Sometimes when push comes to shove, you just have to roll with it, especially if you've been shoved right into the deep end. You could say that's what happened to me when a colleague decided to ask out the security guy on reception for me. To be fair, I was the one who started the ball rolling when I gushed about my little crush over an office coffee. The conversation she then went onto have with him apparently went something like this:
"Hi there, what's your name?"
"X"
"Hi X. Do you know Y(first name)?"
"Y, Z (surname)?"
"Yes"
"Yea I do"
"OK. Well, would you consider taking Y out on a date?"
Security man's face turns red and he swivels in his chair to look at his security colleague who is standing behind him. His colleague gives him an encouraging grin... he turns back to my colleague.
"Ooooh. (pause pause) Do you need an answer straight away?"
"Oh no, I'll leave that for you and Y to sort out"
My colleague trots away up the stairs and messages me. I dismiss it all as a bluff. Four hours later, I am mortified when I realise she is telling the truth as she reveals the above details in a little too much detail for it to be a hoax.
What would you have done in this situation? If the situation is also that you must walk past reception every day in order to get to and from your office. Least damage?
Apparently not. OK so he seemed nice - I once glimpsed him helping an old lady out of the building - and there was something slightly brooding and tortuous about him which I was drawn to. I thought he was quite handsome, but I've been advised that's partly due to my Disney coloured vision which portrays him as a prince and me in a tower.
After consulting credible friends who told me to smile and walk on by next time I'm in sight -"the ball is in his court" they all said - I paraded onto the court like a tempestuous child and threw many more balls in his direction, as well as a few up in the air.
Perhaps my courage ran a little loose - I was feeling righteously brave while at the same time motioned on by my aspirations to become a freer spirit and fuelled by a song on my ipod called "Tell Him". Above all, I couldn't bare the thought of awkward glances and knowing smiles for the rest of my career in the building. So I decided to resolve this once and for all, and for 4 hours before I did so, I ran up and down the corridors to ease my nerves.
The prelude was that I'd bagged a colleague to walk out of the building with in a casual, breezy way, from which I was going to break off and approach reception like a cool, sophisticated lady. Unfortunately a stumbling block in the form of a post man engaging him in conversation forced me to divert my plans and hold back in a minute space between two sets of doors waiting for another smooth entry opportunity to present itself. Scrunched up in the corner and spying through a slit, I smiled awkwardly while others, justifiably and genuinely trying to make their way out of the building, squeezed past me through the constricted space and wondered why the hell I was there in the first place.
When the coast became clear:
Calm, cool, collected, I walked up to reception
"Hi, how are you?"
"Hi, alright thanks"
I Look down at the reception area to see that the keys I've been looking for all week was lying next to his right hand!
"That's my key!"
A lot of frantic tapping at the glass later and him struggling to see anything but his own hands, he picks up my key ring and puts it in my palm.
"So, Is it true that my colleague came down here and spoke to you?"
"yea she did"
"wow that's embarrassing"
"No... I was just a bit taken aback really"
Random man walks up to reception and waits with a work-related request, I presumed. So I step aside and wait for him to ask his stuff... Moments later
"Well I'm really sorry about that... (pause) All I said was that I thought you might be a nice man, and she kinda just ran with it. (he adopts an awkward grin on his face which is less attractive)
"So...do you wanna get a coffee sometime? No pressure!"
He chuckles, takes a deep breath and says:
"The thing is, I've just come out of a long term relationship, so I'm trying to ease back into it"
"Oh OK that's fine"
"But yea coffee sounds good..."
"OK. Well, I'm going to China for 4 weeks on Thursday, so when are you free?"
"That's the other thing, I work 3-11pm on weekdays... what about Friday?"
"Er, I'm going to China for 4 weeks on Thursday..."
The longest pause in the history of realistic lengths of pauses before they turn into silences. Shall I come in and call it all off?
"I tell you what, I know your name now, we'll keep in touch"
(easy breezy) "OK cool, sounds good. Well I'll see you later then"
This is where the conversation should have ended. But, I apparently like to stick pins into a barely inflated balloon.
Pop (or just wilt). Shrivel.
"Hi there, what's your name?"
"X"
"Hi X. Do you know Y(first name)?"
"Y, Z (surname)?"
"Yes"
"Yea I do"
"OK. Well, would you consider taking Y out on a date?"
Security man's face turns red and he swivels in his chair to look at his security colleague who is standing behind him. His colleague gives him an encouraging grin... he turns back to my colleague.
"Ooooh. (pause pause) Do you need an answer straight away?"
"Oh no, I'll leave that for you and Y to sort out"
My colleague trots away up the stairs and messages me. I dismiss it all as a bluff. Four hours later, I am mortified when I realise she is telling the truth as she reveals the above details in a little too much detail for it to be a hoax.
What would you have done in this situation? If the situation is also that you must walk past reception every day in order to get to and from your office. Least damage?
Apparently not. OK so he seemed nice - I once glimpsed him helping an old lady out of the building - and there was something slightly brooding and tortuous about him which I was drawn to. I thought he was quite handsome, but I've been advised that's partly due to my Disney coloured vision which portrays him as a prince and me in a tower.
After consulting credible friends who told me to smile and walk on by next time I'm in sight -"the ball is in his court" they all said - I paraded onto the court like a tempestuous child and threw many more balls in his direction, as well as a few up in the air.
Perhaps my courage ran a little loose - I was feeling righteously brave while at the same time motioned on by my aspirations to become a freer spirit and fuelled by a song on my ipod called "Tell Him". Above all, I couldn't bare the thought of awkward glances and knowing smiles for the rest of my career in the building. So I decided to resolve this once and for all, and for 4 hours before I did so, I ran up and down the corridors to ease my nerves.
The prelude was that I'd bagged a colleague to walk out of the building with in a casual, breezy way, from which I was going to break off and approach reception like a cool, sophisticated lady. Unfortunately a stumbling block in the form of a post man engaging him in conversation forced me to divert my plans and hold back in a minute space between two sets of doors waiting for another smooth entry opportunity to present itself. Scrunched up in the corner and spying through a slit, I smiled awkwardly while others, justifiably and genuinely trying to make their way out of the building, squeezed past me through the constricted space and wondered why the hell I was there in the first place.
When the coast became clear:
Calm, cool, collected, I walked up to reception
"Hi, how are you?"
"Hi, alright thanks"
I Look down at the reception area to see that the keys I've been looking for all week was lying next to his right hand!
"That's my key!"
A lot of frantic tapping at the glass later and him struggling to see anything but his own hands, he picks up my key ring and puts it in my palm.
"So, Is it true that my colleague came down here and spoke to you?"
"yea she did"
"wow that's embarrassing"
"No... I was just a bit taken aback really"
Random man walks up to reception and waits with a work-related request, I presumed. So I step aside and wait for him to ask his stuff... Moments later
"Well I'm really sorry about that... (pause) All I said was that I thought you might be a nice man, and she kinda just ran with it. (he adopts an awkward grin on his face which is less attractive)
"So...do you wanna get a coffee sometime? No pressure!"
He chuckles, takes a deep breath and says:
"The thing is, I've just come out of a long term relationship, so I'm trying to ease back into it"
"Oh OK that's fine"
"But yea coffee sounds good..."
"OK. Well, I'm going to China for 4 weeks on Thursday, so when are you free?"
"That's the other thing, I work 3-11pm on weekdays... what about Friday?"
"Er, I'm going to China for 4 weeks on Thursday..."
The longest pause in the history of realistic lengths of pauses before they turn into silences. Shall I come in and call it all off?
"I tell you what, I know your name now, we'll keep in touch"
(easy breezy) "OK cool, sounds good. Well I'll see you later then"
This is where the conversation should have ended. But, I apparently like to stick pins into a barely inflated balloon.
Pop (or just wilt). Shrivel.
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