Story From Today 03/09/11

The story for what happened today is about a very special and frustrating conversation I had with a man. Before I continue I want to say: this story is NOT to insinuate a stereo-type on the African American culture and is NOT meant as a racist entry, I am merely blogging what happened and am not intending to offend anyone’s culture, habits, or views. This is strictly for entertainment purposes only based around an actual event I was a part of. With that said let me explain……

Wednesday….Oh, Lovely, lovely, Wednesday. Today was the day the warehouse shipped out the products I ordered on Monday to fill the store back up with the products we sold the previous week. I like Wednesday’s because that fills my morning/afternoon/early evening with something to do. Working at Love Lips is a very easy job and sadly a person could slowly lose IQ points from boredom when it is slow. There isn’t a lot they ask of us; Make the store look good and help customers is all we are required to do. But being hidden in the tiny corner of Dundalk we don’t get a whole lot of traffic flow so that gives me a lot of time to put the stock away and fill the store so it looks full again. It was a slow day today. I was having a good time with the few customers I had, the nice small talk and the idea I get to move things around. It was probably around 2-3 pm when I was stocking up the skinny girls lingerie section when the door chimed. I turned around to greet the customer when my ears were assaulted with a “mmmmMMmmm Hey baby. When’d they start hiring sexy chicks here?! MM!!” and with a look that would’ve blown my clothes off if I lived in a cartoon. Needless to say my feathers were ruffled by the un-necessary comment I said my hello kind of tartly and continued to put the boxed lingerie away. Now at my store the lingerie is separated from the toys and DVD’s by half a cage looking “wall” that holds Queen (Plus) Sized clothes. But I made sure I checked on him now and then to make sure I wasn’t giving him free reign over the store, which I would’ve done with anyone that was on the other side of where I was of course. He moved through the DVD and magazine section quickly and then came back towards me nodding his head and with a confident look like he was going to get somewhere other than out the door……without me. I smiled trying to hold my indignation back and then continued to work. I heard him move closer and this is when things went bad to worse.

“How you doin’ baby” He did that once over again which made me feel the need to hold onto my clothes tightly but I refrained from doing so.

“Alright” I said as I moved pegs around and added thigh-hi’s to the wall.

“What gotcha workin’ here? You must be into all this kinky stuff, huh?” He leaned on the counter as he watched me work.

“It’s a job” I said tersely hoping the convo wouldn’t go where I figured it was heading.

“Oh…a job…so what’s the craziest thing you’ve done?” He moved closer so he was in my peripheral line of sight.

I refused to answer that question and continued to work, now finding it hard to keep a bemused smile on my face.

He could see he wasn’t going to get an answer from me so he continued, “So do you have a boyfriend?”

“No.” I said curtly and walked away from him to get more pegs.

“Ahh…Alright then!” He seemed happy about this. “Cuz you know I get off at that bus stop…bus #4 all the time if you ever wanna…”

I cut him short as I picked up body stockings to hang up next, “Just because I don’t have a boyfriend does not mean I’m single” I was hoping this would end our nasty little conversation which I thought happened because there was a long pause until….

“I don’t understand what that means, can you explain, please?”

I looked at him for a brief moment seeing his brain might implode if I didn’t answer and who knew maybe if we talked long enough he’d buy something? (Wishful thinking gets you nowhere btw) “It means I’m gay.” I stabbed a body stocking on its peg with a little too much force.

“Oh…..” He paused.

Now, usually when I say I’m gay, which I am (sorry I forgot to mention), men back off respectfully and either leave or pay for whatever they are looking for and it ends peacefully because all they were looking for was a quick booty call. Not today!!

“So you don’t do anything with men?”

“Nope”

“ What’d a man do to you to make you gay?”

“Nothing, I’ve been with one good man but that doesn’t change the fact I’m gay.” How more honest can I get?

Still confused he pushed on. “You ever been with a black man before you were gay?”

“Nope”

“So can I take you to dinner, not to do anything just to talk?”

“No thank you.” My smile was becoming thin.

“No thank you??” He looked affronted.

I looked at him and nodded now smiling with more acidity than kindness, “Yes, I mean no thank you”. I turned around to finish putting things away.

“Well alright then…I mean I only come in these stores because I’m single and you know I wouldn’t need to if I wasn’t…..”

I ignored this jumble of words and moved to get more pegs realizing he was closer to the door…YAY!

“What God do you believe in?”

If I was a cartoon I would’ve fallen face first onto the floor. Really?? We’re going there?

“Many.” Was all I could think of to say…because let’s face it I’m pagan and in paganism we are allowed to worship multiple deities and I had been doing so since my early teens. (Again, sorry I forgot to mention this part about myself) This comment of course threw him for a loop. The look he got was priceless.

“What?” He said confused.

“I’m Pagan”

Just then the Universe granted me some sanity. A young Asian man and a pretty African American woman walked through the door. I was more than eager to move away from this conversation and wait on customers who would be buying things and wouldn’t be pestering me about personal things. Sadly neither of them spoke to me except to say hello back to my greeting. Though I moved my attention to the new comers to make sure they didn’t need help. But I realized the guy that had wasted 15 minutes of my time was still talking.

He stuttered, “Oh…we I guess that makes sense I mean….” I am sad to admit I drowned him out hoping against hope the two people that had walked in would need my attention. To my luck the Asian man DID need my help and as I went to help him I made sure my “friend” didn’t forget his lighter on his way out of the door. I am happy to report I don’t think I will ever see this guy again nor do I wish to.

Hopefully no one on here thinks I handled this situation too harshly but honestly I’m being told that I was too lenient and answered too many questions from my family LOL. But one thing I will say in my defense; every word that I said was true, none of it a lie. I don’t even like lying to strangers about who I am. I am a firm believer in being proud of who I am and what I believe in.