Amber Burg's Blog

Not many people expect to see a person sitting in their doorway writing and watching them. They expect even less for their to be a 12 pack of Coke sitting by the doorway with a sign decorated with multicolored lettering creating the phrase, “Free to good home, ask me about it,” taped to the red box.

The hallway was in a v shape with this particular door right in the middle. Traffic was always flowing down this hall since it was the only one that connected to the 2nd floor lounge and the stairwell. It was a little before 9 P.M. when I started chilling in the doorway with my Coke and free to good home sign. People were either just getting in for the night or just getting ready to leave so their were frequent confused faces pointed my way.

The first girl who wandered by was a slight little blonde girl with a white laundry basket. She came from the right heading towards the stairwell. She didn’t seem too concerned with the fact there was a 12 pack chilling in the hallway. I stopped her. “Would you like a Coke?” I asked her. “I don’t drink pop, but I can find someone that does if you want?” She didn’t seem to really question it at all. Just thought I needed to get rid of Coke and was trying to help.

The next person to come by was an RA, which was hilarious in my opinion. She came from the left with a red headed guy. She looked at me confused and then at the pop and then back at me. It was like she couldn’t decide which to be more confused with, me sitting in the doorway or the 12 pack of Coke in the hall. Her walk was slow as if unsure what was going on. Her hands clucked the straps of her gray and black backpack that bulged out from behind her with books. Her mouth was slightly opened as if she couldn’t think of a word to explain this or a question to ask. “Would you like a Coke?” Her face framed with her blonde hair got a confused look but she still said “Oh sure!” in her bubbly personality that contradicting her facial expression. She grabbed a coke from the box. She stood there watching me scribbling notes down in my notebook. She asked the fellow that she came in with if he wanted a Coke. He just stood their silently and shook his head no. It was like he was silently judging the scene taking place in front of him. “Oh… its a study, right?” The blonde still standing there but a smile coming a crossed her face that could of been mixed with realization of what was going on, happiness because she has a Coke in her hand, or maybe even a slight bit embarrassed because I was documenting her reaction. She then proceeded to reenact the whole thing which was funnier to watch the second time around with her knowing what I was doing. They soon left and I could hear the faint click of the pop tab being opened from a few doors down.

Following the last RA was another. She wore a gray t-shirt and dark purple shorts. She was all smiles and jolliness rolled into one very tall lengthy girl. She just laughed and smiled when she saw me and the Coke box. “What are you doing?” She said with some confusion but more entertainment showed on her face than confusion. Her hands went straight her hips like a mother who thought her kid was doing something they weren’t suppose to but they thought it was still funny. She turned down my Coke offer but her grin never shrunk in size. She laughed and walked away leaving me with the parting words of “have fun!”

A popular answer with most people that I asked if they wanted a Coke was I don’t drink pop or I don’t like carbonation. Pop drinking seems to be a surprising thing of the past in this generation. They have either not liked the taste of pop or just think it’s not healthy for them to be drinking. This led to many rejections, which is hard to not take to heart sometimes. Especially when the rejections start piling up one after another. Not many people gave it a second thought. It was usually just a short and quick no.

The next person to walk by my colorful Coke sign was a medium sized thin guy. This one was my all-time favorite of responses. “Would you like a coke?” He stood their confused and concerned. “Why?” he replied. “Because I have Coke.” At this point I’m laughing on the inside because his face is just full of concern. “I don’t want to take your guys Coke, thats highway robbery.” He was really awkward and skeptical. He shifted from one foot to the next.  “Don’t you guys want the Coke?” he asked again. Still confused. he was caught between really wanting a Coke but not wanting to take one from us. He eventually did take a Coke from the box but he was really concerned with taking one because he didn’t want to steal one from us.

The last group that walked by was a group of four guys. They were loud and all of various shapes and heights. They looked at the sign but they didn’t even blink an eye at it and kept going.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2014 at 11:02 am and is filed under Journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.