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Today, Nicole was wearing a jacket that was some kind of a cross between velour and leather. Hmmm...I wonder what you call it. Velleather? Well whatever it is, it was irresistibly touchable!!! Oooooooh!
Anyway, I was bugging Nicole for most of the day, by constantly rubbing her arm to feel the jacket. It felt so nice! But, give me some credit here--I wasn't the only one harassing her. Several of us (male and female) were all rubbing against her jacket like kittens. In disgust, Nicole claimed that she would never wear the jacket again. All I could think was: "Man they GOTTA make car seats out of this stuff!" Hahaha.
*Rub rub*
"Will you guys cut it out?!?!!"
Hehe. Sorry!
Anyway, when I came back home, I flicked on the idiot box. David Suzuki's "The Nature of Things" was on CBC (a weekly science documentary). Quite aptly, it was a special about the sensation of touch. One comment that I found particularly interesting was made by some professor, who argued that in the modern world, we (humans) have minimalized and reduced the amount of human contact/touch.
That makes total sense to me.
After all, with the Internet and all the computerization these days, I don't even pay my bills in person anymore. Heck, friends e-mail me virtual "hugs"! So what has this world come to? Asides from the conveniences of computerization, I still miss the "real thing". There is something very reassuring about touching people, whether it is patting a friend on the back, giving someone a hug, or even just shaking hands with a stanger. I guess it's so reassuring because it's real.
The documentary went on about how some "inappropriate" touching can be misinterpreted. Well duh! But where is the cut off line? How can we tell in this increasingly PC world? After all, I tap people on the arm all the time. That doesn't necessarily mean I want to "get down" with them...it's just my way of saying: "Hey there, friend!" Nothing more. Nothing less.
Yet, even though we mean nothing more, the other person may percieve it as something more. With the minimal contact we do get these days, I think that has made us EVEN MORE sensitive when people DO touch us. Certainly any human contact/touching evokes feelings of sincerity and intimacy.
For one, the documentary mentioned that customers often gave higher tips when the waiter/waitress touched the customer on the shoulder or arm. Hmm. Interesting...
A while ago, I was having dinner with friends at La Terrazza (a local upscale, yuppy, but fairly decent, Italian restaurant). It was a bit pricey, but we were splurging (I believe my friends were celebrating because I was leaving town for a couple months). Hehe. Anyway, we were a little late on arrival, so our reserved table got snubbed. After settling out the confusion, the maitre d' and a waitress helped us move to a better table by the window. After we ordered, the maitre d' came out to apologize and see how we were doing. I remember this because she was standing behind me and she had placed both hands on my shoulders and half-bent/crouched in to talk to us.
I remember being slightly surprised because she had placed both hands on my shoulders. For a stranger, I would usually place only one hand on the person's shoulder. I dunno. Two hands, seemed a little too redundant. After she left, I shoved the thought out of my mind...until the waitress came by to check up on us. Again more touching. I remember thinking to myself: "Good grief! This is one touchy-feely restaurant!"
I mentioned this to my friends, over dinner. They pointed out that I was one of the only persons at our table without a date, and perhaps that was the reason I was getting all this "special" attention. Steve (the only other bachelor at our table) was sitting with his back to the window, which rendered him out of reach/range. We laughed and finished our dinners.
Hmm. I tipped well, I think.
Posted by Dave at October 21, 2001 03:49 PM