You got a Man?

It happened the first time four months ago. I was on my way down the stairs when Freak Show noticed me from the floor above. He called out, "Hello." When I failed to respond to this total stranger, he said, "Hey, hold up a minute," as he trotted toward me. Reluctantly, I retraced my steps. He wanted to know my name and which department I worked for. "You're beautiful," he said, "Would you like to have lunch sometime?" Not feeling the mutual attraction, I said, "No, I have a boyfriend." Shaking his head with disappointment, he said, "He don't gotta know." Irritated, I replied, "Uh, I don't think my boyfriend would approve of that." He expressed his disappointment, eyed me up and down, and complimented me one last time.

I just don't understand what kind of person thinks it's perfectly acceptable to flag down a complete stranger in the workplace and ask them out. Even if I had been attracted to him, I never would've agreed to go out with someone who did such a thing!

I'd forgotten what he looked like so I didn't realize it at the time, but I saw him a couple months later in the hallway. He walked past me and said, "Hey, how are you?" Again, aloof, I didn't respond.

It wasn't until the same situation occurred last week that it dawned on me. Only this time, when I didn't answer his greeting, he switched directions to follow me. Naively, I thought he was mumbling to himself at first. I could have sworn he said he forgot something, as if that were his excuse for heading back the way he came. When he caught up to me, he made the usual small talk. But this time he cut right to the chase: "You got a man?" Nothing wrong with a little white lie -- c'mon, they spare others' feelings. "Yes, I do," I said. "I just had to ask," he said with that creepy look of his. I'm guessing he didn't remember asking me out before, but who knows with a freak show like that.

So even if he had been non-creepy and attractive, the fact his grammar consisted of "he don't gotta..." and "you got..." would have been a deal breaker!