I've been in writer's mode for too long. I'm seeing potential real life plots/tropes in the people sitting nearby.*
1. There's a guy sitting across from me facing me, laptop on his table while I'm sitting one table over jotting down ideas in a notebook. All it will take is six more similar scenarios before we look up, meet each other's eyes and fall instantly in love. Or you know I could trip and spill his soda as I'm walking by or something.
2. Another guy in a black bowler hat sits across the room, munching his hamburger, contemplating the meaning of life. He's probably a once famous jazz musician waiting for someone to recognize him and ask him to teach them how to be a true jazz master. He of course refuses at first cus he's a grumpy guy, but eventually gives in and shows his tender heart.
3. Another gentleman wearing the grey coat of a man who is either a fisherman or a vagrant came in to grab a hamburger and is currently treasuring each and every bite of his sandwich as if its the only warmth he's going to experience today.
4. Another gentleman with the plaid shirt and glasses of a science/chemistry teacher comes in, a smile on his face, a glint to his eyes as he orders "the usual" yet gives off the impression that he can't wait to use whatever he just ordered for his newest series of experiments. Halfway expected him to pull out a flask and a Bunsen burner then and there, but perhaps he learned early on that experimenting in the dining area sets off the sprinkler system easily and nearly got himself banned in the process.
5. Never really thought the trope of "whiny teenage fashionista” was a thing, but the girl nearby has complained nonstop for fifteen minutes about her shoes being ruined after she spilled her drink.
*observations were made pre-pandemic.