Reflecting on My Interactions with Strangers

By Lance D. Williams

At some point in our lives we'll end up interacting with strangers. There have been times over the years where I write about certain interactions I've had throughout the years, so I'll remember. In this book, I share some of the stories. Meeting different people is an interesting experience. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. I feel like most of mine are pretty good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lance D. Williams
• Release date: Jul 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223497318

Book preview

Introduction

I often think about the interactions I've had with random people throughout my life. Over the years, I've taken notes and written down specific details about different experiences, so I won’t forget. I knew I could use it for content eventually. There have been many great interactions, and some of them have been interesting. Some were one-time interactions; some were people I briefly saw several times; some I ended up developing bonds with, but I'll talk about how I met them.

If it's not something you already do, hopefully this inspires people to reflect on interactions they had with people and share their experiences, good and bad. It might change how we interact with people we don't know.

Sign Waving

I was doing a marketing campaign for an apartment/townhome complex in the suburbs of Cincinnati for about 2 months during the winter. Normally I hire other people to do sign holding and sign flipping assignments, especially in the winter since I hate being out in the cold.

During this time, the weather wasn’t that bad, and since I enjoy working outside if the weather is decent, I decided to do it myself for the first 2 weeks. For the most part, the weather was nice for winter in Ohio. Of course, it wouldn't be Ohio if you didn't experience many different conditions in one week.

It was the week before Christmas, and every day the weather was different. Monday was freezing cold, and Tuesday was extremely windy. I could barely hold the sign in my hands. On Wednesday, the sun was shining, and it was warm; it felt like spring. On Thursday, it was pouring down rain all day. On Friday, it was cold and snowing.

No matter what the weather was, I was out there doing my job with a smile on my face, waving to the traffic going by and drawing attention to the complex. Being out there seven days a week, I started seeing the same people in different parts of the day between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. I enjoyed seeing the regular people, and it looks like they enjoyed seeing me as well.

People would wave, point, honk their horns, or do something to acknowledge they saw me. With the hundreds of people that passed me by, I rarely had any verbal interactions, but we still had special communication. On those rough weather days, there were some people who went out of their way to do something nice for me.

The day it was pouring down, a father and daughter pulled over, got out of the van, and came up to me and gave me a Subway gift card. The father said, My daughter and I see you out here every day and my daughter said ‘daddy, can we do something nice for him?’ So, we wanted to give you this. Then she handed me the gift card.

I thanked him and his daughter a couple times and let them know how much I appreciated them taking the time to do this nice gesture for me. The daughter had to be around 9 or 10 years old. That random act of kindness from them is something I think about all the time; it makes me happy every time I think about it.

On one of the really cold days, I was working and focusing on the traffic. I didn't notice a lady parked behind me in her van trying to get my attention. I finally saw her, and she was waving for me to come over. I was thinking she was going to ask for directions or information on prices. But she said, I wanted to bring you lunch and something warm to drink because it's really cold out here, and I see you working out here every day. She handed me a McDonald's bag with a couple of chicken sandwiches and fries, along with a hot chocolate.

I thanked her and told her I really appreciated her doing this for me. It came at the perfect time because I was getting hungry and was ready for a warm beverage.

On another day, there was a lady that pulled over in front of me, handed me $10, and said, You deserve this for being out here. I said thank you, and she drove off.

On a Saturday morning, I might've been out there for 45 minutes, and a guy walked up to me and gave me a Starbucks coffee. He said, I don't know how you like your coffee, but there's creamer, sugar, and some other stuff in the bag. It's kind of chilly out, so hopefully this will help keep you warm for a little bit. I said, Thank you; I really appreciate this.

There was another day where someone else pulled over on a day where it was a mix of rain and snow. He said, Nobody should have to work out here in these conditions. He handed me a Subway gift card and said, God Bless.

Another day there was a lady who lived at the complex, and when she was at the light, she yelled out, You want a different job? It was more in a smug tone than a concerned and wanting-to-help tone. I said, No, I love what I do! She rolled her eyes and said, Really!? in disbelief, and she drove into the complex.

Those were six brief verbal interactions I had with people. None of them knew me personally; they just saw me daily doing my job, which I enjoy. I think some people felt sorry for me, seeing me out there some days when the weather was unpleasant.

I'm sure some people thought I was doing this crappy job for minimum wage; at least I'm pretty sure the last lady I mentioned thought that, but that's okay. The people that saw me daily had no idea that I own a marketing company, make great money,