Media laden…
Hello everyone,
I wanted to share a little story with you. I’m curious if any of you have thoughts on how you would act in this situation.
I won a free ticket to TikTak in Maassilo, Rotterdam. It was on New Year’s Eve, the 31st of December.
Long story short: going to a festival on New Year’s isn’t an experience I will repeat. The artists were nice, and the people working at the venue were super nice, but the festival itself was average. It was still fun at the beginning of the evening, but inevitably, as the night went on, the ratio of nice people to drunk idiots got smaller and smaller.
Moreover, traveling was really inconvenient. Getting there was still okay, and the trains were running even at night. But the metros and buses weren’t, and an Uber to get to Rotterdam Central was €30. Keep in mind, the actual distance was about 10 minutes.
But this isn’t the main story I wanted to share today.
At one point during the evening, I found myself resting on a bench outside the main room, in between some of the acts. I needed a small break from all the noise and the crowds.
After sitting there for a few minutes, this girl came up to me. Apparently she was Muslim, and her partner was as well — he had apparently converted.
She was very excited that I was there. After talking to her for a bit, she asked if I was there on my own. When I told her I was, because I had decided to go on my own, she just said, “No, I don’t like that!” and burst into tears.
I’m not kidding — she started crying her eyes out.
She said, “You’re not alone, we are also here!” and started crying even louder.
I really didn’t know what to do. I was really just there because I decided to be. Yes, it wasn’t the best festival I’ve ever been to, but that’s beside the point. My evening was going fine up to that moment.
So I tried to comfort her by saying it was okay, that I was used to doing this, that it was my own decision to go on my own, and that I was just fine and vibing.
Her partner was also there and tried to say the same thing. Nothing worked — she just kept crying.
After trying to comfort her for a bit, I decided to give up. Her partner was next to her anyway. I told her I was going back to the main room, wished her a great evening, and walked away.
I really didn’t know what to do. On the one hand, I felt bad for her and didn’t want her to be sad. On the other hand… what the actual f*ck.
I was really just there vibing. Nothing much was going on. What do you do when even the idea of you going somewhere on your own makes someone cry their eyes out?
It was beyond awkward and didn’t make any sense.
So I decided to escape. I honestly didn’t know what else to do. I tried comforting her, but it just didn’t work.
I like to think I’m quite emotionally intelligent and able to understand what people are thinking and feeling, but this one was way beyond me.
Let me know if you would have done it differently — maybe I just missed something.
I hope you enjoyed the read.
Yours,
Ihab