(At left: One of the newfangled Invicta watches from Bluedial. Water resistant from sob stories to 200m.)
Recently, a friend of mine asked me to spy on her restaurant. She was really a friend of a friend, but she knew I had a mind like a steel trap. Somehow trusted me not to drivel about it to the world on this site. I needed to record the time it took for the staff to notice me, seat me and proverbially get the buns out of the oven.
Normally, I bring my cell phone. It’s pretty covert to pretend you are texting to take notes, but using the stopwatch feature and constantly resetting it looks a little suspicious. What a novel idea–I wore an actual watch this time.
Back in my sales days, someone checking a watch was checking the time, but someone checking twice was marking time. Some of these gestures are lost on folks who only wear watches as an accessory and forget to look at them in favor of a cell phone, or are not accustomed to them at all. My Favorite Guy in fact calls his a “pocket watch.” It’s amazing what happens when someone leaves their smartphone behind or their iPad or UPad or PeePad.
I was able to slip in and make my mental notes covertly while checking my sleeve or glancing down. No one was the wiser about my sweep second hand, especially those in the demographic of folks old enough to be my niece or nephew (of course only if my brother or sister was 20 years older than me).
Next time, I am bringing my Franklin Planner with me. I bet they’ll say “Is that a leather bound copy of Twilight?”
I think I’ll be wearing the old watch more often. I think I’ll get a new one. Sorry smartphone.
