When you ask someone out of the blue if they'd like to chat and share their story with you, you're bound to get rejected. Rather than hide the failed attempts, I figured that I'd share them and be transparent about the process. Plus, the interactions can be...interesting.

I still hadn't gotten a single person to talk to me that day. But surely, this woman, with her tie dye chair, tie dye glasses, and small white dog would be willing to chat. After all, she was 1.5 hours early to the event, and she was smiling up at the trees.

Oh I'm not from here. I'm from Hayward.

"Oh but you don't have to be from Redwood City! That's okay!", I reassured her.

No no no I don't think so at this time.

Oops, I guess I didn't read between the lines of her first response.

He had been sitting outside the salon for so long. He'd definitely be free to chat!

"Sure....[person walks into barber shop] Oh wait, I actually might have to go back to work now. Sorry about that."

Turns out he worked there and was just on break. Oops.