Day 17: Sometimes you touch someone's heart

I'm finding that at this point in Rejection Boot Camp that I've shed most of my fear of approaching people. I still get a twang of nerves when approaching certain types of people. But, I am not hesitating to go after my objective as much as I was in the beginning. I definitely feel a shift in my attitudes and behavior towards people even when not actively trying to get rejected. I will post more about this separately, but for now, let's get down to the awesome, lovely experience I had yesterday.

I was out to lunch with a group of former coworkers. They are a super group of people for whom I have a great deal of professional respect and personal affection. We decided to meet up for lunch yesterday at a very yummy Indian restaurant.

We were nearing the end of our meal as I told my friends about this rejection challenge and that I still needed to get rejected for the day. I asked them if they would mind if I asked some random people in the room to join us at our table? We weren't quite ready to leave so there was still time in case someone said yes. They were all like "Yeah sure!" So I looked around the room and settled on an elderly pair lunching together. Something about them just drew me in.

I went over to their table and said "Excuse me, I hope I'm not interrupting your lunch, but I was admiring you both from over there. You seem like such a nice couple. Would you be interested in joining us at our table?"

They both lit up like Christmas trees, big smiles came over the faces! The man said "Well, we've already eaten our lunch and I'm afraid we're about to leave. But we would have loved to join you. It is so nice of you to ask us! Thank you so much!"  This man was beaming with joy. Maybe it was because it was unexpected. He was touched almost to the point of blushing.

"I'm Vera," said the woman next, with a huge, glowing smile. 'I'm his helper. That is John Bell."

"Hello Vera, hello John Bell. It is really good to meet you!" I shook both of their hands. "I hope it's ok that I asked you, I promise you I'm not creepy or anything." I laughed and so did they. "You're not creepy?" said John Bell, "Well then I'm afraid I won't fit in!" Big laughs all around.

I continued "It's just that you really look like nice people, and so warm, so I thought I'd come over and just ask. I hope that was okay."

Both of them said it was certainly ok, it was thoughtful and that they were honored. They really meant it, this was not a joke. Perhaps for the first time in my rejection challenge I wished someone would have said yes to me. I would have loved to have the company of those two kind souls.

I don't know if it was the generational gap, or just the fact that a stranger thought enough of them to want to invite them for a meal, but it was really heart warming to see their reaction. I dare say I made their afternoon a little happier. I thanked them, told them how much I enjoyed meeting them, and went back to my table. As we were leaving the restaurant I said my goodbyes again. I really wanted to hug those two. If they said said yes I would have still considered this day a success.

For further reading, check out this article about the benefits of relationships between generations.