Cue Kenny Craig(Little Britan)..Look into my eyes, the eyes......
You see, today Paul and I were at Applebee's grabbing a bite to eat between errands. He was talking to me and I was listening, but because of my job, in which I'm TRAINED to be observant, I wasn't looking directly at him while he was talking to me. I was people-watching, looking at the images on TV and looking for our food to come out of the kitchen so I could take my meds asap.......that sort of thing.
Mind you- I was listening to him and looking at him in between times of doing all the other stuff too. I wasn't completely ignoring him just to do all the other stuff.
He called me on it and so I tried to JUST sit and look directly at him and give him my undivided attention. I did it- but it was unbelievably hard to do- just for the five minutes til he finished his conversation, not because he's not interesting....he's one of the most interesting people I have ever had the pleasure to meet....but because my job requires me to be on alert and super observant at all times, it's so deeply ingrained in my persona that I can't NOT do it without breaking into a sweat. It just seems wrong to not be aware of what's going on around me all the time.
I also have a habit of seating myself so my back is never to the door or the cash register. You can usually tell a law enforcement officer from everyone else even when they are out of uniform, because they all seem to have that particular habit, as well. They also walk with one arm carried apart from their side more than the other......they're avoiding hitting their arm on the weapon that's usually on their side. They also wear a watch just above their wrist instead of on it.
Anyway, my point was......It's not something I do on purpose- I'm not ignoring him......It's just the way I am. I'll try and do better when I'm not on duty. But I'm not making any promises.
