Dinner Invitation

Sometimes inspiration for good stories seems to just show up. Like at our doorstep. Literally.

We had just finished eating, and we heard a knock at the door. I was over by the sink doing dishes, and Husband went over to answer it.

I glanced over and saw a tall guy at the door, and I went back to doing the dishes. I figured it was a friend from Husband’s class that lives in the building.

I heard only small bits of the conversation, which sounded like talk about a dinner. But, I then clearly heard Husband say: “Well, this is awkward.”

There was some nervous laughter, the conversation abruptly ended, and Husband closed the door.

“Was that a friend from your class? Did he want you to go to dinner?” I asked Husband, curious about the encounter.

“Nope, he wanted to ask YOU to dinner.” He said, laughing.

“What??” I asked, confused.

Then I finally understood. That guy wanted to ask me out on a date! And, what’s more, he inadvertently asked me on a date – through my Husband!

We laughed for a few solid minutes about it at Random Guy’s expense.

Husband recounted the conversation to me, and I guess it went something like this.

- Random Guy: “Oh, I was going to ask her to dinner [pointing at me], but I didn’t realize you were here.” (Translation: “I think your wife’s a babe and I wanted to ask her out, but I didn’t realize she was married.” Ok, so, I’m embellishing a bit, but bear with me… :)

- Husband: “Well, this is awkward.”

End of conversation.

I’m not sure who was more shocked about the whole thing. This poor guy who had probably worked up his courage to ask who he thought was a single gal for a date. Or us, who found a random dude at our doorstep asking me out for dinner, after I clearly already had both a Husband and a dinner.

I realized later that I had seen this guy exactly once before. It was in the parking lot earlier in the day. I was getting out of my car, and he passed by me as he was taking out his trash. The ultra-brief conversation sounded something like this.

- Me: “Hi, how are you?”

- Random Guy: “Good, how are you?”

End of conversation.

[Side note: I’ve never considered myself good at small talk, but maybe I need to reconsider after inspiring a date offer from such a brief exchange…]

Now, I don’t know anything about this guy, but this has got to rank as his worst pick-up attempt ever. And it might even be a strong contender for his most embarrassing moment ever, too. Asking out a marriage gal is never good for your dating life. But, asking her out through her husband is infinitely worse!

So, I think this scenario leaves a couple of life lessons.

Lesson for me: Appear less-enthused while making small talk with strange men in a parking lot. Better yet, think twice about making random small talk with strange men in a parking lot.

Lesson for Random Guy: If you do happen to show up on a married couple’s door looking for a date, for goodness sake, LIE and say that you have the wrong door! Honesty will only get you embarrassment - and a secured spot for your story on a blog.