You’d never believe it, but I made a stranger laugh yesterday. True story!
My day didn’t suck, so that was a good start. Flicking half-heartedly through Mx magazine on Platform 19 waiting for my metal steed back to Summer Hill, I listened to our over-enthusiastic train announcer over the loudspeaker. He sounds like he should be conducting a carnival ride. Even when he is just listing stations, what I’m actually hearing is him asking me to strap myself in and hold on tight!, with fairground music gently playing in the background. The first word of every sentence is elongated and sliding up the octave, and the whole spiel is over-enunciated and slightly amusing, considering he’s just talking about the express train to Bankstown. Anyway. I was about to tackle the Sudoku when he said something like “We hope you have a grrrrrrrreat evening, and THANKS for travelling with Cityrail!” Offhandedly, I replied “well, it’s not like we really have much choice” which, to my surprise, the woman next to me thought was very funny. Laugh out loud funny.
You know how sometimes you overhear people talking, and you hear something funny, but you just kind of grin to yourself? At this stage I can’t help but think, wow, she actually found that humorous enough to let her guard down and go with it. I mean, you just heard the scenario. We both know it wasn’t that funny. But you’ve just had a long day in the office, and our Inner West platform announcer makes the daily effort to make it all seem not so bad after all, and then there’s some weirdo standing next to you talking to herself, and sometimes that is enough distraction from the usual tedium to merit a guffaw. We chatted after that, for a moment, but I didn’t ask her name. I wish I had.
I have since made “Thanks for the Laugh!” stickers. I’m going to carry them around with me all the time just in case something like this happens again. It will help me feel less scared, and maybe even generate some more laughter.
Yay Dee - well done!
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