People watching escapades

Human nature is so fascinating. I love observing strangers and watching them interact with others. Sometimes when I’m bored at Sarpino’s I look at the people in the food court and make up life stories for them, like where they came from, how their childhood was, what career they're in, what they're thinking about... the possibilities are endless.

Also, it’s funny and mildly entertaining to see how different customers behave differently when they stop by Sarpino’s.

• Some of them are on a mission – they know exactly what kind of pizza they want, whether they want to eat it there or take it away, and they sometimes even have the exact change to pay – so they take and go, no questions asked.

• Some of them – I call them the ‘flightys’ – are so fickle that they have to scrutinize every single pizza and its ingredients before picking one out. These people also usually choose the piece of pizza they want, which is normally the one that looks freshest/biggest (so they get more bang for their buck). They can be incredibly polite and friendly – some of them make jokes about their indecisiveness – or they can be taking all the time in the world to discuss their eating plans with whoever they are with, leaving me to stare at the pizzas, the lights, the cash register… anything to avoid eye contact with them for fear of, god forbid, scaring them away by pressuring them with my stare.
  
  I like to predict what these people will choose; it's interesting, watching them stare at the pizzas as if the pizzas themselves will call out to them to help them in their decision-making. You can practically see the wheels turning in their minds as they go from one pizza to the next, and back to the first one.

• Some of them (the more rude or annoying ones,) will walk past, stare for a second, ignore my ‘hi’ and glower in response to my friendly smile, and then walk away as if the pizza has offended them in another life.

• Some of them (the rare ones), are extremely skittish, and will jump nervously and scamper away the moment I open my mouth. It’s as if they think I will devour them if they dare to ask me a question about the pizzas.

• Some of them (also rather rare) are Muslims, and they will walk up to the store in a determined manner and ask me 1001 questions about our halal meat – where it’s from, what it’s made of, and demand to see certification so they can be assured it is truly halal, and not (gasp) pork.

Yeah... that's how I spend my time.