Coffees and Lobbies

Having a job in the city is something that a lot of people aspire to and glorify. It’s the kind of thing many parents would be proud of, many movies portray glamorously, and many college graduates hope for in their first jobs out of school. Of course, a lot of people who hold these kinds of jobs in high regard have no idea how gilded they can be, but truth be told, it is not a bad deal. You might have a great view, there are plenty of options for lunch or after work hangouts, and there is something inexplicably exciting about the hustle of it all. The hustle of many people who are all going their own way, and yet also going to the same place, really. We are not so different after all.

You cannot have good things without some tradeoff, and so people working in the city also deal with traffic, paying for parking, and some less than pleasant sights or encounters that a populated area is bound to have. Then there is the work itself, which can be a coin toss like any other job, whether you have a great team or a toxic culture at your company. Of course, a lot of these pros and cons are forever changed with the ability to work from home, and many people would gladly give up the city for the comfort of their couch.

If you ask me, the best part of working in the city is the people. All of the people. Whether they are at your company or not, there is a good chance that a lot of people you know are working only a few blocks away. When I need a break from the office and the screen time, I have been lucky that I can go on a quick walk to meet with one of those people for a cup of coffee: My brother.

My brother’s office is pretty close to my own, so we take frequent chances to see each other when we are both downtown. The walk itself is usually nice, getting to pass by one of the more eventful and populated parts of the city. When the weather is nice, lots of people are out every which way, and it is a lovely sound to hear the laughter and conversations from everyone taking the same kind of break I am. That energy combined with a breath of fresh air is a needed release from the cubicles and meetings of the day. There may be some live music, food trucks, or a random gathering in the area that can make for some nice observation in passing. If it’s close to noon, there is a good chance the church nearby will be ringing its bells, and the nostalgia of my Catholic school upbringing will ring with them if I can recognize the hymn. I am often amazed at how uplifting these few moments can be, just in the brief walk over to my brother’s building, before the fun part even begins.

And then, I have arrived in the lobby. Our schedules do not normally align perfectly, so I will wait a few minutes before he has a chance to come down. When the weather is nice, I go back outside to enjoy the familiar sights and sounds around his building. If not, I find a spot to wait, and normally make the mistake of scrolling on my phone until he comes down. One of the last times I was waiting for him, I decided to keep my phone in my pocket and let my head be clear.

But then, something happened. I looked around the lobby with the same interest as I might with the outdoor spaces. I noticed plenty of people coming and going, with different demeanors and directions. So I kept looking around while I waited, and I was lucky to see so many little moments of people’s days that unintentionally brightened my own.

Groups were walking out together with laughter, likely going to grab lunch and hopefully not discuss work (seriously, let your break be a break). I saw one person having a phone call with the biggest smile on their face; whoever they were talking to, there was a lot of love. I saw a man and a woman run into each other and shake hands while they had some small talk. As they were saying goodbye and walking away, the man turned back and complemented her hair, which she told him she just got cut and colored. While they turned and walked away again, she smiled and ran her fingers through her freshly maintained hair. I wonder if he realized he might have made her day.

And there were some people having visibly bad days with their stressful expressions and hurried walks back to the elevator. Maybe they were running late, or maybe they dreaded the return to their desk with God knows what was waiting for them. Having had days like that myself, I empathized with these folks, and it reminded me that my own day was not so bad. Sometimes we need to peek at the darkness to remember all the light.

Before long, my wait was over, and my brother and I went on our way to enjoy some coffee and conversation. On this day, I cannot remember which of our usual spots we went to; that is, where we grabbed coffee, or where we sat down to enjoy it. But wherever it was, we could blow off some steam, laugh about nothing, and share some memories that only we have. That is always a great way to spend a break, whether in the city or anywhere else. And a good cup of coffee does not hurt it one bit.

These little social breaks do so much good in the moment and the rest of the day. It is a chance to talk things out when I need to, or to listen to my brother when he needs to. It is a chance to ramble obscure references that have built up from a lifetime of shared experiences, that if I tried to write about I could not begin to explain them properly. It is a chance to remember that work is just work, and that life is so much more than how we earn a living. It is a chance to enjoy the city I work in, rather than to only pass it by on the way to and from my desk at the bookends of the day.

After we finished and returned to work for the afternoon, on this particular day, I could not stop thinking about the lobby. A place that I normally pay little attention to, as it is only a means to wait for the next place. But this day, the lobby gave me so much. It was a reminder that every day, all around us, countless people are experiencing countless stories of their own. And with each of those stories, countless lessons to be learned by both those living through them or the curious onlookers who have the time to kill. Sometimes, we may be lucky to be part of those stories. Other days, we are lucky to catch a moment of them as outsiders. Most often, these stories pass by and change the world without us ever realizing.

It can be easy to stop and look around when you are in a beautiful, extraordinary setting. It is not so easy to stop and look around an unexceptional setting, especially one that you might see almost daily. But when you do stop and look around, you might be surprised at the things you might see. You might be delighted by the people you observe, or the perspective that you obtain. You might not realize just how fantastic a place as simple as a lobby can be.

So as you go about your day, keep your head on a swivel and enjoy the stories around you. Be it a lobby, or a waiting room, or wherever you find yourself before you get to where you are going, feel free to stop and look around. It might make your day.