and said they didn't find anything.
The guy was understandably pissed. He wrote to his congressmen and whomever, but the only one who responded was the office of the AG I think. Then he went onto this conspiracy theory of how everyone is a crook and tells me how he's gonna sue them for money and inconveniencing him. He tells me he has to look out for himself since everyone is just dogging on the little guy.
DUDE, I pay my taxes and people like you is who's gonna get that money? Fuck you man, you're a hypocrite.
Today I met a teacher.
Because of the events going on in the store, we had to do our morning meeting outside. While we were outside, I watched this teacher open the door to the store. Mind you, the door was closed. Anyone looking in could see that the audience was a bunch of business people. Who in the right mind would walk past the uniformed people and not ask if they can go in or not.
We had to tell her that the store was closed. She ended up saying that the kids needed to use the bathroom. She should have at least asked first... Though I guess it makes sense why kids might be so oblivious sometimes.
Today was Halloween and I met a couple of public service people.
I was leaving work and I saw them standing in a rather large group. There were firefighters, policemen, some army men, and some guys dressed up in Ghost Busters costumes.
I asked them what they're up to, and they said that they're taking around kids from IHS to do some trick-or-treating. IHS is the Institute of Human Services helps out homeless individuals and families in our community. It's really cool that members of the community were bringing out these kids who wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.
It's cool to see our public service people contributing to the community in that way. I don't know if it's common, but I definitely think things like that can help public perception of their law enforcement and government. Plus, who doesn't want to do good for their neighborhoods.
Today I met the receptionist at the Xray clinic for my TB screening.
I have to give them credit, since I showed up at the absolute last minute and they were dealing with a foreign speaker on the phone. Despite that, they were extremely professional and courteous. They also got me out in under 10 minutes. I don't like being that person, who comes in when it's basically closing time.
But sometimes man, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Today, I met up with one of my old coworkers.
We talked a lot about her new boyfriend, and how they met and what they do together. It was in this instance that I realized how relatable memes are for people. We talked about some regarding bad boyfriend habits, or being stood up for dates. Let me tell you, it happened 3 times and no more than that.
Dating is a generally relatable experience, although differences in schedules can make it difficult to enjoy each other. But, if you like each other enough, it's worth it anyway.
Today I talked to a girl shopping for a laptop.
She was literally my perfect customer. Everything I said to her related to her in some ways, from how I use my computer, what I do with it, and what my hobbies are outside of work. Granted, we got sidetracked halfway through the conversation, but it was overall good.
It's rare to get customers who you build rapport with easily.
Today I met a waiter at Herringbone.
He was super friendly and knew quite a bit about the oysters and where they came from. His eagerness was curious, but considering that Herringbone was voluntarily closed a few weeks ago. I wonder if that stopped traffic from coming to the restaurant. It didn't appear to be that way since the happy hour looked pretty busy.
Either way, his enthusiasm was welcomed since I was picking up a new video game afterwards!
Today I met some human services people.
I went to Lanakila to get my TB test done... Except I couldn't do it because I had my primary care physician do it for me before... And because I did that, I can't do it through that center anymore. It was not one of my best days and I was basically on the verge of a stress breakdown so I walked out of there in tears.
I do not handle stress inflicted upon me by other people very well. More specifically, if you need me to do something, do not ask me the day it's due. That's just messed up.
Today I met some corporate account managers.
They were nice enough, but I wasn't super impressed by their presentation. I'm not the best presenter by any means, but I know how to build rapport. I've done speech and debate for years in my life, and continue to coach people on sales skills and strategies.
I don't think I've ever watched a presentation in which the presenters shut down their audience, refused to answer relevant questions properly, and had an overconfidence in their presentation without reading the room.
It hurt me to watch, especially since I'm 100% sure I could have done better.
Today I met my penpal's husband.
Stephen works in Texas primarily, and all over Texas. He and Aileen are from Micronesia, but work off island. He hadn't been home since March, when they got married and exchanged shell money. Shell money stands in as currency, therefore a dowry. Though, she did say they're planning a "traditional" wedding.
They reconnected now after having been apart for 20 years. How people connect across time and distance changes, and the thresholds are different for everyone. I don't know if I could do a long distance, so props to them.
Funny observation by him was that all of her friends are only girls in their family. Haha, I like to think when you're an only girl, you're feistier.
Today I went to eat Korean food with Tam.
I didn't really do much else, but it made me think about how nice rainy days are. I just got my AirPods the day before and remembered how I consulted all my friends and customers about whether or not they liked them.
Tam likes to take credit, but I just ask people what they think before committing to something as perceivably frivolous.
Today... I sort of met someone. I'm really just documenting my mild irritation from an interaction.
It wasn't really a true meeting... In the sense that this guy looked at our table when we were out to dinner with friends. While we were talking, maybe excitedly, this guy looks over. It's one thing if his booth was neighboring ours and he only had to turn his head 45 degrees... But no. He basically craned his head around 90 degrees to take a look at us.
We made eye contact with him and he turned around, but our conversation took a lull. Fortunately, Khara said, albeit loudly, "Well that was weird."
Then we continued. Weirdo.
Today I met a business man.
It was a quick interaction, but his company recently purchased a cargo company in Miami. He's based here, but was going to be flying out to Florida to set up the new office; he needed a computer right away. Because of the game that we're playing at work, people need to intercept my interactions in order to not lose points.
Good luck to everyone. I talk to a lot of people, so they gotta be quicker than me when closing the sale.
Today I went to the market with my dad.
At the market, I spotted one of my customers sifting through the vegetables as I was doing. He recognized me outside of my uniform, which is rare. Usually it's me doing the recognizing, and we chatted a bit. I was wrong about everything about him, haha. I thought he was one of my other customers, but he was still surprised I knew him from work.
Anyway, we parted ways with a promise that he'll be back to visit.
Today I met a 7-11 clerk.
I was buying a bottle of water and she looked at my card.
"Ramos?"
"Yeah."
"Are you Filipino?"
"Yes."
"Full."
"Where are your parents from?"
"Sa Baguio at sa Makati."
"Ohhhh."
Something I've learned over time is that Filipino people migrate everywhere. Temporary or not, they make up most of the Philippines' income with all the money that they send back to their families to fund educations, support healthcare, and the like. I've taken a great pride in being Filipino since I began watching The Filipino Channel. To me, the life of a Filipino can be tragic, and not everyone is so blessed to be with their family members all the time.
Today I met an office manager.
She works for Hawaii Independent Physicians Association. She seemed rather young and didn't know that much about computers. We talked it out and she ended up buying. It wasn't a particularly long conversation but I had her try a couple of different computers. I appreciated that she was very open about her lack of computer knowledge.
Pride is is a strange thing on people sometimes, so the lack of it can be refreshing.
Today I met a clinical psychologist.
He came in looking to buy a computer, as his wife had purchased one a few months ago. She liked it, and he did too... So of course, he wanted to get one for himself.
We got to talking and it turns out that the pair are psychologists. He got into it because his sister, who's much older than him was one and he was inspired by her.
"You know, everyone had parents who are firefights, lawyers, and policemen and are inspired by them. I had my sister, and you know, it worked out."
Same sister does furniture sales. I forgot what the other one does. We talked about how he's been affiliated with the University of Hawaii for years and has done work with them. His wife is the department head there. We also talked about why I do what I do what I do, and I told him that it's so I can meet new people and continue training. I enjoy it and it gives me the right amount of autonomy on my day today.
He smiled. It's not often people ask why I like doing what I do, but it's always nice to answer when they care.