An employee at a coffee shop recalls their encounter with 2 odd-looking, strange-acting women who just seemed so out of place that they were almost non-human.
I received the following account:
"I had an experience some time ago that I've never could shake off. This happened in Charleston, South Carolina around Christmas of 2017. I used to work at a popular coffee shop that was inside a big box retail store. One day I had 2 guests that struck me as odd immediately. They were pale caucasian women probably mid 20s that both looked nearly identical but one was about a head taller. They had the exact same haircut, very straight platinum blonde bowl-like cuts. Their faces were quite round and their eyes were a noticeably bright hazel color and appeared quite large, but not in a disproportionate gray alien kind of way. They both also had a fairly odd stiff gait, as though they had a board strapped to their back. They sort of shuffled their feet around when they walked. They both also had on oversized sweaters and I noticed later the shorter one had theirs on backwards.
The weird part was their behavior. When they first walked in the shorter one looked around the store as if they'd never been in one. Her overall demeanor was somewhat childlike. Like a good customer service rep, I welcomed them in and told them to ask if they had any questions. The short girl looked to the taller as if for approval. She then slowly nodded her head towards me, mouth slightly agape, and then attempted a hand wave. Instead of waving at the wrist like most people, she waves with her forearm, palm flat and straight in a sort of robotic windshield wiper-like motion. She then turns to the taller one who gives her an encouraging nod. They then proceeded to walk around the cafe looking at the cups and merchandise, The short girl would often point all around the store and seemed to be asking the taller one questions. Almost as if this was a guided tour of sorts.
Now obviously I'm no linguist but my city is a fairly popular tourist destination, and I've met foreigners from all over the globe. Even if I don't recognize a specific language I can usually estimate where it may be from, whether it's Germanic, Slavic, Asiatic, Mid-Eastern, etc. in origin. But the language they spoke to each other was very strange and not like one I'd ever heard. Imagine if you mixed Simlish with baby babble and sped it up. Lots of "uh", and "ooo" sounds.
They continued on checking out the merchandise and going on what seemed to be a Q and A session. They would often open up cups and look inside. Grab bags of beans and squeeze and shake them. At one point the shorter one took apart a French press and the taller one seemed to try to explain what it was for. This went on for about another 10 minutes or so when the short one picked out a studded cup to purchase.
She shuffles her way to the checkout, and puts the cup on the counter, frequently looking towards her friend as if looking for reassurance, who again does a simple nod in encouragement. She then looks towards me and attempts to "smile." which was just baring her perfectly straight white top teeth as though she were biting her bottom lip, and slowly nodding, not saying a word. It was here I noticed her sweater was on backward, the tag sticking out in front of her neck. Now that I had a good look I will say she was quite oddly attractive but there was something about her appearance that gave me uncanny valley vibes, but I couldn't tell you what exactly was off. I will say I don't recall them ever blinking.
I scanned the cup and went on the typical checkout spiel to which there was no reply. When it was time to pay she pulled out a silver credit card that had no markings whatsoever. No logos, no numbers, no name. Just blank plastic with a chip. She then looks back over to the taller one and says something, who then comes over and finishes the transaction for her, showing her as though it was a teaching moment. I hand her the cup and she once again slowly nods her head, mouth ajar, and does her windshield wiper wave. They then shuffle their way out the cafe into the rest of the store and I never saw them again.
I've told this story to people before and they usually hand wave it and say they were probably just tourists from Europe, or maybe they had a condition of sorts. But like I've said I've encountered many foreigners and none of them acted this much like a fish out of water, nor was their overall demeanor and behavior this uncanny. I won't rule it out as a possibility of course, but it just doesn't quite sit satisfactory for me. It was just too weird." S
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