Ch^H^H...Train of Thought

Cultural instincts

I was at Valley Fair mall with Tim helping him shop for his family when I saw one of those stands where people were flyering for the Chinese New Year Spectacular performance. (http://www.divineshows.com/sf)

Normally, I typically don't react much to people who are simply flyering unless they stop me and really try to strike up a conversation. Sometimes if they're in really close proximity and stick the paper out in my path, I'll pick it up. It's one of those things that you get used to back in college because it happens so often.

But I gotta say, there's something to be said for how ingrained culture is in a person. In this case, I'm talking about the whole Asian "respect your elders" thing.

You see, here's typically what happens when somebody looks me in the eye holding out a flyer.

If they're a guy, they don't really exist to me. I'll simply walk by, and maybe glance at their table in case it could interest me.

If they're a girl, essentially the same thing as if they're a guy. Though if they're really cute, I'd consider the idea of talking with them, but usually I have other stuff I'm supposed to do anyways so I rarely do.

But I discovered that whoever set up that Chinese show booth really knew what they were doing. Cuz there was an old lady and an old man both flyering. And instead of being obnoxious and trying to get everybody's attention by flailing their arms, they stood there fairly still, timidly holding out the flyer in one hand, and just slowly looked at people with one of those smiling grandparents kind of faces.

And you know what? For some reason, it drew my attention. Like, something inside me said "dude, talk to them. At least feel some pity as you walk by cuz hopefully they're volunteers; because it'd be sad if they were doing this work because they needed the money because flyering is a crappy way to make a living. Either way, respect your elders, dammit." It was bizarre realizing this. And I actually felt a little bad passing by and saying sorry when they looked up at me and asked "tickets?" (For the record, one of my friends was thinking of gathering a group to go see the show already, so I wouldn't have bought tickets there no matter how a conversation went.)

But yeah, a guy flyering? Doesn't exist to me. A girl flyering? Most likely doesn't exist to me. An attractive girl flyering? Okay, yeah it worked for the sorority girl raising money for breast cancer research. Grandparents flyering? Mind control.