Category: observation

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Busride Observations My San Francisco Chronicles observation transportation

Woman with the bobbed hair.

Ever since last autumn, I have noticed this bobbed brownheaded elder woman taking the #10 bus with me every morning to the Financial District. I guess she amuses me every time because of how perfect her hair looks all the time: neatly bobbed and curled under, including the bangs. I noticed her all those times when I worked down in the Financial District. After I stopped working there, I did not see her again.

Well, recently, seems like we are running into each other again. One day after work last week, I took the 9x back home and she was also taking the bus. We both got off at the same stop, which made me feel a little weird since it looked like I was following her (which, I really wasn’t; it was my stop, too, after all). We even went into Safeway at the same time, which made things much more creepier for me.

This morning, we met again, taking the 9x downtown. I wonder if she lives in the same building as me? And I wonder if she also recognises me every time, too? It’s kind of strange; I feel like we should at least introduce ourselves to each other so things would not feel so awkward. Then again, I don’t want to come off as being a creepy Asian girl (is there such a thing?), so maybe I should just let her be for now.

So, I guess I will continue to amuse myself with her perfectly coifed hair when we meet again.

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Asian-American My San Francisco Chronicles observation race

Asian-Americans;

I don’t know why it still shocks/surprises me when I encounter another Asian-American like myself; for the longest time, I was one of very few Asian-Americans living in my hometown. Even though I met a considerable amount of Asian-Americans in college, I always ended up just hanging out with the caucasian kids anyway. Plus, in my classes, it seemed that there were more non-native Asians than Asian-Americans most of the time.

San Francisco and probably California in general has a huge population of Asian-Americans. Actually, today marks the beginning of the 11th Annual United States of Asian America Festival, which is a month-long celebration of Asian-American artists through visual art, multimedia, theater, and dance. My friend and I went to the opening reception today, where we got to see artist Flo Oy Wong’s work on display, and some Noodle dances.

Anyway, at the event, there were many Asian-Americans, which my friend said reminded her of Hawaii. For me, I felt at home with other Asian-Americans, since we all could relate in many ways; I am sure most of the people there had been mistaken before as “non-native” or whatnot. Possibly most of them grew up in dual cultures as well; maybe even some of them can only speak English now, and not their mother tongue.

This brings me to another story from earlier today; I was on the bus on the way to get bubble tea and do some window-shopping. A woman came onto the bus and sat a few seats away from me and was gabbing away to a friend on her cell phone. It seemed that she was having issues at work, since she was speaking rather loudly and I could hear everything she was saying. I hadn’t noticed the woman when she first got on the bus, so I didn’t know how she looked like. I just automatically assumed, from the way she was speaking, that she was caucasian (it’s a horrible assumption, I apologise). When I was about to leave the bus, I turned and glanced at the woman and realized she was Asian-American–just like me.

I guess the point I am trying to make, is that even though I now live in a city where there’s so much diversity, so much more chance to meet others with similar backgrounds as me, I still find it strange to run into another Asian-American. Most of my friends here are Asian-American, but I never really noticed our similarities before. Is it strange to think like this?

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homeless man Hot Dog Days My San Francisco Chronicles observation Work Diaries

Cat Peddler and Mustard/Mayonnaise.

So over the course of my workdays, I have noticed certain homeless people hovering around the cart. I’m guessing in the past they have had run-ins with the cart, so now they know not to tread too closely.

Anyway, yesterday and today I worked the cart in front of Macy’s, and have found myself amused by the “cat peddler”. I’ve seen it and its owner around before; saw them back in March when I first started working. Basically, what appears to be a cat begging for money is actually its owner being “clever” and placing the cat with its catbed and a dish for money. Oblivious people walk by, see the cat, feel pity, and drop some money. Only after they drop the money do they realize that the owner had been standing by the whole time–he usually says “Thank you” after the people give money to the cat.

The past two days, I’ve noticed not as many people falling for the trick. Either people have just been overlooking the cat or they have caught onto the cat owner’s trick. To me, the guy who owns the cat doesn’t look TOO bad off–perhaps he is homeless, but he doesn’t look the part really. He just looks lazy to me–maybe low-income, but not homeless. I rarely notice when he arrives at his “reserved spot”–he comes in like a ninja most of the time.

Anyway, that’s one observation I’ve made over the past two days. Today, I was “introduced” to another “regular” homeless; the girl walked up to me and asked me for four mayonnaise packets and four mustard packets. She seemed a little doped out in some way, but I wasn’t sure–but anyway, that was all she asked for; didn’t ask for free food. She asked me if I was new, so that probably meant that she’s been around the carts a bit, too.

Last but not least, I think there’s either a homeless or crazy (or both) guy who runs around cursing/yelling. Sounds like he has Tourette’s Syndrome. I heard him this morning yelling obscenities about how “Americans should own America, etc. etc.” and he kept saying the f-bomb. I had noticed him before around another cart; at first glance, I thought he was just a normal guy walking around with his wife/girlfriend. But then I noticed him yelling loudly and cursing constantly, and that made me realize “Ooh….something not right with him.” Meanwhile, the whole time he’s yelling/cursing, his female partner walks beside him calmly, either because she’s embarrassed and doesn’t know how to control him, or she’s so used to him now that she’s become oblivious to his actions.

I’m sure there are other more interesting characters around, but I haven’t encountered them yet.

Categories
observation Starbucks

Starbucks and the bathroom.

While sitting in Starbucks today, I was smart enough to sit near the bathrooms for easy access. What I didn’t know at the beginning was that the bathrooms are locked and people have to enter a code into the keypad in order to unlock it.

After awhile, I became amused and distracted, watching oblivious customers go to the bathroom, struggle with the doors, and then turn around in defeat and ask the baristas for the combination. Every time the baristas replied, they always sounded rather agitated, as I’m sure they get that question millions of times during the day.

“Excuse me, what is the combination to the bathroom?”

“Sigh. It’s (insert the numbers here).”

Some customers were “smart” to just wait in line behind someone who was already in there. I was even smarter by taking down the combination in advance so I wouldn’t have to approach the baristas later and ask them for the umpteenth time.

It was just amusing to me to watch how people would react.

Categories
Busride Observations My San Francisco Chronicles observation transportation

Smelly bus.

Someone had the bright idea of letting out a fart on the crowded bus today. I was pretty annoyed with how things were going on; the bus was already pretty crowded, but these rebellious guys were being obnoxious, and I think it was one of them who decided to relieve his gas. It was a really smelly one: I watched as a lot of people in front of me on the bus were quickly opening the windows and grimacing at the stench.

How rude, really. But at the same time, how amusing the scene was, too. I tried my best to keep a straight face and not show my discomfort since I think the guys were definitely looking for reactions (maybe they felt attention hungry?). I minded my own business the whole time and listened to my music. Luckily the windows were all open so the bus was able to clear out the smell a little bit…but too bad, it was indeed crowded, so the smell lingered a little longer than we all would have liked (too many bodies keeping the smell in).