I was taking phone inventory at work one day when I had to interact with this computer clerk. He’s the only person remotely close to my age through out the building, so I guess he decided this meant I automatically wanted to be friends with him. There was an error with his office phone number in our mail server (the wrong one was entered into the system) so I instant messaged him letting him know I sent in a request to have it changed to the correct phone number. After I told him that, I really didn’t need to talk to him anymore. However, he continued the conversation eventually bringing up his two exotic pets. I didn’t mind talking to him over IM because it was a slow day and he seemed nice enough. Well, about a half hour before I got off work, he came down to my cubicle to talk to me in person. He tried walking me to the door, but I had to visit with my boss quickly on my way out, so he followed me to her office (uninvited) before realizing I’d
be in there for a minute.
The next day, he IM’d me the moment I got online and we talked some more, about school and his pets, again. Also, again, a half hour before I was supposed to get off work, he came down to my cubicle to talk to me until I had to leave. Only this time my boss was in a meeting, so I couldn’t use her as an escape. He walked with me outside, talking the whole way. It really wasn’t too bad, until he followed me to my car. Then he invited me to come over to his place sometime to meet his pets. I was too polite to just say ‘no’ so I told him “we’ll see”. That was on a Friday.
Once Monday rolled around, I was about to leave for lunch when he came bounding around the corner to my cubicle with a gift in his hands. He gave it to me saying how it was “sweet and sugary” and reminded him of me. I awkwardly accepted the gift, set it on my desk unopened, and hurried off to lunch. After returning to my desk I decided to unwrap the gift. Inside were some honey sticks, tea, and a chap stick. I left everything in its cellophane wrapping (which was underneath his wrapping) and set it aside. I discussed the situation with my boss and she told me I needed to nip it at the bud. So I did.
Now he refuses to even look in my direction when I need to talk to him about business. Can you imagine if I actually dated him? I sure dodged that crazy bullet.
