The next time you’re introduced to someone at a party, the next time you speak to someone at a bus stop or any number of socially acceptable locations, it is vital that you are aware of the risk that they may be a busker.
If this is the case then you are at war with the world and the high street is your war zone.
It won’t be easy… buskers are the elite shock troopers of the army of passing social acquaintances.
I’ll assume that most people are aware of the typical pitfalls of coming across a casual acquaintance in the street. Do you wave? Nod? Stop and talk? There are a multitude of variables to consider. (listed below) I’ve attempted to formulate a flow chart for such interactions that I can laminate and keep in my pocket. Unfortunately every second counts in such situations and during the use of prototypes I typically found myself reading the flow chart as a means of politely failing to notice said acquaintance.
I’ve since then scrapped it; the risk of the flow chart being discovered is too great.
Regardless, the flowchart would’ve been powerless against a musical street performer.
Firstly, they’re likely to be the only person on the street singing and playing music. This immediately rules out any “oh sorry I was looking at a passing bird and didn’t notice you wave” type response.
However, they are working and working publicly. Is their on (metaphorical) stage persona suited to acknowledging a particular member of the crowd? Can you give a shout out during “Hallelujah”?
On the subject of crowds, should you join the crowd? I’m sure whenever I meet one I’d be loathed to tell them I don’t like their music but passing by without pause to listen may seem to suggest that that’s the case.
If I pause, how long do I pause for? Waiting for a break seems a bit groupie-esque when I’m only aiming for polite affability. As any mid-song removal might seem like a deliberate snuff on that particular tune (stopping also suggests that I have no where else to go and therefore I’m deciding to waste my time elsewhere) so we can effectively rule out any stopping scenario. True or not, I’ll have places to be and I cannot be kept waiting.
Persona and tone aside, the last time I passed a busker I’d met at least twice, I thought I’d finally nailed an acceptable “quick, busy walk with a warm smile and nod” but I was wrong.
The particular acoustic guitar playing lady I had to pass by has a twin habits of:
1) Looking to her left when she sings.
2) Closing her eyes intermittently.
As I was passing her on my left that meant a narrow gap of plausible nodding could be expected. Once past the full frontal angle I was certainly not going to turn back to nod. Passing acquaintance. Passing. Turning back is far from part of the deal.
She was singing facing to her left (away). I was attempting to surreptitiously watch for the head turn whilst pretending I was walking somewhere important and not being too obvious that I was watching out for a head turn for fear of too-much-looking in a pre-nod scenario (seems overly calculated.)
She turned, I lifted a casual grin and fired the nod.
But her eyes were closed.
I’m sure someone had seen me. I couldn’t double nod. What’d they think? Would they think that I needed a nod back from a busker that, from their perspective, I might not even know?
I took a gamble that her eyes would remained closed long enough for me to pass. She’ll know she sings with her eyes closed. She’ll know it was her fault.
If she’d seen me. If the regret of not acknowledging me had crushed her artistic soul I’ll never know. I’ll admittedly doubt that she or anyone else in the world has ever noticed, nor worried about, 90% of the minute social details that I have but there’s always an outside chance.
Perhaps next time I’ll try the stop and listen approach. Perhaps I’ll see pain in her eyes or a glint of relief that I, person she had met twice, didn’t hate her.
I was so busy mentally working out an extended flow chart for the situation that I barely managed to acknowledge Old Joe, the homeless man I’ve nicknamed who sits by the tunnel near my house.