I always have the most interesting conversations with complete strangers in Starbucks. I suppose I should have been working on another chapter of my book (sorry Linda) but, I had been contemplating something a new friend of mine had said on Twitter, something that vexed me all day. "Jack" asked what the difference between fake and real is in the online world; a place where no one can discern with any certainty who the blazes you are actually conversing with in the first place. I think this is completely fascinating on so many levels. It reminds me of Brad Paisley's song, "So Much Cooler Online". I mean, when you think about it, how well do you honestly know anyone you converse with? If one was to read my blog or Tweets, you'd think I never had a bad day... my 3D friends know better and are there holding the hanky when I cry that ugly snorting cry only good friends can handle without laughing. So, this was where my head was when I started chit chatting with the Scottish sweater wearing professor guy I see almost daily.
He joked that he sees me everyday working on random things (the folks at my Starbucks ROCK!... they let me work on all sorts of arty things there) and that he felt as if he knew me. Bless him, he pegged me for a college kid in engineering (the baseball hat and hoodie with iPhone buds in and tunes cranked). I laughed because I too thought, well there is the Scottish sweater wearing professor guy (the sweater is a hand-dyed yarn blend his wife finished knitting it in her last days of battling cancer, he was a plumber, and he's working on writing a book about her for his grandkids... I wasn't even close and for argument sake, he was ABSOLUTELY correct... college...oh yeah, I am totally grinning ear to flippin' ear). He left and I stared at my coffee cup. This is the real world... where I could actually talk to him, imagine a place where that isn't a given.
Coffee is honest when you take it for what it is. I drink straight up black coffee. I know that there will be a slight bitterness to it and have no false expectations- it is what it is and I love it. The interesting thing is what it becomes after we dink around with it. For example, my Mom drinks half and half with a shot of coffee in my opinion, it most definitely isn't coffee and only resembles it in name only. I suppose after you add enough cream, sugar, flavor shots, steamed whatever, with foam or not, yadda, yadda, yadda, we effectively enhance it beyond recognition and what was a no-calorie beverage becomes a danger to our waistline in short order. Where am I going with this. Well, people online are like the tailored coffee beverage. We read their words, look at their pictures, and believe whatever it is we have conjured in our heads about who they are.... like the Scottish sweater wearing professor guy. Truth is, I think sometimes our adulterated version is easier to swallow than the straight up version. I know that after hearing his story, I went back to reading what my new friend had posted and had this profound epiphany moment. As a business person, I have to understand that folks are going to filter what they read online. My job is to make sure that the coffee is hot, the aroma inviting, the conversation is engaging, and that the spot they have to sit for a bit is a comfort. Raising my glass to you "Jack", inspiring as always. (This is the House that Jack Built Mug... )
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