Confession: I posted a Missed Connection on Craigslist last week. After this irritating and creepy incident, I was sitting in the park sulking when a stranger walked by and smiled at me for no particular reason. It was the sort of smile of which I heartily approve (vaguely friendly, undemanding, not suspiciously overenthusiastic), and it was followed by the considerate gesture of walking 30 feet past me before stopping to light a cigarette. My day thus improved, I went back to the office and composed a post which said, in summary, "[time] [location] [description] [gratitude for lack of smoke] [gratitude for smile]." I posted it with the warm fuzzy certainty that it would never ever be read by the person described, but it might add a tiny bit of kindly and innocent sentiment to a generally cynical and desperate posting board.
Today I received a response from, I can only assume, the smiler. It said, approximately, my girlfriend showed me your post, it was flattering, thanks. By the way, my name is....
Jacob.
For some reason I find that incredibly hilarious.
Posted by dianna at March 9, 2005 03:55 PM