I hear things

Through no fault of my own, I find myself listening to a lot of people's business that's none of my business. I don't consider myself an eavesdropper. I'd like to think...I hope anyway...that it's just that I'm quiet (sometimes) and I pay attention to my surroundings. Hmm. Maybe that does make me an eavesdropper. Anyway, here are two recent examples:

• Yesterday, I was minding my business and eating lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. At the table next to me, two guys, a man and his supervisor, were reviewing job performance. It was apparent that the evaluation was not good and the conversation started steering towards "making a necessary change". Holy crap, this guy is getting fired. At Sweet Tomatoes! Like dying, getting fired is something you don't have a lot of control over when it comes to where and when. However, if polled I believe most people, if presented a choice of where they were to be fired, would choose "not at Sweet Tomatoes". Interestingly enough, those same people, if presented a choice of where and when they would die, would choose "nowhere" and "never". Go figure.
• Tonight, while eating dinner at Origami Sushi, a woman watching tv kept saying "Oh my God!" over and over and over. I'm not exaggerating, she must have said it at least a dozen times. It was like she was witnessing the Kennedy assassination for the first time. It was none of my business, but I had to turn around and see what she was looking at it. What if it was footage of an alien invasion? I'd need to go out to my car and get a screwdriver or something to use as a weapon. But it turns out it was highlights of today's Outback Bowl. I thought that was odd. The game was virtually meaningless, except to the people who went to go see it. And since the stadium was literally walking distance from this restaurant and was not sold out, if she was that into it, she could have gone. But it all made sense when she told her companion, "I was so hoping Tennessee won so he'll be happy!" Seriously, honey? You're really that excited about the result of a virtually meaningless sporting event pleasing some guy who isn't even here with you right now? Wow.

How do I know all this stuff? Like I said, I hear things.