The Professor

So I took the day off of work to volunteer to feed the less fortunate. There were four teams of about 40 people each and my team handled the far east wing of the lunch service. During my service time, I was partnered with a guy, let’s call him Donald for the purpose of this post (not his real name). He was on stuffing and I was on potatoes. [I freaking love potatoes!]

We talked about our backgrounds, work, school…I was in corporate America. He was a professor.

As we were wrapping up our volunteer shift, he asked for my business card so that we could keep in touch and I obliged. He gave me a call a few days later to formally express his interest and also apologized for his appearance at the volunteer site [yes, he looked rather bummy, no haircut/shapeup…just scraggily (scraggily = scruffy and raggedy)]. He asked me out to dinner on the following Friday and assured me that he would clean up his act….I accepted his invitation.

Dinner was cool. We went to a new restaurant in DC and had a great time. He looked very well put together as he explained he would during our phone call and he even gave me a nice little gift – an ornament for my Christmas tree – that I totally appreciated. [We had previous conversations about me not being in the Christmas spirit and I thought this was a very nice gesture.]
We spoke on the phone a few days later and I thanked him again for a very nice time as well as for the lovely ornament. The conversation sort of went a little south…unexpectedly:

Him: Glad you had a nice time and that you like the ornament.

Me: Yeah that was really nice of you. I really appreciate it.

Him: So yeah, I was in my class with my students and we were looking at your picture.

Me: Ohhhhhkkkkkaaayy. And how is it that you have a picture of me? [Awkward!]

Him: I found it online on your (job) website. Anyway, my students were clowning you saying “Ewwwww look at her! She looks like she’s wearing a wig.”

Me: [Insert facepalm] And you felt the need to share this tidbit of information with me because?

Him: Well, I figured that you were strong and could handle it.

Me: You figured I was strong and could handle it? That makes absolutely no sense. For starters, why are you putting my picture on display for all of your students to see and critique? That’s kind of creepy. [Shouldn’t you be doing something like teaching?] Then you turn around to tell me that they were making fun of me while you just sat there. I mean, what did you expect to gain by telling me any of this? By the way, my hair is all mine and not a wig. [Yes, I have thick hair. Sue me!]

Him: Well, this is not how the conversation played out in my head.

Me: Clearly!

This date is OVER!

Donald apologized but we never went out again. It’s not that I was so upset that I wouldn’t go out with him again. I just never heard from him after that conversation, but I didn’t reach out to him afterwards either. Ah well.

Sincerely,

Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid