badgrrl...
A little amusing story from lunchtime the other day. My boss and I went to Quizno's for a little toasted goodness. We went through line, got our sandwiches, were waiting to pay... I saw an attractive woman walk by - maybe 5'6", petite, tan with shorter dark hair. She had a tattoo on her upper left arm that looked like it contained Chinese/Japanese characters. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the 2nd and 3rd characters but not the first.
I took my sandwich out to my table and went back to fill up my drink. The woman was not standing at the cash register waiting for her sandwich and to pay. I said to her, "I recognize the second two characters on your tattoo but I can't quite make out the first one."
She replied, "Really? What do those two mean?"
I answered, "The second is 'female' and the third is 'person', so it's female person or female."
She nodded and rolled up her sleeve to reveal a compound kanji that I didn't recognize. I told her that I wasn't recognizing that one and asked if she knew what it was.
"It's bad.", she replied, at first leaving me wondering if she was insulting the tattoo artist's work.
"Bad?" I asked.
"Bad." she said.
"Bad... female..." I said.
"Bad girl." she responded quickly with just the slightest look of amusement.
"Oh..." I said, with a slight raise of the eyebrows. "Bad girl..." I said.
"You may or may not find this interesting," I explained, "but there are some interesting cultural aspects to these characters."
She listened casually.
I continued, "The symbol for female depicts a bowing figure." I demonstrated the polite bow for her and she rolled her eyes. "The symbol for male, though, is made up of the symbol for rice field," I sketched it in the air, "and 'ka' which is power." She caught on and began rolling her eyes again. "Power in the ricefield." I explained.
"But it gets really interesting when you start pairing things up" I said. "Take the symbol for female and put a 'roof' over it, that's peace." "Put two of those symbols under a roof and that's 'trouble'."
She chuckled and I continued, "put three of them under a roof and... well... I can't say here, it's rated R."
She laughed. I wished her a good afternoon and headed back to my boss' table.
I sat down to eat with my boss and spotted another coworker of mine out in the parking lot heading to the store next door. I opened the door and caught his attention and he came in to talk with us for a moment. He stood at the table while I sat with my back to the cash register and my boss across from me. As we talked, I saw my coworker's eyes turn towards the aisle and felt a soft sensation brushing across my upper back and right shoulder. I turned to look as the tattooed woman walked towards the door and said "goodbye" to me.
"Dude! She totally rubbed your back!" my boss called out. My other coworker was also stunned. And so I told them the story of the "bad girl." "Girls like intelligent guys." they said. They told me I needed to head out into the parking lot and get her number, but that really isn't my style. I watched her car start to move and told them "If she turns left towards the grocery store, I'm staying put. But if she turns right and comes by the restaurant I'll run out there and flag her down." She turned left, and that was the end of the story.
I joked with my big-sister coworker later that day on the phone that we were going to eat Quizno's for lunch every day for the next three weeks. And we can't go to Quizno's now without joking about where my 'girlfriend' is, or whether we'll see the 'bad girl'.
Anyway, I enjoyed the little magic of that brief moment. It's definitely a fun memory and one that I felt like sharing. Bad girl, if you read this, hope you enjoy the reaction you caused amongst my married and engaged coworkers.
-asa
I took my sandwich out to my table and went back to fill up my drink. The woman was not standing at the cash register waiting for her sandwich and to pay. I said to her, "I recognize the second two characters on your tattoo but I can't quite make out the first one."
She replied, "Really? What do those two mean?"
I answered, "The second is 'female' and the third is 'person', so it's female person or female."
She nodded and rolled up her sleeve to reveal a compound kanji that I didn't recognize. I told her that I wasn't recognizing that one and asked if she knew what it was.
"It's bad.", she replied, at first leaving me wondering if she was insulting the tattoo artist's work.
"Bad?" I asked.
"Bad." she said.
"Bad... female..." I said.
"Bad girl." she responded quickly with just the slightest look of amusement.
"Oh..." I said, with a slight raise of the eyebrows. "Bad girl..." I said.
"You may or may not find this interesting," I explained, "but there are some interesting cultural aspects to these characters."
She listened casually.
I continued, "The symbol for female depicts a bowing figure." I demonstrated the polite bow for her and she rolled her eyes. "The symbol for male, though, is made up of the symbol for rice field," I sketched it in the air, "and 'ka' which is power." She caught on and began rolling her eyes again. "Power in the ricefield." I explained.
"But it gets really interesting when you start pairing things up" I said. "Take the symbol for female and put a 'roof' over it, that's peace." "Put two of those symbols under a roof and that's 'trouble'."
She chuckled and I continued, "put three of them under a roof and... well... I can't say here, it's rated R."
She laughed. I wished her a good afternoon and headed back to my boss' table.
I sat down to eat with my boss and spotted another coworker of mine out in the parking lot heading to the store next door. I opened the door and caught his attention and he came in to talk with us for a moment. He stood at the table while I sat with my back to the cash register and my boss across from me. As we talked, I saw my coworker's eyes turn towards the aisle and felt a soft sensation brushing across my upper back and right shoulder. I turned to look as the tattooed woman walked towards the door and said "goodbye" to me.
"Dude! She totally rubbed your back!" my boss called out. My other coworker was also stunned. And so I told them the story of the "bad girl." "Girls like intelligent guys." they said. They told me I needed to head out into the parking lot and get her number, but that really isn't my style. I watched her car start to move and told them "If she turns left towards the grocery store, I'm staying put. But if she turns right and comes by the restaurant I'll run out there and flag her down." She turned left, and that was the end of the story.
I joked with my big-sister coworker later that day on the phone that we were going to eat Quizno's for lunch every day for the next three weeks. And we can't go to Quizno's now without joking about where my 'girlfriend' is, or whether we'll see the 'bad girl'.
Anyway, I enjoyed the little magic of that brief moment. It's definitely a fun memory and one that I felt like sharing. Bad girl, if you read this, hope you enjoy the reaction you caused amongst my married and engaged coworkers.
-asa