I Didn't Have to Say Anything. I Did Anyway
A small moment in a coffee shop that made me ask who I really am.
I’m back in Nepal for a while. I wanted to slow down, observe more and talk less. I wanted to absorb the human side of things. Today that intention paid off in a way I didn’t expect.
I was at Himalayan Java, a popular coffee chain here, waiting for friends. Turns out we miscommunicated and they were at a different branch.
A server had already come to my table, handed me the menu and smiled. I realised I had a choice to just leave without a single word. She would figure it out eventually.
Most people would do exactly that and honestly most software engineers especially. We are wired to miss the social clues.
I didn’t.
I waited for her to come back, told her my friends were at the wrong branch and apologised for taking up her time. She smiled and said bye, that’s it.
On the way back to home, I kept thinking about that moment. Why did I bother?
I think I know. It is not complicated. I would want someone to do that for me, if I were the one carrying menus and taking orders, a small acknowledgment from a stranger would make that moment better.
Just a small act of asking yourself how would I want to be treated here. That’s it. And sometimes the answer tells you more about yourself than years of introspection.
I am a reflective dev. I am interested in the human side of software engineers, not just what we build but who we are while building it. If that resonates, I would love to hear your story. Say hi to me on Linkedin.