The Art of Professional People-watching

Creative Commons photo by Thad Zajdowicz

My wife and I were on vacation recently and we had dinner at a fancy restaurant with a former governor, a big-time political donor, someone who may have been in “the family business” and a superhero in disguise (or a secret agent, we couldn’t tell which).

OK, we’re not positive about the jobs/identities of our fellow dinner guests or server at a fancy restaurant where we enjoyed our meal (we may be foodies on a budget at home, but those rules get bent a bit on vacation), but my wife and I, who are writers and therefore people watchers, decided to take our game to the next level.

Based on our observations (and snippets of conversations that we, as former reporters, may have overheard), we made some (quasi) educated guesses about the secrets they were withholding from the rest of us.

Normally we keep our people peeping to a respectable minimum but we are always on the hunt for good characters. It’s so easy to go through life and not notice anyone but, when you do open your eyes, it’s fascinating who you come across and who they really are, or project themselves to be (hey, I’m as guilty as the next fella in this regard).

As for our secret agent/superhero, I’m sure the decoder ring left at our table was a compete accident.

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