Today I had a coffee shop run in with two old men who reminded me of real life incarnations of the Statler and Waldorf grumpy old men Muppets. One of the men came up behind me in a wheelchair, hair bright white, thick, and standing straight up in the air. The other, who ordered drinks, was dressed in a formal shirt with contrasting gray sweat shorts, his extremely long and skinny legs bare to the breeze.
As we waited for our drinks, the man in the shorts turned to me and asked if I was a student. “Yes,” I replied. “Where?” He asked. I told him that I was a student at the law school. “You don’t say! The law school.” he repeated and then paused for a moment. Then he asked, “Why don’t you become a nurse or an elementary school teacher?” Thinking that he was commenting on the shortage of teachers and nurses, I responded that it’s certainly true we could use more of those. Without responding to me he turned to his friend and yelled across the store, “Look, Jim! We’ve got a WOMAN lawyer over here.” They both laughed.
After the man in the shorts sat down, I heard them say: “a woman lawyer. I can’t believe it. Next thing you know one of them will be president . . .”
I got my drink and sat down not too far from where the men were sitting. Jim, still waiting for his friend, asked me in a bemused tone if I was “investigating” or “going to court” today. I smiled and just told him today was a studying day. They continued their conversation with each other, amazed at all the electronics students had out on their tables in the shop.
“It certainly is a different world today,” they said.
Thank God that it is.
