stranger #3

Stranger #3-

What a morning it has been. There is something about rejection that I hate and love at the same time. For one, rejection sucks, especially in this case. Everytime I approach someone for this project, I feel as though I have to sell myself to them. Here I am, just some random girl, going up to complete strangers as they give me the "what the fuck" blank stare. After this stare, I have to continue to tell them my purpose, even if they could give two shits. As hard as it may be for someone to somewhat open up to me, what they may not know is, I'm nervous too! Not nervous to talk to a stranger, but its something about that initial stare that they all seem to give me.

Today, I got rejected by 5 people. Actually it was more than 5, if you count the entire group of chinese people I decided to approach. First lady wanted to share a few things about her life to me (which I listened to), but then didnt want to have her picture taken. The next man was waiting to go into work and of course as I went up to him, his manager was walking up to open the door and let him in. I still still went up to him as he was walking in. I got to say hello and tell him about my project, but he paid no mind. Now, the group of chinese men. Oh, man. I dont know what sparked my interest to go up to these guys, but I did. In the back of my mind, I thought they wouldnt want to talk to me. but it didnt stop me. I went up to one in particular, and if looks could kill, I would be a puddle of lifeless blood. I knew right after my initial "hi, I'm..." that I may be made into their joke at the end of the day. As I stood there, all of the guys just randomly looked at eachother, and busted out laughing. I dont know what the hell there deal was, maybe they didnt speak English, or they just didnt want to talk to me. Whatever the case may be, the laughing was kind of tough, but know what I did?  Instead of allowing them to laugh at me, I just started to laugh with them!

This is where loving the rejection part kicks in. These guys bothered me, and there was something about their reaction in particular that REALLY REALLY bugged me. It made me feel powerless, in the sense that I got the impression that they thought they were better than I was. Thats how these fools came across. I'm pretty sure at one point, I told myself that I was boycotting any and every eggroll, and ordering chinese wasnt an option anymore because I didnt want to support them. I eventually came back to reality and realized that a lot of people just dont want to be bothered with what I'm doing and that's quite ok. I'm still going to order chinese food! I didnt give up, even after two more rejections. After this is when I met Jon...

Meet Jon. A customer service associate at Wawa. I went to Wawa to get my morning coffee (yum) and he was outside on his break smoking a cig. So, of course, camera attached to me and all, I decided to go up to him. When I went up to him, I put my hand out, had a smile on my face and introduced myself. Unlike the others, Jon had a blank stare but oddly it was inviting. My nerves went away and I didnt feel like a salesperson at that point. He told me that when I first came up, he thought I was hitting on him and "he was gonna go with it!" He continued to say "Ill give you my number, and you can text me!" How funny. Perfect timing to inform him that I'm happily engaged, right? lol

"When someone looks at me, they dont think I'm prior service!" Jon was in the Army for 2 years, and was kicked out because he said "something bad happened and he got accused." He was stationed in Texas and stated that the humidity was higher than anything, and there was extreme dry heat. Furthermore, he said that he is an expert marksmen and he can shoot 40/40 with any weapon. Not to shabby for a 19 year old, right? Well, it's more than I can say considering I've only shot guns at a range, and only once in my life. Jon, like a lot of other people wants to get married and have a family! He is puertorican, has 2 tattoos, one of which he got when he was drunk, and another on his back that has no meaning. He plans on getting a lot more! When he got home from the service, he put out many different applications, but because of the economy, Wawa was the first to answer him. This is what Jon chose to tell me, nothing more, nothing less.

Again, it's been quite a day but I'm happy to say that I didnt give up. Truth is, I enjoy doing this, and meeting new people. I shouldve thanked those men, actually. For that matter, all of the other people who shook their heads no, or just plain old laughed in my face. This is life. There are always going to be times where you get rejected. If you want it bad enough, just keep it movin! I met one new face today to continue my journey to 100. Only 97 more to go.