There I was, minding my own business and spending time with a friend. We were at a local coffee shop, enjoy mochas and conversation. I was showing her something on my laptop when....sniff, snarf, gulp, followed by uncontrollable crying. Like the embarrassing kind where the face is red, wiping nose and tears with a sleeve (how delicate). Also included in this display were several bouts of shallow breathing and that creepy high-pitched squeal. C'mon, stop lying....you know you've done it too. Just usually in the privacy of your own bedroom, followed by hiccups, a cold splash of water, and a stiff drink. The young lass causing all this commotion might have been quite pretty had it not been for the sleeve-as-snot rag and howling in a public place.
And in the other corner, we have the bitter, bespectacled twenty-something...who was reducing her boyfriend to a meek, quivering pile of Jell-O. One could hear every whining word out of her pursed lips, yet only a dim grunt every now and then from the offending party. Her tears were not desperate like our other character, these tears were irritating and begging for attention. At one point during my coffee shop hell, I had crying in stereo...jealous? What are the chances of having two breakdowns occurring in the same public space, at arms length (both arms)?
The whole situation had me wondering when common decency made a hasty exit to stage left. Perhaps we can conjecture about age (they were both about 10 years younger than me), or upbringing when considering these outbursts. I am sincerely not putting myself up on a pedestal...when I say that it would never be in my personality to have these dramatic eruptions in a such a fishbowl. I leave you with this question: has the coffee shop become the living room for the new generation?
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