My very own "Office Romance"

A hiccup in my summer teaching job (translation: DCPS fell through with their original offer) landed me in Falls Church as a payroll clerk for a security company. Now, I don't know how many of you have ever worked for security, but there are a lot of interesting people in the profession.

The company recently expanded, but hasn't yet moved into an office big enough to accommodate all the new employees, so for the first few weeks, I camped out on a small corner of the conference table in the room which I generally shared with 4 or 5 other people. Two of those people run one of the newer contracts in the company, and are constantly hiring new security officers. Applicants come in and out of the room all day, asking questions, filling out paperwork, etc. On one afternoon, my co-workers had stepped out, and I had the conference room to myself for five blessed minutes. Soon, however, the silence was interrupted by an applicant who I thought was looking for Alicia. He peered in through the door for a few seconds without saying anything, and then without any introduction:

Potential Employee: "Girl! You as fine as hell! Can I take you out sometime?"

Me: "Umm. Well." Trying hard not to laugh. "Hmm, I don't really think so."

Him: "What, you married? You have a boyfriend or somethin'?"

Me: "No, not exactly." At this point I should have just lied and said Yes.

Him: "It's 'cause I'm black, ain't it? You ever been out with a black man before?"

At this point it becomes useless to recall exact conversation. I struggled, probably in vain, to convince him that I had no problem dating someone who wasn't white. It was more the complete stranger thing that was keeping me from going out with him. He vacated the room soon afterwards, perhaps still unconvinced, and left me with a laugh