You see, directly to the left of the building which my son comes out of is the bus pull-in area. It has large, rectangular blocks painted on it – all of which have the dimensions of a bus. Imagine that. I’m fairly sure that means that the buses are supposed to park there. Months of research, conducted when picking my son up, has shown me that I’m onto something here: the buses always pull in to this area to pick up the bus riders.

This is a problem, however, because parents who pick up their kids want to park there. Now, I know what you’re thinking: but the buses have to park there! If there are vehicles parked there, how are they supposed to do so? I’m in agreement with you here, but apparently, the bulk of my fellow parents are not. Every day, there are at least 5 or 6 cars parked on the bus lot, perpendicular to the painted rectangles. Almost every day, a teacher or school administrator comes out and tells the cluster of parents: “If you’re parked there, you’re going to have to move. The buses need in there.”

What follows is… I’m not really sure. A communal act of idiocy? Rather than seeing the logic behind what the person in charge is saying – hi, that area is for the buses only, as they are large and cannot park elsewhere, whereas you can park along the street right next to the school – they instead began ranting and raving. “Well, I can’t believe this.” “I have to move my car? But I’m here to pick my kid up!” “They can’t wait 10 minutes?” “Wow, I don’t know what her problem is.”

I just don’t understand the sense of entitlement on display here. I’m a parent. I have to pick my kid up. And you know what? I park along the street, as do the vast majority of the parents. Sure, I might have to walk a block or so, but I don’t exactly see that as unreasonable. There’s plenty of parking available, these people just don’t want to bother with walking a little bit.

It could be worse, I suppose; all of the people who park in the bus lot could just stop in the middle of the street. Last week some lady parked in the middle of the street for 10 minutes, waiting for her kid to come out, and then got angry when a bus pulled up behind her and the driver honked at her.

Ah, humanity. Sometimes you baffle me.

Girl 1: So, did you finish your response for ethics?
Girl 2: Yeah, finally. It was such a pain in the ass.
Girl 1: Yeah, I know. I don’t get why the professor wanted it typed.
Girl 2: I know. I didn’t type mine up, though. I had my mom do it.

… She had her mom do it. The girl is in her twenties, in college, and her mother is typing her work for her.

I must admit – I briefly considered tackling her, but then thought that such an act would probably be taken badly by the campus administration, particularly the security branch thereof.

Then again, I don’t know why I was surprised. These are the same girls who never take notes, instead opting to text in class, and then act shocked when they get Cs and Ds on their exams. Oh really? I never would have imagined such a thing would happen.

Me? Bitter? No, not at all.

Because I really enjoyed the experience, despite how difficult it was (and damn, it was…), I think I’m going to set myself a goal. I think doing it once a day would be a bit much; introverts like me do need our rest, after all! Maybe three random stranger conversations a week? That’d be doable, I suppose. A few things that I think are good to keep in mind when considering starting a conversation with a stranger:

• Most likely, if they’re by their lonesome, they’ll like having someone to talk to, even if it’s for a few minutes. We are, after all, social creatures.
• What’s the worst that can happen? Well.. okay, maybe that’s going a bit far. I suppose they could be a dangerous criminal and.. err.. okay, this isn’t helping you (or me), is it? Most likely, the worst that’s going to happen is that they don’t want to talk. Big deal. Say “Have a nice day” and move on. There are always other folks to stalk talk with!
• Don’t over-analyze. Don’t stand back, thinking up a script for the conversation. “I’ll say this.. they’ll most likely say this, so I’ll respond with this, then they’ll probably say….” It won’t work. 99 times out of 100, they’ll break your script with the first thing they say. Then you’re going to be standing there going, uhhh.. what now? Anyway – if you think about it too much, you most likely won’t do it. If you’re like me, anyway.
• Just to reiterate that last one in fewer words: just do it. Pick someone, walk up, and say hi. See where it goes. If it doesn’t work, oh well; try again with someone else, or try on a different day. If it does work, it’ll be great.

Anyone have any more tips on how to make this whole thing a bit easier?