My best friend has been working in some capacity since she was a teenager. She worked as a fast food manager in college, to pay her way through. She worked graveyard, which enabled her to go to class during the day, come home, do homework, get to work by 10:00 p.m., work until 3:00 a.m. and go home to sleep for a couple of hours before getting up to do it again.
One night during one of her shifts, a handsome, older man came to her drive-through window, ordered, and engaged in mild flirtation with her. He soon became a regular at the late-night-drive-through, much to the delight of her staff, who teased her mercilessly about her "boyfriend." He was "really old"- at least 40, which when you're 20 and cute is practically doddering. He would stick around and talk to her- and for an old guy, he was pretty handsome. Dark hair and eyes, well tailored clothes, expensive watch, expensive foreign sedan, well spoken, very, very attentive. He owned a local bar, and liked to drive through on his way home after closing up. Eventually, he started asking her out. Each time, the scenario would get more elaborate. First, he wanted to take her to dinner. Then he wanted to take her to dinner and maybe home to his place for a massage because she worked so hard. Then away to Tahoe for the weekend. Then to Paris for dinner and a romantic week. Venice, where he could sing to her in one of the gondolas, under the stars. Eventually she got a little creeped-out by all the attention. Why her? What was up with the fact that he never actually came in to the restaurant? Why all the pressure to go out when he had never really seen her in normal clothes and makeup?
Eventually, she and her roommate decided to do a little reconnaissance. They knew the bar he owned. They would dress up, go down there, hang out, watch him, and if then he came over to her, made a big deal over her and asked her out, maybe she'd go have dinner with him. It never hurts to have a rich boyfriend, after all.
She and her roommate got dressed up, did their hair, put on make-up, and went off to stake a place in the bar.
It was a nice place, very busy, full of college students and older people, as well. They got a table, and settled in to watch.
It was not encouraging.
She spotted him immediately. He was a bit shorter and stockier in person than he appeared in his expensive car. He moved around, curtly barking out orders to his staff, which, they noticed, were all young, attractive women. He never once glanced in their direction, but, it was noted, he never failed to glance at himself when he passed a mirror. Just when she decided that she would never go out with him because he seemed to be rather full of himself, he grabbed one of his waitresses by the arm, threw her up against the wall, and started talking to her intently, holding her arm over her head, while she started to cry. Every so often he would shake her arm, for emphasis. My friend and her roommate had witnessed enough; they left, still unseen, and went out to dinner to celebrate the near-miss of almost dating a misogynist asshole.
After that, my friend let her other staff deal with him in the drive-through window; their tete-a-tete was over.
A couple of years later, she read in the local paper that he had been sent to prision. Apparently, he had a history of dating all his waitresses. One of them got pregnant. When she told him, he threw her down a flight of stairs.
Almost dating. Sometimes, we just luck out.
One night during one of her shifts, a handsome, older man came to her drive-through window, ordered, and engaged in mild flirtation with her. He soon became a regular at the late-night-drive-through, much to the delight of her staff, who teased her mercilessly about her "boyfriend." He was "really old"- at least 40, which when you're 20 and cute is practically doddering. He would stick around and talk to her- and for an old guy, he was pretty handsome. Dark hair and eyes, well tailored clothes, expensive watch, expensive foreign sedan, well spoken, very, very attentive. He owned a local bar, and liked to drive through on his way home after closing up. Eventually, he started asking her out. Each time, the scenario would get more elaborate. First, he wanted to take her to dinner. Then he wanted to take her to dinner and maybe home to his place for a massage because she worked so hard. Then away to Tahoe for the weekend. Then to Paris for dinner and a romantic week. Venice, where he could sing to her in one of the gondolas, under the stars. Eventually she got a little creeped-out by all the attention. Why her? What was up with the fact that he never actually came in to the restaurant? Why all the pressure to go out when he had never really seen her in normal clothes and makeup?
Eventually, she and her roommate decided to do a little reconnaissance. They knew the bar he owned. They would dress up, go down there, hang out, watch him, and if then he came over to her, made a big deal over her and asked her out, maybe she'd go have dinner with him. It never hurts to have a rich boyfriend, after all.
She and her roommate got dressed up, did their hair, put on make-up, and went off to stake a place in the bar.
It was a nice place, very busy, full of college students and older people, as well. They got a table, and settled in to watch.
It was not encouraging.
She spotted him immediately. He was a bit shorter and stockier in person than he appeared in his expensive car. He moved around, curtly barking out orders to his staff, which, they noticed, were all young, attractive women. He never once glanced in their direction, but, it was noted, he never failed to glance at himself when he passed a mirror. Just when she decided that she would never go out with him because he seemed to be rather full of himself, he grabbed one of his waitresses by the arm, threw her up against the wall, and started talking to her intently, holding her arm over her head, while she started to cry. Every so often he would shake her arm, for emphasis. My friend and her roommate had witnessed enough; they left, still unseen, and went out to dinner to celebrate the near-miss of almost dating a misogynist asshole.
After that, my friend let her other staff deal with him in the drive-through window; their tete-a-tete was over.
A couple of years later, she read in the local paper that he had been sent to prision. Apparently, he had a history of dating all his waitresses. One of them got pregnant. When she told him, he threw her down a flight of stairs.
Almost dating. Sometimes, we just luck out.
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