hospitality...huh?

today was one of those super weird days that makes you literally scratch your head and say (out loud) what the f just happened?!?

it started out innocently enough with my working my way to mobile, al. i have been here a bunch of times and have found it to be a very normal place. apparently there must be some kind of spring fever in the air because this place is full of the friendliest, chattiest and quite frankly, the SCARIEST people ever.

scene - i walk in to a restaurant to get takeout to take back to my hotel but i have been in the car for 4+ hours and have to pee. as i am rushing to the restroom the manager says, "restrooms are closed." errrrrerrrrt. i practically skid to a halt. "are you joking?" "yes" he tells me. seeing as i am about to pee in my pants i say, "not funny" and run into the bathroom. when i come out i am in much higher spirits and we have a laugh about it. i am later sitting at the bar waiting for my salad and he tells all of the bar patrons about our little joke. he is like my bff!!!

while sitting at this bar enjoying a little glass of ravenswood zin (delicioso) one waiter comes up to me and asks me if i am the new hostess manager. huh? "well you are wearing all black and our hostesses wear all black." oh, well, okay then. he SOMEHOW manages to extract out of me my life story and it turns out that he lived in tustin, ca for awhile when he escaped pensacola and his large, overbearing family. but his mother needed him and so he came back to be nearer to her. all of this within 2 minutes. he is like a verbal ninja.

scene - hobby lobby 5 minutes post bar incident. i am buying raffia for some raffle boxes for a customer. a girl in front of me in line comments on my engagement/wedding bands. i notice she has an engagement ring on, tell her how pretty it is and in the next 3 minutes while we are checking out she manages to give me so much detail about her DIY beach wedding that i probably could have been her on-site coordinator day of.

scene - gas station. i am buying water for middle of the night thirsties and the man behind the counter gets me to tell him all about my job, and i listen to every single place he was ever stationed in the 30 years he was in the army.

HOW does this keep happening??? is it me? i am not very nice and certainly know nothing about "southern hospitality" even though i have lived down here 4 years. was i just ultra approachable today? doubt it. i think that people here, once winter is over, come alive with happiness that they cannot contain. a far cry from so california when everyone is too cool for even themselves. i felt like i was walking around mayberry for f's sake!

there was another scene from the hotel lobby when the receptionist that i know a bit from staying here and i had a pretty graphic convo about men and their lewd remarks. obvi we were talking about someplace far away from the emerald city that is mobile ;)