BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!!
Working in hospitality is a tough job, you get up, put on your happy face, smile to all the ignorant and often arrogant customers and wish them stomach pains as soon as they turn their backs. This is fun, for a while at least, and then your life gets mundane again and all you really want to do is go out, meet some new people and have some fun! The problem isn't really meeting new people, I do that every single day, the problem is getting to choose who you meet:
Example numero uno:
Example TWO:
*random message on Whatsapp from an unknown nr* "Hi" me: "who's this?" random person: "oh, I saw you in the restaurant today and you seemed really nice so 'insert ex's name' gave me your nr.." me"I'm not a nice person so please ask that #&^@ to lose my number and do the same".. Cold? Maybe, but imagine every guy that THINKS I'm nice when they see me in my working place gets his hands on my number! And what makes it worse is that my dickhead ex knows how much I hate people handing out my number and, probably to piss me off, he goes and gives it to his fat friend! (Maybe I'm still a little pissed...) OF COURSE I'm friendly when I'm at work, it's my JOB!! I'm the manager for Pete's sake, it doesn't mean I'm trying to score dates!!*Sigh* The Third one:
Mr. Stalker! I have encountered a few of these men during my 7 years in the hospitality industry. I've had the loud and noisy one's who announce that they absolutely adore you (keep in mind they know nothing about you except for your name), the one's who quietly sits at the bar/table and just stares at you, whilst talking under his breath (the scarier type) and then you get the love-sick one's! The guys who saw you and immediately decided that you are the one they wanted to be with. When you approach their table (normally they'll come in a group and will frequent your restaurant) and ask if they enjoyed their evening, this person might try to stumble out something like "Yes" and then continue to stare at you longingly as you leave the table, not at all aware that I can see he is doing this. They don't even know your name, as they don't have the courage to ask you and will always instigate the group to stay longer in the hope that they might find some courage at the end of a VERY tall drink!
Today I ran into number 3! I've known for quite some time that he likes me (this makes perfect sense as he has never spoken one word to me) and when he comes here he'll avoid eye contact and look at me when he thinks I'm not looking. But today was different, he came here with a girl! I was pleased, maybe he could leave me alone now. He goes for a smoke and she calls me over, asks me for my number cause her FRIEND really likes me...GREAT it's the good old wingman stunt! I politely decline as I don't want to upset my customers and leave it at that. They pay their bill and I feel relieved. The girl leaves and here is Mr. Stalker, ordering another beer and coming to sit outside where I'm talking to some friends. 2 hours later he's still sitting there, pouring liquid courage down his throat and waiting for a reason to talk to me, and then he gets a light bulb moment and asks his waiter to call the manager.
We have a very awkward conversation followed by a waiter calling me for a fake kitchen emergency and I'm almost free of getting asked out on a date... I do hope he got the picture after I declined 3 times!
I do not and will not ever understand why people do this! Like me? Cool, introduce yourself! Want my number? How about asking me yourself! Ask me out on a date? Please not after work as I've already been working for 9 hours and still had 6 to go!
I applaud your courage gentleman and stalkers alike! You make life interesting and sometimes fun! But there are boundaries which you need to respect! You can't get my number off of another person and just start texting me, you can't come to my work and make it impossible for me to not feel awkward and you CAN NOT find me on FB and start harassing me!
Enough adventure and drama for one day, it's time to get back to work and face my demons!
Ciao
