014 - Overheard at Hotel Hugo

A Friday of coffee, chaos, and conversations I didn’t mean to hear

My favorite cafe for working in NYC is Hotel Hugo in Tribeca. They have a Felix Roasting Co. (which is mid, because of how expensive it is), but they have a nice coffee stand in the front and so much space to work. The space doubles as a hotel restaurant in the evening, but in the morning and daytime, it’s open to the public. They have endless outlets and comfy places to sit. They even have this space in the back that resembles a greenhouse. It has a massive skylight that lets in a lot of daylight, and an interesting wall of leaves, so there’s a lot of greenery, which is lovely—especially in the winter.

The noise is perfect. It’s never fully quiet like a library, but never too loud where you can’t hear yourself think. This particular Friday, though, the people at Hotel Hugo were a tiny bit unhinged. Or maybe I was just listening too much, because I overheard three insane coffee shop conversations.

9:30am — Sad

I took a seat in the back, in the greenhouse area, next to these two women. They had plates with some scraps and two coffees between them. They were chatting away—seemingly old friends recently brought together, catching each other up on their lives. I sat down as one was on a monologue about her family’s relationship with alcohol. Apparently, everyone in her family has a bad relationship with it. Either they’ve died from alcohol poisoning, or they have had a near-death experience with alcohol causing them to go sober. She’s a member of the latter group. She has had three near-death experiences: New York City, Washington D.C., and Las Vegas. Now she’s sober. Thank goodness. And congratulations to her. She was sharing her reflections from a conversation she had with a younger coworker about one’s relationship with alcohol. She said they were discussing how many drinks they typically have when they go out to dinner. The woman in the cafe said when she would go out for dinner, she needed to plan out the exact number of drinks she would have, or else she would have too much and black out. In contrast, her coworker never thinks about the number of drinks she’s going to have. She will either have 1–2, never more—except for special occasions. This was mind-blowing to the woman in the cafe. This is when I learned about her near-death experience with alcohol. She then shared how she can’t go to happy hours anymore, because it’s too hard for her.

That conversation about sobriety ended.

Now, it’s the other woman’s turn.

She is going through a divorce, which is why she’s in New York City. After 25+ years of marriage, she and her husband are splitting up. Neither one is keeping the house because it’s too hard. So, she’s going on many girls’ trips—to New York City, Kentucky, Tennessee, to name a few.

They finally left. And there was quiet for a moment. The only thing left was for me to process their conversation. I felt like it was maybe one I would have one day in the future with a long-lost friend, which made me feel a tiny bit sad to think about.

11:30am — Infuriating

A young couple walks in. A young man wearing a baggy t-shirt, baggy pants, and boasting a Timothée Chalamet shaggy haircut grabs a table next to me. A young woman walks in behind him in a tiny dress and cowboy boots. She immediately starts snapping pictures of the greenhouse space, saying, “Oh my god, this is sooooo cute!” “Oh my god. I love this!!!!!” Her reaction to the greenhouse space made me giggle. It is a cute space, but her reaction was predictable and made me laugh. I am a giggler by nature too: by myself, with friends, in the workplace, in serious situations, and anything in between, I will giggle. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Also, it was not hot outside. I was wearing pants, a t-shirt, and a warm blazer, so her non-weather-appropriate outfit and reaction to the greenhouse really set the tone for what I was about to experience sitting next to this couple. They sit down, and she jumps right in: “So what’s your favorite thing about being an NYU student?” #revealed: I now know they are underclassmen at NYU.

His response: “I get to see so many celebrities: Alex Cooper, Timothée Chalamet, and Chappell Roan.” These are the three he’s met. But he didn’t speak with them. He just took pictures.

He says the second great thing about NYC is the people he’s met at school. The third great thing about NYC is the opportunities. Naturally, they then switched the conversation to talk about all things boys, relationships, DJs, and dancing. They were sharing how hard it’s been to date in their respective college towns: his NYU and hers Colorado College. She exclaimed, “A 30-year-old asked me out and I was like, ew, no—what? Why are you asking out a 19-year-old? Like, go get a job.” She then told him about how she was swooning over a DJ from the night before. She told her friend that he kissed her on the cheek and she immediately melted by this interaction. As she was telling him this, she threw her head back and covered her hands over her heart. It was very dramatic but also kind of silly. I giggled to myself. He then told her about how he’s seeing this guy from West Los Angeles and how he’s hoping they will become official when he’s back from traveling. In the meantime, he’s stressed about it and telling her about other guys he’s flirting with to distract himself. #relatable

Their conversation was so relatable, and yet it was incredibly infuriating. Maybe I was too caffeinated or maybe it was their volume or maybe it was because they weren’t actually saying anything of substance. They were mostly just complaining for two hours in a small room. I considered moving, but my stuff was sprawled out everywhere. Yes, I do like to sprawl. Instead, I put in my headphones and tuned them out until they left. Finally, after a couple of hours of talking in circles, they left and were on to the next place. Surely, continuing to talk about the same subjects.

2pm — Annoying

After the couple left, it was very peaceful for a moment. Until I heard a young woman on the phone asking her undergraduate university for her diploma. She needed it. She didn’t have it. She’d called before asking for it. She still didn’t have it. That’s all I knew for a moment. It wasn’t anything to think of. It was just an overheard moment. I then moved into the main sitting area because I needed an outlet. The young woman was still on the phone, talking about her diploma because she needed it to get her master’s diploma. And then, all of a sudden, she was on a different phone call talking about her union, how she was quitting her job, going on unemployment, and all of the logistics that go into that. And then, all of a sudden, she was on FaceTime with her friends talking about how drunk another friend was at a wedding. Meanwhile, her two friends were sitting at the same table trying to work. She was on the phone for maybe 2.5 hours, talking at a normal office volume. I mean loud. She was not trying to be respectful. I put my headphones on, but I’m nosy and needed to listen. I mostly tuned her out, though.

4:30pm — Content

Despite all this chaos, I left content with the work I accomplished and excited to tell everyone about these conversations I overheard.

~ The End ~