New way

You can learn from strangers.

I met him outside a convenience store.  He was leaning against the husk of  a pay phone kiosk, checking his email on his phone.  I was waiting for the bus.

I'd been waiting for about five minutes.  I figured he didn't notice me.  I'd dismissed him as just another man drowning in the internet cloud.  Then he talked to me.

"The problem with the bus is that it always goes the same route."

I looked at him, checking to see if he was talking to his phone or someone else I hadn't seen sitting in his carol if he was trying to start a conversation with me.  I decided the words we directed at me.

"Uhm... That kind of seems like the primary advantage, actually."

"Repetition leads to stagnation."  He said it like it was a quote from a movie or something.

"Sounds like you've said that enough times for it to be old."  I liked where he was going but he was also clearly flicking me shit so I was inclined to flick it back.

He laughed.  "Good one.  You take the same way to work everyday?"

"Yep."

"And what challenge does that offer?"

"I want a challenge for my morning commute?"

He paused.  "It'll make you more interesting."

I laughed.  "I'm not sure my boss would approve."

"There's your bus."  He nodded at the bus that was three blocks away.  "You should try it.  Take a new way to work everyday for a month.  See if it doesn't make you more interesting."

I looked at the oncoming bus.  "Sure, but only if you change your hook line for everyone you talk to for the next month.  No more using 'repetition leads to stagnation'."

He nodded.

I got on the bus.