u/Honest_Road1790

I've been using in-ear buds for a while and after a long time wearing my ear canal gets swollen and sore. Now that it's getting warmer, sweating makes it even worse. Lately I've seen a lot of people recommending open ear clip-ons for the lack of canal pressure. I'm checking between the baseus MC2 and the Soundcore C50i. The MC2 has a fully-wrapped cushion that they market as a cloud touch feel, curious if it actually lives up to that. And C50i also gets a lot of praise for the price. My use case is 6–8 hours of wear daily for work and casual use, with occasional sweaty workouts where I need them to stay put. Anyone with experience on either?

I'm a white guy from the US but I lived in Spain for about 6 years during college and grad school. So I speak Spanish pretty fluently.

Last weekend I was at the mall killing time before a movie. I sat down on one of those benches in the middle of the walkway to check my phone. Two women, probably mid 30s, sat down right next to me and started chatting in Spanish. At first I wasn't really paying attention.

Then one of them starts going off about people walking by. Commenting on everyone's outfits, their weight, their hair, just straight up roasting strangers. I kept my head down, pretending to be on my phone, and just listened.

Then she started talking about me. Said something like "look at this guy sitting here alone on a Saturday like he has no friends. Probably waiting for his mom to pick him up." Her friend laughed and said "he's kinda cute though" and the first woman goes "yeah for a loser."

I put my phone down, looked right at her, and said in Spanish "thanks for the compliment, but I'm actually waiting for a movie. And my mom dropped me off."

Her face went bright red. Her friend just stared at me with her mouth open. The first woman started stammering and said "you speak Spanish?" and I just smiled and said "si, y tu español es muy bueno, pero tal vez no deberías hablar de la gente tan alto."

Translation: "yes, and your Spanish is very good, but maybe you shouldn't talk about people so loud."

They got up and walked away so fast. I sat there laughing for like 10 minutes. Best movie pre-show ever.

This happened last Saturday in a coffee shop in downtown Miami. I was sitting alone at a small table near the window, working on my laptop with my headphones on. I had my jacket on the chair across from me because I was saving the table while I worked.

Two women, maybe late 40s, came in and there was no free table except the one next to mine. They stood there for a second looking at my jacket on the empty chair and then sat down at the table right beside me. I didn't think much of it and went back to my work.

Then one of them started talking to the other in Spanish. At first I wasn't really paying attention but then I heard her say something about me. She said:

"Mira a este tipo, ocupando toda una mesa para él solo como si fuera dueño del lugar. Ni siquiera está comiendo, solo mirando la pantalla como un zombie. Típico americano, tan entitled. Vienen aquí, ocupan todo el espacio, ni siquiera intentan hablar nuestro idioma. Extranjero inútil con su laptop y su café fancy."

Her friend laughed and said:

"Tranquila, no nos entiende de todas formas. Míralo, pelo rubio, ojos azules, seguro que es de Ohio o algo. Seguro que piensa que 'gracias' es un tipo de salsa."

They both started laughing.

I kept a straight face and let them finish. Then I slowly took off my headphones, turned to the first woman, and said in Spanish:

"Perdón, señora, ¿me podría decir dónde está el baño? Es que no soy de Ohio, soy de España, viví allí 20 años, y me parece que el único extranjero inútil aquí es la que no sabe que no debe juzgar a los demás sin conocerlos."

The look on her face was priceless. Her friend just froze. They both stared at me for what felt like forever. I smiled, stood up, grabbed my jacket, and said:

"Que tengan un buen día, señoras. Y la próxima vez, tengan cuidado con quién hablan."

I walked to the counter, ordered another coffee, and went back to my table. They finished their drinks so fast and left without even looking at me. The barista saw the whole thing and gave me a nod and a smile.

Best coffee I ever had