Earl’S Proof: Shyness Isn’T For Everyone

There are people who become quiet and self-conscious when trapped in a small waiting room with strangers.

And then there’s Earl.

Earl, a big guy with a goatee and a winning smile, was one of the customers at the Alton’s Tire Center in downtown Spokane Saturday morning.

He and several others who were having snow tires put on their cars sat in a surprisingly cheery little waiting area. A few people looked at magazines. But planting himself next to the complimentary telephone, Earl quickly turned the room into his personal command post.

You’ve never seen someone make so many phone calls.

There was a red “Season’s Greetings” banner behind him on the wall. And there was a coffee machine near the phone.

But the room’s defining feature was Earl.

He wasn’t loud. He wasn’t performing for an audience. And he wasn’t being a jerk. (He asked if others needed to use the phone.)

Earl just wasn’t paralyzed by the fear that someone might say, “Hey, that guy’s making a lot of calls.”

He wore a blue jacket with “Nike” on the back. He had on baggy jeans and bright white sneakers.

At one point, when he got up to go check on his car or something, he handed the phone receiver to a woman in the waiting room. “I’m on hold,” he explained as he left the room for a minute.

The woman smiled. The idea that someone might come on the line and she would have to say “Earl will be back in a second” sort of amused her.

Lots of us have dealt with con men and users at one time or another. But Earl wasn’t like that. He just lacked the shyness gene.

There’s a special charm about certain unflappable people who never think twice about asking for small favors. Maybe it’s our suspicion that they would be happy to do something for us if we asked.

Earl’s phone conversations didn’t paint much of a biographical picture. At one point, he told some woman that he loved her even though she supposedly had thrown a gift from him out a window.

Earl had an appealing laugh.

Several of his calls started with him saying things like, “So what happened?”

After it became clear that he was going to be waiting for a while, Earl phoned for a cab.

Walking out, he instructed the rest of us in the waiting area to explain to the taxi driver that he wasn’t there. “Tell him Earl’s over at IHOP,” he said.

The cab never came. But when Earl came back, he didn’t seem bent out of shape about it.

He sat back down and picked up the phone.