Information Overload: One man's life story in 180 seconds

The transaction took no longer than three minutes. It was a simple refund for a climbing harness.

But in those few minutes, I learnt that:

1. The shop attendant grew up in Tasmania,
2. He came up to Sydney for a girl,
3. She had been scared about what would happen if he moved up here and they broke up,
4. The couple had been together for four years,
5. This was the longest relationship he had even been in,
6. He was intending to propose this year, though NOT on Valentine's Day,
7. She knew he would be proposing soon,
8. He had picked out the beach he was going to propose on. 

That's one fact every 10 seconds.

And I learnt all this with him swiping my card, pumping my details into the computer, signing all the right forms... a man who was brutally honest and able to multi-task. So atypically male.

Walking out the door, a question sprung itself upon me. 

How can I know all this about him, all these intimate facts, and still not even know his name? 

So typically me. So typically Sydney.