In Seattle, there is something called "The Seattle Freeze" and it refers to how most people in this town are apparently allergic to making new friends. Most people are polite and will even make small talk, but whenever the conversation rolls around to the topic of things like hanging out, meeting again on accident, or otherwise devising some means to have another conversation, they'll shut you down faster than an church youth group performance of "Silence of the Lambs."
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| He just wants to fill you with his spirit. Actually, he just wants to fill you skin with it. |
The result of shitty social skills phenomenon is that most of the people I talk with in Seattle on a regular basis are recent transplants, fellow volunteers (they tend to be much more friendly when they have to be), or homeless.
In fact, because of work, most of the people I talk to are homeless. Whether it's making friends with the panhandlers in front of the store I'm in, or someone I've caught and am just killing time while waiting for PD to come and ID them, we have pretty good conversations most of the time. Even the ones that are in cuffs, because they tried to run or fight, eventually calm down enough to realize I hate doing my job even more than they hate me doing my job.
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| Chuck Norris is the only person whose job hates him. |
The other option is that we're all just lonely. Either way, despite my work requiring me to put a significant damper on their day, I have grown to really want to help many of the people that I catch, because the hard fact is that I'm only a couple of missed paychecks away from being right there with them.
Actually, I'm closer to half a paycheck away from being right there with them.
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