I've noticed that strangers have recently started to act differently towards me. On a recent trip, men that I encounter while stopping for gas deferred to by by making a short half bow. It was a nod of head plus a slight bend at the waste. At first I thought it was a regional thing. But then I noticed it happening in other locations. I don’t remember this happening in the past. Men usually greet each other with a nod of the head. The half bow was something new. Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed an additional verbal greeting. The same random men started to call me “boss”, or “jefe”, or in one case today, “boss man” while executing the half bow. It left me scratching my head. The last month has been odd.
I’m big man. Most of my life I’ve had to act gregariously to ward off intimidating people. I’m used to being the biggest guy in the room, but I’m not used to people deferring to me. When I spoke to a friend about it at work today, he laughed at me. “Joe, you’ve reached boss age, that’s the last stage before old age. They start calling you sir next.”
Shit. Somebody could have told me.
Today’s picture comes from the foggy parking lot of a mini mall called the Long Beach Towne Center. I stopped for coffee on the way to work and loved the look of the trees in the fog offset by the dark parking lot.
Photography, Aging
