Whee! Sketchy men!
It wouldn't be Long Beach if there weren't sketchy men hitting on me.
For lunch today, I brought a book with me to a quick-food place and intended to spend an hour or three refilling my diet coke. This usually works a charm and is quite relaxing.
Except today there was this guy. He made eye contact when he got his drink, but I proceeded to ignore him until he made that impossible. "Hi," he said. Okay. There was no polite way to avoid that. I said "hi" back and tried to return to my novel.
No go. He wanted to have a proper chat. He put off my immediate paranoia by mentioning that he was just waiting for his number to be called to get his lunch, so I thought it'd be safe to humor him for a few minutes. He was, after all, new to Long Beach, and probably a bit lonely.
I now know that he's got a local job, is single, has no kids, used to be a guy that drove around hunting down people in litigation deals, just moved here on Thursday from Miami, and recently split with his 3-year gf from Costa Rica. Did I mention how much he pushed employed/single/no-kids?
After sharing all this info, he proceeded to ask me if my hair is naturally this color. (currently: strawberry blond, heavy on the blond) Is that an acceptable question when not used as an ice-breaker? Seemed weird to me.
Then he had me talk a bit about my job (I gave him some old DSI details) before he asked me about school. Yep. He figured I was still a student. Now, this guy was clearly older than I am. I'd guess mid-30s or more. What's he doing making passes at people he assumes are 10-15 years younger than he? While there's nothing wrong in principle with an age difference like that, it's not normal for a random pick-up where you know nothing else about the person. It felt not-quite-paedophilic.
Aiyah.
Well, much as I would've liked to stay and refill my diet coke and read my book for the next hour or so (I'd only been there for maybe 25 minutes), there was no way I was hanging around with this guy who was bringing his tray back to my table.
In politeness, I shook his hand and gave a neutral "Welcome to Long Beach" before making my escape out the door. Or trying to. He held onto my hand and went on about meeting new people (did I mention he's single with no kids?) and ("I want to be respectful") asking me out on a coffee date.
I explained at this juncture that I have a boyfriend.
"You have boyfriends?"
"Boyfriend. Just the one. And I'm perfectly happy in my serious relationship."
Ignore, f-list, if you will, that my boyfriend is fictional. In fact, "boyfriends" who are fictional and who have fictional adventures together would be far more accurate. But I digress. There's no way he could know this.
So what does he do? Proceeds to say that nothing is certain until I have a ring on my finger and that the guy I'm with might not realize what a good thing he has, but he (Angel, the sketchy guy) could totally tell and maybe I'd be the best thing to ever happen to him.
Riiiiight.
Oh, and would I give him my number?
Mmhhmmmm. Sure, pal. Right up there with giving you my real name.
Why do the sketchy guys always find and approach me? I have no problem with being friendly. I have no problem with men talking to me in cafes or inviting me to coffee. (I got some great dates in England this way.) I do have problems with the level of sketchiness I seem to attract in this city.
C'mon, Long Beach. You can do better than this.
For lunch today, I brought a book with me to a quick-food place and intended to spend an hour or three refilling my diet coke. This usually works a charm and is quite relaxing.
Except today there was this guy. He made eye contact when he got his drink, but I proceeded to ignore him until he made that impossible. "Hi," he said. Okay. There was no polite way to avoid that. I said "hi" back and tried to return to my novel.
No go. He wanted to have a proper chat. He put off my immediate paranoia by mentioning that he was just waiting for his number to be called to get his lunch, so I thought it'd be safe to humor him for a few minutes. He was, after all, new to Long Beach, and probably a bit lonely.
I now know that he's got a local job, is single, has no kids, used to be a guy that drove around hunting down people in litigation deals, just moved here on Thursday from Miami, and recently split with his 3-year gf from Costa Rica. Did I mention how much he pushed employed/single/no-kids?
After sharing all this info, he proceeded to ask me if my hair is naturally this color. (currently: strawberry blond, heavy on the blond) Is that an acceptable question when not used as an ice-breaker? Seemed weird to me.
Then he had me talk a bit about my job (I gave him some old DSI details) before he asked me about school. Yep. He figured I was still a student. Now, this guy was clearly older than I am. I'd guess mid-30s or more. What's he doing making passes at people he assumes are 10-15 years younger than he? While there's nothing wrong in principle with an age difference like that, it's not normal for a random pick-up where you know nothing else about the person. It felt not-quite-paedophilic.
Aiyah.
Well, much as I would've liked to stay and refill my diet coke and read my book for the next hour or so (I'd only been there for maybe 25 minutes), there was no way I was hanging around with this guy who was bringing his tray back to my table.
In politeness, I shook his hand and gave a neutral "Welcome to Long Beach" before making my escape out the door. Or trying to. He held onto my hand and went on about meeting new people (did I mention he's single with no kids?) and ("I want to be respectful") asking me out on a coffee date.
I explained at this juncture that I have a boyfriend.
"You have boyfriends?"
"Boyfriend. Just the one. And I'm perfectly happy in my serious relationship."
Ignore, f-list, if you will, that my boyfriend is fictional. In fact, "boyfriends" who are fictional and who have fictional adventures together would be far more accurate. But I digress. There's no way he could know this.
So what does he do? Proceeds to say that nothing is certain until I have a ring on my finger and that the guy I'm with might not realize what a good thing he has, but he (Angel, the sketchy guy) could totally tell and maybe I'd be the best thing to ever happen to him.
Riiiiight.
Oh, and would I give him my number?
Mmhhmmmm. Sure, pal. Right up there with giving you my real name.
Why do the sketchy guys always find and approach me? I have no problem with being friendly. I have no problem with men talking to me in cafes or inviting me to coffee. (I got some great dates in England this way.) I do have problems with the level of sketchiness I seem to attract in this city.
C'mon, Long Beach. You can do better than this.