My friend’s birthday had come up in early August, and anytime I need to find a good present, I always find myself at The Cheese Importers in Longmont. They sell some of the most fragrant perfumes you’ll find around, some of the finest sweets, and some very high-quality wares. But, as the name of the store might imply, they’re best known for their cheese imports.

Gouda with cranberry pieces is my friend’s go-to from this store. It’d make a great gift. But something about this trip to The Cheese Importers was very different: the cashier. His name (if memory serves me right) was Jim, and the conversation I had with him might’ve been the most interesting interaction I’ve ever had with a stranger.

It started off—immediately—very different than your standard interaction with a cashier. The first thing Jim asked me was if I knew how to make cheese. Yeah, I whip up a batch of provolone every Tuesday, I thought to myself. Maybe some mozzarella if I’m feeling fancy. “No, I don’t know how to make cheese.” When I told him I didn’t, there was this change in the atmosphere. A certain passion emitted from this humble cashier. Jim launched into his favorite cheese cookbooks, his role models—he even told me about culinary schools that have good cheese-making programs, if I was interested. Initially, I cared extraordinarily little about the process of how fermented milk evolves into cheese, but against all odds, I was beginning to get really invested in this idea. Here are just a few of the things I learned from my half-hour conversation with Jim the cashier:

1. Cheese that tastes sweet has less sugar in it than regular cheeses. By removing the lactose in the milk used for these cheeses, the aging process actually creates more sweetness than if you’d just used sugar.
2. There are only slightly more than 1,000 Certified Cheese Professionals in the world, and roughly 300 of them are in North America.
3. In America, there exists a group with members all around the country that gathers a handful of times every year to have a “Cheese Party.” At these curated parties, the members mingle, nerd out, and just eat cheese for a few hours.

After those thirty minutes we spent talking, Jim had to get back to work, and I ended up buying cheesecloth and rennet to try and make my own cheese. Since then, I’ve successfully made my first batch of cheddar. I wouldn’t have ever known I’d have loved this hobby if Jim, the cheese man, hadn’t spent part of his day teaching me what he knew. And more than that, I felt increasingly connected to my community after talking to him.

It’s not only Jim that has made an unexpected impact on my life either. It’s the mother I babysat for, who told me about her work as a midwife. It’s the kid at my work who gave me a drawing he made earlier that day in kindergarten. You might not realize how fulfilling it is to just stop and talk with the strangers in your life—but it’s worth your time to stop and chat, even for a little while. Who knows? You might learn a thing or two about cheese.