Added details – Finding the first person again to tell them about the job. Convincing the second person to give up their contact information so the hero can pass it on. An parent who doesn’t like the idea of the hero talking to strangers and getting involved.

You could really get complicated and tie more people in based on conversations, but it sounds like you’re probably working on a fairly short story.

Once upon a time there was a girl/guy who had alot of homework to do but couldn’t get it done at school, on the bus, in the library, or pretty much anywhere else because ” I tune into conversations around me” and then instead of doing their school work they would get sucked into a imaginary world narrated by someone else’s comments.

You can describe how in each location they began day dreaming themselves in the situation that people were speaking of, and got off topic while trying to do their homework.

Then each time they realized that they were unable to do their homework they try a different location, except they realize that there are people talking every where.

So then the person resolves their problem by investing in a nice big pair of Bose headphones so they can drown out all noises, and finally finishes their homework.