The Story of a Failed Set Up

Monday, 03 October 2011

The Story of a Failed Set Up

About three months ago, I started a new job as a front desk agent at a local hotel. Shortly thereafter, I met our Sales Manager, T. Upon our second interaction, T. decided he had a rather important question for me.

"Are you in love?" he bluntly asked.

"What?" I responded, completely caught off guard.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Oh... no," I responded.

At the time, I had been back in the States for about two months after studying abroad. I had (and still have) too much going on in my life to fully care that I was single. I've always been the single one out of my groups of friends over the years. I guess you could say I'm kind of usually used to it by this point. And after all, I want to travel the world and follow my own dreams way more than I want to settle down with some guy and pop out babies. For some, that lifestyle works. For me, there's no way!

As time progressed, T. continued to take a special interest in me, to the point that my managers and other employees noticed. He began to mention his son frequently. By early April, I knew he was trying to set me up with his son, so when he asked me to help him run a booth at a Bridal Show, I wasn't surprised in the slightest.

When I got to the show, he instantly pulled out photographs of his son.

"There's the ace!" he proudly said.

"Oh.. cool," I responded.

For the hour during set up, I heard about nothing but his son. As he continued to mention every detail of his son's life after the show, I finally spoke up.

"I think I'll just go to his job and say, 'Hi, my name's Kathleen and I hear we're supposed to get married.'"

I wasn't kidding.

The very next day, I was at the local mall (where his son works) with two of my friends. We were just there killing time between classes. I had the full intention of walking into this kid's store and saying that, but then I saw him and instantly thought "Oh, crap, that guy looks just like my ex-boyfriend!"

R. is maybe an inch or two taller than me, extremely pale, and has a beard. Oh, and he looks like a younger replica of his father. Awkward.

My one friend ended up buying a couple of games, all the while I kept my mouth shut and felt creepy for not saying anything.

Maybe two days later, R. sent me a friend request on Facebook. We got to talking, and one of the very first things I said to him was, "Yeah, I'm not interested in dating anyone right now." He adamantly agreed.

At the same time, though, I'm never opposed to a new friend. And we seemed to get along rather well. We talked over Facebook chat for three hours one night, two hours another. After a few conversations, he asked me to go to the movies. He picked the film, I picked the time.

We met at the theatre. And didn't have much to talk about. The movie started. We watched. I didn't feel comfortable chatting my way through it like I usually would (there was like no one in the theatre), so I kept silent. The movie ended. I asked him what he thought of it. He mentioned some scene he didn't like. I agreed that it was gross. I walked past the exit door because I hadn't been to a movie since before my time abroad and forgot it was there. I pointed out as much. He, in turn, changed the subject to trees.

Trees.

"See that tree there? It's tilted over because when the snow weighs down on it, it will tilt. I have a tree like that in my yard."

...?

I believe I responded, "Oh. I had trees like that at my old house too."

He then said, "Nice to meet you," climbed into his SUV, and dashed away.

And then I never heard from him again.

That was one week ago.

Now, I personally didn't have an opinion either way on the guy. I figured it would be cool to have another guy friend. You know, someone to hang out with. But apparently he didn't feel the same.

Today at work, T. came in and was talking about how it's okay to call him at home if we need to know anything.

"And don't worry. I'll be the one to pick up if it says 'T. Work.' No one else will, so you don't have to worry about that."

Wait. Why would I be worrying about his son picking up the phone? What?!

I mean, I get it. You didn't want me to be your girlfriend. But guess what, buddy? I never wanted you to be my boyfriend! You're into some lifestyle choices that I personally don't tolerate.

Tonight at work, I had some time to think and decided that I didn't want him on my Facebook friends list. If someone finds me that repulsive, they shouldn't be able to view my information.

I felt a load come off when I deleted him. Sure, he could've been a cool friend to have, but I'm not going to make anyone be friends with me. That'd be almost as sad as the fact that his dad has been mercilessly trying to set him up for years. Oh, did I mention that he's been single for six years now?

Have you ever been involved in a set up? How did it turn out?
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