Watching people at Starbucks

The Metro Sexual

The other day I was at Starbucks and it was really crowded. Hardly any of the comfy chairs were still available and the line of customers was going out the door. WHen I got my drink I was lucky to find a couple getting up and leaving and I claimed one of four comfy chairs in a row. The two chairs to my right were taken by a couple whispering cheesy lovey dovey things into each others ears and the chair to my left was still open. 

While I was sipping my tall Americano in a grande cup and listening to my ipod, a guy came over to the chair on my left and asked if it was taken. Since it wasn't I told him no and he proceeded to dump his shopping bags on the chair and then ask me if I could watch his stuff for a bit while he goes and gets a coffee. 

Of course I said yes and went back to sipping and listening and every now and then watching his stuff. I was lucky it didn't get stolen and while I was thinking along those lines I also wondered if I would be liable if his stuff got stolen after he had asked me to watch it! I never figured that out.

After a while the guy came back with his coffee and sat down and started texting away on his mobile. He was in his mid twenties, clean cut, very well and very stylish dressed. Someone I would immediately give the stereotype metro sexual. In the States we often play a game with guys like these... It's more like a question: 'Is he gay or is he European?'. Well, being in Europe at the moment, that game is hard to play. 
We were sitting there, sipping away at our coffees when he started to get restless. I was secretly admiring his rather pointy leather shoes. They were brown, with some sort of clever stitching on them and you actually had to tie those. In that moment he leaned forward and grabbed something out of one of his bags and then in the middle of strabucks, proceeded to use it! 

He was really polishing his shoes! 

I was speechless. I could not figure out if he had just bought this high tech shoe polishing thing and couldn't wait to try it out, or if this was pretty normal for him! I decided in the end, that this was probably a normal occasion for him. 

Some people can't wait for home. I will never understand. I continued to sip my coffee and started to read my book. Who wants to watch people clean their shoes?