A Bite of Life – The Cute Cafe Guy

Hello!

So a short story about me having misconceptions about someone. Let’s begin.

There is a store/cafe that I go to about once a week. You see a lot of college students work there, so the employees change reasonably often.
This summer there was a new guy at the cafe. He was polite, but it just seemed like he was just kinda going through the motions. I don’t blame anyone for being like that at work, but I will admit I had mentally labeled him as rather placid person, who is not very impressed with anyone or anything. Do you know the type? Making an order with him was simple, clean, but slightly awkward and quiet.

Well, one day while having my order taken by this guy, I decide to use a default of mine. I gave him a compliment. It wasn’t fake, it’s easy to find something to compliment someone on. I like complimenting people, and I’ve never had it be a bad thing.
Anyway, I noticed he had an outline of a rose tattooed on his elbow. So I said “I like your tattoo” and indicated his elbow. Here is the response I saw.

This guys’ face went from placid, to lighting up like a little boy who’s mom told him he could get ice cream. It was honestly, adorable. He told me ‘thank you” and light-heartedly proceeded to tell me that his roommate had drawn the rose, and that he had told his roommate “Imma put that on my arm.” He also smiled and said “enjoy” as I picked up the order. I had never heard him be that friendly before. Polite, but not friendly.

All this got me thinking. I had misjudge him. This guy was much more friendly than I had thought.
Another thought. Was this person placid because he didn’t feel like he had the opportunity to be friendly? When you are introverted, being openly friendly might be hard. Is a tiny compliment really enough to help someone open up? In a lot of cases, yes. I learned this a long time ago. But do you know what? I had gotten so wrapped up in myself that I had forgotten. Forgotten just how important a little compliment to a stranger could be.

So hey, this was just me sharing a little story.
Have you every had anything like this get you to thinking about misconceptions?
Do you have a “default” when it’s slightly awkward placing an order, or interacting with a cashier? I’d love to hear about it.

Hope you all have a lovely day, and give a random person a compliment!
Abby 🙂