September 8, 2019

A love story.

View this post on Instagram

“We worked together at McDonalds. I was in a deep depression at the time. It felt like my mind was dying. Hours passed. Days passed. I just tried to keep to myself and make the fries. But she was different. She was friends with everybody. Always smiling. Always blushing. Always talking. One morning it was snowing outside, and she walked in the front door, covered in snow, and she started dancing and twisting on the floor mat, and the snow was falling off her, and the light was behind her, and she looked like an angel to me. But we never spoke. Her friends kept telling me that she had a crush on me, but I was too shy. Sometimes we’d be at the same post together, and both of us would just stare at the computer screen. If we accidentally looked at each other, we’d look away really fast. Then one night we both finished around 10 pm and we sat alone in the break room. We started talking a little bit. She couldn’t sit still. She kept getting up and walking around the room. I told her that people were saying she liked me. She didn’t respond. She just stared at the wall. Then after a long time she finally looked at me. I put my arm around her shoulder, and we kissed.” (London, England)

A post shared by Humans of New York (@humansofny) on

74 comments:

mockturtle said...

So?

FrankiM said...

For whatever reason, a really sweet post.

Kelly said...

That’s sweet.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

So?

Love and connection and caring are nice things, mock.

Not everything has to be cynicism and snark day after fucking day.

Ken B said...

Shockingly, explicitly, overtly, undeniably, outrageously, heterosexual. Have you no shame?

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I was sitting in church this morning thinking about how people, especially in my own Episcopal church, go on and on about gun violence and shootings. I was thinking, if just shootings stopped, would you be satisfied? Would the suffering of the kind of alienated, miserable, hate-filled, person who commits that be acceptable as long as he doesn't take the final step? I'm not satisfied with just a lack of shootings. I'm not OK with the kind of profound emotional and spiritual torment and loneliness that leads to shootings even if we pass enough laws to keep guns out of such persons hands. You know what keeps people from harming each other? Living in love and being happy. These two kids found each other and are living in love. What's so fucking wrong with celebrating that? What's so wrong with being glad when people connect and can reduce each other's loneliness a little bit? If you can't find it in your heart to be glad when that happens, in any setting, maybe you're the kind of frozen-heart dead inside person who needs to give and receive love themselves more than they will admit.

mockturtle said...

This sort of thing happens every day. My older daughter met her husband-to-be at Starbucks [not working there, just frequent customers]. Yes, of course it's nice and heart-warming but hardly noteworthy.

FrankiM said...

“What's so fucking wrong with celebrating that? What's so wrong with being glad when people connect and can reduce each other's loneliness a little bit? If you can't find it in your heart to be glad when that happens, in any setting, maybe you're the kind of frozen-heart dead inside person who needs to give and receive love themselves more than they will admit.”

Hear hear!

Ken B said...

Pants
If you turn yourself in voluntarily you might get a more lenient sentence. But hurry.

mockturtle said...

Ken be exclaims: Shockingly, explicitly, overtly, undeniably, outrageously, heterosexual. Have you no shame?

You're right, Ken. That must be the angle--an unusual one for Althouse.

Ken B said...

Seriously, does anyone here doubt that someone on Twitter will link this story and call it “problematic“?

FrankiM said...

“Yes, of course it's nice and heart-warming but hardly noteworthy.”

It’s a nice break from the daily sniping at each other. Maybe it was a gift from Althouse’s heart, who knows?

Ann Althouse said...

Some of you seem to have a problem feeling good.

Narr said...

All I ever got working at McD's was a free meal (two meats, side, medium drink) for a long shift and a film of grease all over (the paper hats didn't help much) . . . and one of the asst managers always did kind of look at me funny.

Girls weren't hired until much later, but I surprised myself one night and chatted up two good looking girl customers from a better neighborhood, who waited for me after work and gave me a ride to (near) home. I called the prettier one the next weekend but no dice. Her last name was beautiful: Abendroth.

Narr
Not even a date!

Ken B said...

Years ago I heard some TV talking head, it might have been Roger Mudd, make — mirabile dictu — a great and profound point. The biggest news of the day is never reported: old men continue to plant trees they will never see bloom.

I think this is the same story.

FrankiM said...

You know what is fun? Go watch some flash mob proposal videos on YouTube, done to Bruno Mars’ song ‘Marry You’. It’ll put a smile on a sour face.

Ken B said...

I want to hear Laslo's story of his McDonalds encounters.

Earnest Prole said...

I know I can rely on commenters here to beat to death anything sweet and beautiful.

Narr said...

The reactions are so much more interesting than the posts--and that's good, the story is sweet and trite and just good tactics--run it up the flagpole and see who gets [you know my phrase]

Narr
[Insert your preferred word or phrase]

Bill Peschel said...

I hope she made the right choice, and they're happy.

And that his deep depression was only situational and not chronic, or else she signed herself up for a long ride.

It used to be that many matches were made in small communities, where people knew people, knew their families and where they came from. Women could wait and see how they get along with the guy.

But almost all that's gone, destroyed. Hook up, go to bed, maybe have a kid, maybe get married, maybe not. Whoops! He's gone. Whaddya gonna do? Way of the world.

Like I said, I really hope they're happy. But we won't know, will we?

Big Mike said...

Makes me think of the young p-chemist I met at a party. She was so pretty and I was so sure she was out of my league but I asked her out anyway. Next Christmas season we will celebrate our sapphire anniversary. I wish this young couple the same happiness we’ve enjoyed.

Equipment Maintenance said...

Everything he said and did in the breakroom could have gotten him fired, or worse, if she'd complained.

stevew said...

Did he get her permission before he kissed her? j/k

That is a really great story, as others say, sweet and beautiful.

A week ago today my nephew was married. He's a bit of a goof, and she is shy and sweet. Both are 27 years old. As he stood up front waiting as the groomsmen and bridesmaids walked up, he teared up a little. When she arrived they both looked so serious - not glum or sad, just really serious. When the officiant (nephews uncle) pronounced them married, they both beamed and had a few tears, of obvious joy. Sweetest marriage ceremony I've ever seen.

gilbar said...

DID he receive (or, Even ASK For) explicit Consent?
NO!
Sounds like RAPE! to me

</sarc

No, sounds nice to me; Glad they made past their shyness

Anonymous said...

I put my arm around her shoulder, and we kissed.

Problematic for sure. I don’t see one word about obtaining explicit consent here. Kid is lucky he wasn’t hauled off in a paddy wagon, especially in England.

readering said...

Why NY tag if from London?

gilbar said...

Many Women, Still (because of upbringing, genetics, just who they are, ?) are quiet, and not forward about a guy. This means that it's STILL up to the guy to make the first move.

This means, that Many Women are going to end up either
a) going home (through life) alone
or
b) going to have to chose between the brash and uncaringly ballsy boys that don't know/don't care about sexual harassment.

Which means that Many Boys are going to end up either
a) going home (through life) alone
or
b) going to prison

rhhardin said...

That's half a romcom. Needs boy loses girl and boy apologizes and they're back together.

rhhardin said...

In Hollywood the breakup would be because of axe-wielding white men; their punishment would be in the final act.

rhhardin said...

Who could believe that in today's modern age there would still be white race discrimination plots, yet that's all there is. Federal troops ought to deploy to Hollywood.

Darrell said...

She found herself a man of color. The BBC shows that's the way to go.

Rosa Marie Yoder said...

Awwwww

rhhardin said...

I just finished Endeavour (British TV series) and the native Brit males are no great lookers. Eyes too close-set, red faces. It's no wonder girls go for the high IQ asian types.

Heartless Aztec said...

The fryer? I'm thinking love where you can find it and the hell with everybody else. Good on em' I say.

YoungHegelian said...

I find it an interesting personality combination that the girl could be so outgoing & socially at ease, but yet so shy about matters of the heart.

Think about it. She's so tongue-tied romantically that a depressive had to make the first move.

I wish them all the best.

Nichevo said...

Darrell said...
She found herself a man of color. The BBC shows that's the way to go.

9/8/19, 2:25 PM

See, that's her angle, that's what she was waiting for someone to notice and observe.


Ings sez...



It’s a nice break from the daily sniping at each other. Maybe it was a gift from Althouse’s heart, who knows?

Gift? Heart? Althouse?


9/8/19, 1:39 PM
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
Some of you seem to have a problem feeling good.

Funny, you can point that finger right back at yo'self.

Bay Area Guy said...

Harmless and sweet, I'd say.

Martin said...

He didn't get explicit consent before the kiss? Living very dangerously.

FrankiM said...

“Gift? Heart? Althouse?”

Yes, even Althouse has a heart.

rehajm said...

Queue 80s McDonalds commercial theme music and new couple sharing dries and drinking shakes...

Jim at said...

You know - for someone who's been banned from this blog - she sure seems to find a way to comment on every, fucking thread.

Howard said...

Sweet story.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

A nice love story - but perhaps I'm missing the part where they had some conversations before the kissing started?
Modern love is weird.

Rabel said...

The love in this love story seems one way. If there's any profession of love from the male to the female I'm not seeing it.

Looks like the guy successfully hit on his co-worker and dressed it up for the photographer who re-wrote it as a love story for lonely women to get squishy about.

That photographer, by the way, is making bank with stories such as this. He does a lot of philanthropic work to raise his profile and increase the marketability of his money-making enterprise.

I Feel Good.

n.n said...

She found herself a man of color. The BBC shows that's the way to go.

There is certainly a diversity angle. Hopefully, the racism is limited to the reporter, and does not infect their relationship.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"...native Brit males are no great lookers. Eyes too close-set, red faces."

Not up to your Nazi standards?

Darrell said...

Mamas
Don't let your babies grow up to be white boys

Stamp out White Privilege NOW!

Lyle Sanford, RMT said...

"Some of you seem to have a problem feeling good." - I keep having the feeling, when reading commenters and pundits (and for that matter, news readers), that the urge to have a hot take, to find a new angle, warp something to make it fit a narrative, sometimes overrides normal feelings. For some people, seeing something passively is not the same as using talking about that something as a way of self-expression, and I say that knowing it's happened to me ;-)

PJ57 said...

I remember being as shy as these young people. And not being able to figure out how to overcome it. I'm glad these two did.

rcocean said...

Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy
Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy

BudBrown said...


In the immortal words of Richard Milhous Nixon "who says you're suppose to be happy." Or some such.

Ralph L said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ralph L said...

She was friends with everybody. Always smiling.

There was a girl like that named W at my college eating house. My roommate's girlfriend now wife, a year behind us, commented on it, and I told her that W had been very depressed freshman year but had had a lobotomy over the summer. Several days later, W comes up to me, "How dare you tell people I've had a lobotomy!"

She became an English prof, but her first marriage to a housemate and future Eng prof, who was her opposite in temperament, didn't take.

D 2 said...

I thought the story's charm was the McDonalds angle.

Clearly the best corporation in the world. Bringing affordable food to the world in more efficient fashion than any NGO. Someone once commented years ago (either here or Belmont) that it was offering the mcdouble to the people in Manila and Lagos and Rio that made a difference. So you have people who want to work and people who every now and then want a treat they can afford. Win win. Markets, not fostered dependence.

I wouldn't doubt if the Great Powers that McBe saw the shy love in her eyes and the desperate sadness in his, and organized the shifts and fry schedule to make this Love Story work.

McDonalds. They really do it all for you.

Ralph L said...

Can anyone else see the photo without going to instagram?

mockturtle said...

Some of you seem to have a problem feeling good.

Not a problem for me. I feel good 99% of the time. :-) This morning I woke up in a cranky mood, maybe due to the storms last night, steep pressure gradient or whatever. You'd all be very surprised to know I'm a very friendly and happy person in real life who goes out of her way to help people, even strangers. This blog is where I get my sarc and my snark out. ;-)

gilbar said...

I wouldn't doubt if the Great Powers that McBe saw the shy love in her eyes and the desperate sadness in his, and organized the shifts and fry schedule to make this Love Story work.

Can you Imagine the frustration?
Boss: Did you sched them together again?
minion: yep, but they spent The Entire Shift staring at computer screens (and selling burgers)
Boss: hmmm, frustrating; Sched them Again; this time make Sure they both end at 10pm. Keep it up!

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I told her that people were saying she liked me. She didn’t respond. She just stared at the wall. Then after a long time she finally looked at me. I put my arm around her shoulder, and we kissed.

HOW IS THIS OK?? WOMEN'S BODIES ARE NOT THERE FOR THE TAKING!! THIS IS RAPE CULTURE!!!!!!

HE NEEDS TO BE CANCELLED! HARD.

mockturtle said...

I don't find her behavior at all unusual. I was always friendly and outgoing, too, but always shy around a guy I had a crush on. That's only natural.

buwaya said...

That’s how I met my wife. More or less. But she took a lot more wooing to get to that last bit.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

It's a sweet story and not unlike how the missus and I advanced our relationship, though not, praise God, at McDogs. Also, I wasn't depressive but culturally quite different from what she was used to. And yet, here we are....

richlb said...

I don't think he got explicit consent for that kiss. I don't celebrate rapists.

Yancey Ward said...

He is lucky- he had a 50/50 chance between getting a girlfriend or a sexual assault complaint.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

yes, a sweet story, because for some reason, as others have pointed out, the prevailing #MeToo hysteria rules were temporarily suspended, and a normal course of events were allowed to play out.

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wince said...

Because it involved beef, for Democrats this is forbidden love.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

@Wince
true-- if Warren et al had their way, this beautiful love story would have never happened.

"Let me show you my Big Mac!"

"Supersize me, Baby!!"

Narr said...

Until someone mentioned it, the race(s) of the lovebirds didn't even occur to me. But then, I spent my life on a big university campus.

Narr
I think I deserve a gold star at least

Pugsley the Pug said...

When I met my future wife, we were both introverts, shy around the opposite sex, and probably ending up single for life. We were introduced to each other at a wedding by the groom, who was drunk. The drunk groom’s marriage lasted about 5 years, if memory serves me correctly. 32 years later, my wife & I have been married for over a quarter of a century with 2 grown children out of college. And the honeymoon has never ended!

n.n said...

RAPE CULTURE!!!!!! HE NEEDS TO BE CANCELLED!

So, that's so-called "cancel culture", or abortion in less euphemistic terms, planned really. Witches and warlocks, too. A Pro-Choice tradition conceived in their quasi-religious doctrines.

Nichevo said...

Char Char Binks said...
"...native Brit males are no great lookers. Eyes too close-set, red faces."

Not up to your Nazi standards?

9/8/19, 4:01 PM


Orwell wrote about this - much of the flower of European manhood, at least/especially British and French manhood, was expended in WWI to fertilize no-man's lands from Aachen to Zubrigge, i.e. in senseless trench warfare.

Narr said...

Aachen to Zeebrugge I think is meant, but even that is odd geographically and in terms of trench warfare historically.

Narr
Not a night owl

Nichevo said...

Thank you Narr, quite correct, I was just going for the alphabetical-sorting equivalent of alliteration. Zeebrugge, yes, quite.

Fen said...

Robyn Wright doesn't even know his name: Sgt. 1st Class Elis Barreto Ortiz, 34, from Morovis, Puerto Rico.

Althouse: :"You're wrong. The name is in the article. Why make assertions without checking?"

I did check. My mistake was when I got to the bottom of the page where it says:

MORE FROM
Our Columnists

I thought that was the end. Although now I see the article continues beyond that. Thank you so much for taking the time to point out my mistake.

Althouse: Really, Fen, your commenting needs improvement.

No, it really doesn't. It's been very sharp lately, more than usual. You are just saying that because I challenged you yesterday on another topic and you are holding a grudge. You sure you want to play that game? Because I am more stubborn than you.

Althouse: I'm going to start deleting you a lot more, beginning with this comment in half an hour. You may copy what you've written and attempt to rewrite it. If you don't want to go to the link and read or you need and don't want to get a subscription, you need to be circumspect about what you say is in the article.

OH. GO. FUCK. YOURSELF.

I will now happily copy everything I post here to repost 10 times over every time you delete it. And if you manage to ban this profile I will make several more and do it all over again.

OR

You can front page a public apology to me for being a vindictive bitch and singling me out because I had the audacity to challenge you on something stupid. What was it again? Oh right, I said I was "skeptical" that you were aware of the NPC meme. LOL.

(lets see now... New desktop folder: Althouse, new txt doc: Althouse1, copy and paste and save. Ready to launch upon deletion. Your turn....)