And then there are the times when you’re writing along, minding your own business, and someone kind of weird sits down next to you.
I’m sitting at the library today, getting lots of work done, as a matter of fact--or I was, until somebody just arrived to share my table.
This fellow looked normal enough--t-shirt, cargo pants, computer bag. Mid-40s, grayish, longish hair, glasses. Not too bad looking. He starts by setting his stuff down, hanging his denim jacket over the chair.
Then he starts wiping the table with damp paper towels. Okay. Maybe it looked a little sticky or dirty, that happens sometimes (although not usually at this upscale library).
He wipes and he wipes. And he wipes.
Then when he finally opens his computer bag, it’s full of bubble wrap. Oh, wait, no, there’s a computer wrapped up in that bubble wrap. The bag seems to be lined in it (the kind with the big bubbles), and then the computer itself is wrapped in it (the kind with the smaller bubbles). He unpacks his computer, carefully repacking the larger sheets of bubble wrap back into his bag, and laying the smaller sheets out on the table. He folds them into a lap-top size mat and places his computer on top of it.
(I’m thinking, won’t that heat up his computer awfully? None of my business--)
He reaches into a pocket of his computer bag and pulls out a smaller bubble-wrapped package. This one is his power cable. And another one, containing an extension cord. (That’s kind of a clever idea, why didn’t I ever think of it? Except not wrapped in bubble-wrap.)
He sits down, he adjusts his bubble-wrap place mat so it is perfectly square underneath his computer.
I’m no longer working, you notice--I’m now blogging instead. I’m completely distracted. And he doesn’t smell too pleasant, either.
Hmmm, there’s a carrel across the room that’s available. I’d really get more work done with a little privacy.
Does that make me a bad person?
