At work I've made friends with one of the young engineers. He is a very interesting person so I thought I would share.
There is a stereotype that vegetarians and anti-gmo and anti-car and anti-anything people can be a little bit self righteous and half-committed to their philosophies. Johan is not one of these people. His philosophy is to have a small footprint on life and to live local.
I had to find this out about him by observation- he never really offered it up to the world.
Evidence 1: he rides his bicycle to and from work everyday 45+ minutes
Evidence 2: he eats this terribly dry looking bread and coats thick layers of exotic looking butter on it
3: He is one of the only Germans I have ever seen with a water bottle.
As I have come to talk with him during our daily Brotchen Pause (morning bread break, a 15 minute break signaled by automatic air horns) he has revealed a profound love for bicycles and being outside riding bikes. One day when I asked him about the bread he happily told me about this awesome place he gets it. One day I suggested he switch up his diet- he said he doesn't have money too. I said, "dude these boiled easter eggs I eat are like 20 cents a pop" and he smiled coyly and said "yes but they do not come from happy chickens." We both knew which direction this could go down, but I was curious.
I turns out he isn't a vegetarian, but he doesn't like to support conglomerate businesses (unless he has too- and his threshold is much higher than what you'd think) or farming practices that aren't humane. Because of this, he buys direct from farmers markets, which is expensive. Rather than change his moral code, he changes his eating habits and has to budget the whole month for a couple "burger and chicken nights". I have a lot of respect for that.
One day I mumbled aloud "Ugh Thalia this website is terrible" and his ears perked up. He says, "Are you buying a book from Thalia?" "Yes" "Do you have to buy it from Thalia?" "Yeah they have it pretty cheap and I went there before for English books" ... He slides his chair around the corner...
"Well, the thing with books is they are more or less forced to be the same price no matter where you buy them, and they ship overnight usually- so you could call a local book place and they could have it ready for you tomorrow. And Thalia is like- ahhhhhh you know? You don't have to, but if you want I could call a place for you" It was a nice gesture and I actually ended up saving some money by doing it. It made me think of all of the times I go to big stores out of convenience or marketing or brand loyally- and simultaneously curse the lack of local businesses in downtown Auburn.
I could probably save a few pennies in some places to use them better locally. This book example was unbelievably simple and made me realize it's sometimes a shame to be as lazy and unaware as I am in my own role in the health of my community.
Point is, I made a cool friend who likes bikes and is nice enough to have made a suggestion like with the book in a non-threatening or embarrassing way. And he has never given me a dirty look for eating sad-chicken eggs.
There is a stereotype that vegetarians and anti-gmo and anti-car and anti-anything people can be a little bit self righteous and half-committed to their philosophies. Johan is not one of these people. His philosophy is to have a small footprint on life and to live local.
I had to find this out about him by observation- he never really offered it up to the world.
Evidence 1: he rides his bicycle to and from work everyday 45+ minutes
Evidence 2: he eats this terribly dry looking bread and coats thick layers of exotic looking butter on it
3: He is one of the only Germans I have ever seen with a water bottle.
As I have come to talk with him during our daily Brotchen Pause (morning bread break, a 15 minute break signaled by automatic air horns) he has revealed a profound love for bicycles and being outside riding bikes. One day when I asked him about the bread he happily told me about this awesome place he gets it. One day I suggested he switch up his diet- he said he doesn't have money too. I said, "dude these boiled easter eggs I eat are like 20 cents a pop" and he smiled coyly and said "yes but they do not come from happy chickens." We both knew which direction this could go down, but I was curious.
I turns out he isn't a vegetarian, but he doesn't like to support conglomerate businesses (unless he has too- and his threshold is much higher than what you'd think) or farming practices that aren't humane. Because of this, he buys direct from farmers markets, which is expensive. Rather than change his moral code, he changes his eating habits and has to budget the whole month for a couple "burger and chicken nights". I have a lot of respect for that.
One day I mumbled aloud "Ugh Thalia this website is terrible" and his ears perked up. He says, "Are you buying a book from Thalia?" "Yes" "Do you have to buy it from Thalia?" "Yeah they have it pretty cheap and I went there before for English books" ... He slides his chair around the corner...
"Well, the thing with books is they are more or less forced to be the same price no matter where you buy them, and they ship overnight usually- so you could call a local book place and they could have it ready for you tomorrow. And Thalia is like- ahhhhhh you know? You don't have to, but if you want I could call a place for you" It was a nice gesture and I actually ended up saving some money by doing it. It made me think of all of the times I go to big stores out of convenience or marketing or brand loyally- and simultaneously curse the lack of local businesses in downtown Auburn.
I could probably save a few pennies in some places to use them better locally. This book example was unbelievably simple and made me realize it's sometimes a shame to be as lazy and unaware as I am in my own role in the health of my community.
Point is, I made a cool friend who likes bikes and is nice enough to have made a suggestion like with the book in a non-threatening or embarrassing way. And he has never given me a dirty look for eating sad-chicken eggs.
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