Chinese Whispers

I was walking down Union Street the other day when a woman with long black hair pushing a child in a buggy crossed in front of me at a corner. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her turn quickly and say what sounded like "coo mee, ca uh teh mee whay da...." (trans; "Excuse me, my good man, can you perchance tell me where the....")

I turned to assist her I noticed with acute embarrassment that she was Chinese and was in fact talking in Chinese to her Chinese kid and not looking at me at all. She had just turned to go the same way as me and I pretended to look in a shop window as she walked past me.