So, I was convinced by a co-worker to meet his wife’s co-worker. He told me about this a few weeks ago, and so being the person who’s been trying recently to be more open-minded that I am, I say yes. I think to myself, “How bad can it be?” Let me tell you that it can get very awkward indeed from what I experienced yesterday. That was when I met up with my co-worker, his wife and the “candidate.” I’ve always known that I lack social graces, but compared to the girl I met, I thought to myself afterwards, that I can’t be that bad after all when it comes to being sociable.
Here’s a few examples for you to ponder. First, the amount of time eye contact was made on her part during conversation probably didn’t total more than ten seconds during the entire meeting. Second, conversation consisted of me asking her questions, and receiving replies that were brief at best and monosyllabic at worst. To be fair, she did ask a question or two, but I generally had to initiate by asking first. The clincher was when we were at lunch. She’d ordered first, so she received her food first. I got mine about 5 minutes afterwards. I’m take my time eating, and so she finished first. I was just about to finish, when all of a sudden, she gets up and says, “Okay, let’s go.” Here I am with a mouth full of food and I have to follow her lead to take my stuff to the trash. I have to say that I don’t want a repeat performance from this girl.
I was warned that she was “shy”, but I don’t know what variety this “shy” was. I’ve never seen anything like it. I know shy. I was and still am to an extent, but I always took great pains to explicitly not be rude. I didn’t always get that point across, but at the end of dates they always knew that anything offensive on my part was unintentional. This girl seemed in the beginning to be the kind of person who knows how to handle herself in social
circles. That was definitely not the case. And I want it known that I kept an open mind throughout our meeting. I didn’t pre-judge at the first opportunity. I didn’t judge at the end of the date, and even now I don’t have any ill opinion of her. I just think that she could use some lessons in etiquette.
I’m thinking maybe I’ll be the old bachelor of the neigborhood, and thus give my neigbors, coworkers and anybody who cares something to gossip about. Oh, what fun!