It was a very simple approach and I just wanted to post about it to give all of you guys that still haven't tried a little bit of encouragement. Because even if all you do is smile, shake a girl's hand and asked for her name, you've probably made her day and you'll get more experience. Anyway, here is a small experience from a female perspective. It was really eye opening for me and I wanted to share.

I was texting someone as I passed by him, he immediately jumped in line with me and asked if I'd heard the funny advertisement in the store (In Barnes and Noble employees do "ads" for the cafe). I had no idea what he was talking about, but it snapped me out of my phone.

I blinked at him a few times and he kept walking next to me as if he was leaving the store as well (I'm sure he wasn't). "No, I wasn't paying attention," I replied. I asked him what it was, he stumbled around it, and over his words, obviously not prepared for the question. But he just laughed it off and said that the next time I'm in Barnes and Noble and hear a silly announcement to listen up and think of the crazy guy named Alex.

Up until now, it just seemed like a passing encounter so it didn't put me on guard so none of it made me feel uncomfortable.

As he reached out his hand and said his name, he paused, waiting for me to say mine. It seems like it's an instinctual response to say your name in response when greeted with a handshake and someone else's name, so I told him and he said it was nice to meet me and I told him to take care and we started to walk away.

THIS IS WHAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION

After we'd taken a few steps away from each other he turned back around, and said, "Hey, let me buy you a cup of coffee?" I really couldn't at the moment because I was in a rush so we ended up talking for a minute and somehow we ended up exchanging phone numbers, he asked if he should call or text which I appreciated.

BUT, stepping away for a second gave me just a quick second to smile and think, "Huh, he was nice." And just as soon as I had that thought is when he made his request. Had I not been in a rush, I definitely would have taken him up on the offer.

tl;dr Even if you attempt to make a brief connection and get a girl's name, it's probably going to make her day. Don't be a chicken shit, just do it. :)

EDIT: I'm really shy about posting this, I don't really have a lot of point to it other than to give some people a different perspective and hopefully encourage someone to take a chance today. :)

EDIT 2: I have no way of knowing if he was actually a practicing PUA or just a confident guy, but what he did still made enough of an impact on me that I thought I would share, since my experience was positive and I wish more guys would approach me exactly like this. Even if I wasn't interested, it still would make my day.