Becoming a Regular

i hate getting called out by a customer service person who recognizes me as a regular. i've made it through a 1-week cycle of workers at my friendly neighborhood falafel truck (from where i've foraged a good 3+ meals already), and now we're on repeats. the weekend falafel guy (my favorite) got personal today.

"you live around here?"

"where are you from?"

with friendliness comes benefits: i got about a serving and a half this go round, plus a bonus side dish. nonetheless, i almost want to stop going there. even if i am doing something on the regular, being recognized for it through recurrent small talk forces me to confront the fact that i'm in some kind of a rut (in this case, street falafel take-out). and i rarely want to hear about my ruts until i'm well out of them.

moreover, continued patronage could lead to other disastrous consequences. e.g., i continue going, he continues the small talk, and before i know it, i've got smuggled falafels being shimmied up the drainpipe to my apartment window. [recall: samosas in the box office on the lower east side.]

i'm not quite ready to kick this habit yet, though, and fortunately, i definitely still have a few more weekday visits i can make--those weekday guys were totally in the weeds. but if by then i'm not falafeled out, i'll probably skip next weekend. boo hiss.