standing in a doorway

reading your phone

The first time in Manhattan I was overwhelmed and hungry.

I shuffled into a deli.

There, I was still overwhelmed and hungry. I didn’t know what to do.

At the counter, I stood there, dumbstruck.

Behind me, a New Yorker piped up:

Buddy, hurry up, you’ve got ten people behind me.

When I told my Canadian friends about this they hummed and hawed about how rude that nasty American was.

But was he?

There were fifteen people behind me. None of them were likely taking more than thirty minutes for lunch. This thirty minutes included leaving the office and walking to the deli, waiting in line, ordering, eating then returning to their desks.

The eating part probably took place on the walk back.

As a suburban dork from Dartmouth, I wasn’t aware of that fact.

This fine man, was generous. He risked being rude in order to keep the flow of humanity moving.

I was in the wrong for wasting peoples time.

Walking and texting.

Standing in doorways having conversations.

Parking in the middle of the street and holding up t…