I noticed it because one of them spoke relatively loud and I forcibly understood every word that was being said. I didn’t want to eavesdrop, but the volume was so high that you couldn’t avoid the content. The loud young lady spoke about her boyfriend. That I understood after a while. According to her own description he must have been quite a dummy. He didn’t get ahead in his job and didn’t get any promotions and so he also didn’t receive a salary increase. As a lover he was described as a failure. He also didn’t share any of her interests although I didn’t quite understand what her own interests really were. His behaviour was described as pathetic and dreadful and according to her description he also had an inferiority complex. So, I sat there and thought if all of this is true then there is nothing but absolutely nothing positive about this man and this relationship.

The other one then asked whether she hadn’t reached the point of splitting up. The first one shook her head and said: ‘Never’, I was impressed. If he really was such a terrible human being, then she nearly had to be a saint to be with someone like that. I was just about to get up and leave as one of them asked why the other one didn’t want to break up with him and I really wanted to hear the reasons. As it happened to be the case, many women were interested in her boyfriend and if she were to break up with him, then he probably would have a new girlfriend the next day. And even though she isn’t that keen on him, the thought that he, for instance would be with one of her friends, was a lot worse than staying with him.

I thought I’m not hearing properly. He can’t be that bad if that many other women are after him. And to not split up because otherwise another woman could pick him up as a reason to stay in a bad relationship I have never heard before.

Two days later I saw her there leaned against a young, super handsome guy who clearly didn’t lack confidence or money. Both got into a sports car and drove off.

The moral of the story? You shouldn’t listen to strangers’ conversations-period.