social profiling

matt and i had decided to enjoy our del taco fish tacos outside today. inside was full up. after an invigorating conversation something about the sovernty of God, and as we were finishing up, a shorts-clad postman – with a significant number of tats – stopped by our table and asked, “is that your Z?” “yes it is, it’s mine…” i curiously responded. “we figured it was either yours or that older guy in there” he points to a mid-fortys man enjoying his burrito by himself inside the restaurant. as i look that direction, his black eighty’s rock band t-shirt clad friend walks out and joins us. “does it have a V8 in it?” he asks. “no, its the stock 6” i replied. “we’re done eating, i’ll open it up and show you if you’d like.” “sure!” so we walked out front and i popped the hood. in my rundown of mods, he knowingly confirmed the 2.5″ exhaust. “i looked underneath, and that’s why i thought it had a V8”. we had a brief but entertaining conversation about Z’s, the Z he had for a week and then totaled, the sr20 engine-swap options from vildini, and general Z car-guy chatter. hearing me mention the silvia and skyline, the postman clued me in on where there is a skyline close by–in the neighborhood near michelson and jeffery (university, but i didn’t want to correct him). i said i’de have to go see it sometime. i didn’t catch where they went when they left, but i do know that if it wasn’t for my Z, we would never have had a conversation with these two gentlemen. on our way back to the office, matt and i laughed and speculated about how they so accurately profiled the customers at del taco, and deftly decided that the green Z sitting out front must have belonged to me. “maybe it’s the mullet!”