To the People We Do Not Know
COLUMN
A few months ago, I stood at my bus stop ready to get my butt home, when I looked to my left.
A fellow was peeling a Taco Bell poster off a phone box.
I, of course, had an inkling, but I felt compelled to ask him what he was doing anyway.
He explained: “Brand street advertising tells us that we’re nothing but consumers. This phone box, and everywhere else, could have art instead.”
You know what? This modern-day beatnik, minus the beret and sandals, had a point.
A lady looked our way.
Also curious, she left the person she was waiting with and began to head towards us.
She didn’t look very pleased, but it could have easily been resting bitch face. You should never judge a book by its cover after all.
It was clear that she heard our encounter when she said: “Oh, so do you plan to remove all of the ads from around the city?”
It was not resting bitch face.
Fellow: “No, I just remove the ones I come across while waiting for my bus.”
Lady: “What about the TV? Will you never watch TV? You see adverts on there!”
She looked at me with a smirk, almost as if she wanted me to concur.
I still thought fellow had a point, but I had just started an 18-week journalism program, and was of the notion that I couldn’t overtly have an opinion on things- it was just a week later that Media Law taught me otherwise- so, I remained silent.
Fellow: “I don’t watch much TV and I am making efforts to further limit my usage.”
I admired his calm response and demeanour… good vibes.
Bus: *approaches*
Me: *leaves them to it, and not because I want to. It was a pretty entertaining and potentially interesting conversation to literally be in the middle of.*
I decided to sit on the top deck of the bus. The right-hand side. I’m short enough, so I don’t have to bend my neck to a 47-degree angle; tall folk will know what I’m talking about. Why do you do this to yourself?
The fellow later joins me at the top. He was 3 seats in front. On the left-hand side.
He had his headphones on and I began to wonder whether he pays for a Spotify subscription or uses some cool, hippie, music platform where paying to not listen to ads is an abomination.
I’m sure he could feel me staring at him because he slowly turned to face me.
We simultaneously smiled and shook our heads.
The next day I saw that McDonald’s couldn’t even wait a second before plastering their brand on the phone booth. Consumerism was at it again.
I use that bus stop almost daily, so I can’t help but still think about fellow and have the urge to peel off the ugly sticker posters from the phone booth. Every now and again, I see that someone else had, I always wonder if it was fellow.
That was my favourite encounter with a stranger. What was yours?
Originally published at https://whatthehelllen.wordpress.com on January 8, 2020.