by K. R. Richardson

Created on: November 14, 2008

You know those people who sit in cafes with their laptops? Well, I work as a waiter in a cafe and I see them all the time. Some of them are actually genuine. They're just having a crack at multi-tasking by combining work with lunch. But then there's the others; the posers. When you've been waiting tables as long as I have, you get to be quite good at spotting the difference. Most of them are pretty harmless; a bit pathetic, but basically harmless. Every now and then though, you get one that really pushes your buttons. Like Callum.

Callum comes in to my work every day without fail and he always has his computer with him. He never misses an opportunity to brag about the progress he's making on his "amazing philosophical piece". Funnily enough though, from my observations anyway, it seems as though he spends more time talking about it than he does actually writing it. The most annoying thing about Callum though, is that he insists on taking up a six seat table because he "needs the room to work". That wouldn't be such a problem, accept that he stays, literally, for hours. If it gets busy and we want the table, he'll order another coffee and refuse to move, claiming that, as a paying customer, he has every right to sit where he chooses. Unfortunately, maddening as it is, he is right and there's nothing we can do about it.

Every afternoon, when I take my break, I sit and watch this guy. It's actually remarkably entertaining watching his facial expressions and imagining what he's thinking and writing about; so entertaining, in fact, that I decided that today, I was going to do something about it. I brought my own laptop to work and, when it was time for my break, I pulled it out and set myself up at a table not too far away from where Callum was seated. I faced myself directly towards him and simply wrote what I saw (filling in the gaps with my imagination, of course). I even made up my own version of his "amazing philosophical piece" based on what he'd told me about it.

This is what I wrote...

Callum is sitting out the front of a busy coffee shop. His only companion is his laptop computer. There is enough light coming from the screen for it to reflect itself in Callum's glasses. There is also enough sunlight for Callum to be able to see his reflection in the computer screen. He can see his glowing glasses, and realizes that these two reflections are playing off each other into infinity. Callum finds this very deep. He has thoughts about how he is a reflection of his

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