Recently, I had a strange experience. My daughter and I went on a walk. A lady was raking. I enjoy Fall and raking, so I kidded her that I wouldn’t mind helping.

We joked about this, which led to conversations about the Food Pantry. She volunteers and said they were in desperate need of help. I’ve seen the long lines at a local church, I know there is a need right now. My daughter volunteers. So, I said I would look into this too. We were about to continue our walk…

The lady said, “Oh, I don’t have a piece of paper.”

I took out my phone and said, “I can take your number.”

I texted her the next day. The standard message of “nice to meet you,” if you send me the number for the Food Pantry, I’ll see what help they need. I work during the week, so hope they need weekend help.

GUESS WHAT — She never wrote back. No message, nothing.

My daughter asked me too, “Hey, did you hear from the lady.”

My response, “No, not even a nice to meet you message.”

The reason this was so surprising was the fact that this lady was extremely friendly. Telling us about her neighbors, her kids, her grandkids, baking cookies, etc.

My daughter wanted to contact her, so asked for her number and wrote to her. The lady responded to my daughter, answering her question and saying, “I’ll get in touch with your Mom with the Food Pantry number.” The lady AGAIN re-iterated how desperate the Food Pantry was for help.

Isn’t this the silliest thing… Feels like High School. What is interesting is that I had not asked for HER number. She was the one who asked first.

So, I ask you… “What do you make of this?”

Recently, I stopped by church. During the week, they have a quick 30 minute mass in the morning. The school kids attend. It’s nice. The Priest will engage the children of all ages when he asks questions.

That day, he brought up the subject of kindness, meeting new people, etc. Wow, my ears perked up. How did he know I needed to hear this talk?!

He chose this subject to reach the children; however, it’s true even when we are older. Meaning, no matter what age, people can be superficial.

He talked about how our world has changed, especially since COVID. People want and need interaction, but because of the isolation we experienced during COVID, we have fallen into a dark hole. Everyone wants to remain anonymous. Our phones add to this, allowing us to hide behind them. We can talk to people on our phones, no “in person” interaction needed, we’ve grown comfortable with this.

The Priest made a case for showing kindness, helping others, putting the phones down, etc. EVEN HE needs to make more efforts. He said he got a new dog, which has opened the door to talking with people. If you walk your dog, other dog owners enjoy talking.

Anyhow…. PERFECT subject. I smiled, “Yes, we do like to be anonymous these days. Hide behind our phones/computers.”

This is why the coffee shops are engaging customers, knowing their names and what they order. Greeting them in the morning. In the end, people “do want” face-to-face human interaction. Good for repeat business.

Have you had any strange interactions lately?