People Watching

There's a little game I like to play whenever I'm out in public. The game is more enjoyable when I'm in close quarters with people. It's a little game I like to call, "Guess the Profession."

The rules are simple.

1.) Subtly look at the person, (don't stare, lest you be slapped with a restraining order) and try to figure out, based on any visual cues, what they do for a living.
2.) Don't ogle. That's just wrong.
3.) If there are no visual cues, then make up a creative story.

The easiest cues are things like ID badges and military uniforms. If you ever ride the Blue or Orange lines, you will find an incredible surplus of material on the train that will keep you occupied from Largo Town Center to Franconia/Springfield (or New Carollton to Vienna, if that's your thing)

The second easiest cue is/are the bag(s) the person is carrying. You may need to brush up on your Latin and Greek for some of these cues. An example: "The 37th Annual Otolaryngists Conference." That simply means the person holding the bag is an Ear-Nose-Throat doctor.

Finally, the hardest is to figure out by where they get on/off the Metro. Ideally, where they get on should help narrow their place of work. Where they get off should help narrow their income level. Oh, check for wedding bands too.

Now, a few real-life examples from today!
A.) A middle-aged woman gets on at the Arlington Cemetery station wearing business wear. She is holding a folder.
B.) A middle-aged Asian man gets on at the Foggy Bottom station and is holding a bag that reads, "The 16th International Pigment Cell Conference"
C.) A middle-aged man gets on at the Rosslyn station wearing a green dress shirt under a black sweater with gold colored leaves sewn onto each shoulder.

Did you figure it out???

Here are my best guesses...
A.) A nice lady who works in the Arlington National Cemetery Administration office.
B.) A nice dermatologist who works at the GW Hospital
C.) A Major in the United States Army.

Okay, those were kind of easy.

Another thing I like to do is watch the interactions between people.

This one time, I saw a guy talking to a pretty young lady. The initial greeting was along the lines of, "Hey aren't you so-and so? Yeah, we met at that place for that thing? Yeah! How are you?" From there the guy held on to the ceiling rail with a big smile and the lady folded her arms and leaned against a pole smiling politely.

Today, I saw a guy and a girl (presumably co-workers) dressed in business attire. He sat by the window. She sat by the aisle. He was talking to her. She laughed a lot. He looked straight at her. She looked up at the ceiling.

Okay. That's all.
I know. I'm weird.

But at least my Metro rides aren't boring.