Internet
dating has not been my friend. I have had some classic Flypaper for Freaks
moments from my Internet interludes and ZERO good dates. Yet, a good friend of
mine met her husband online. So, it’s clearly not all bad. Maybe the difference
is she was using The Onion personals – which just about guarantees a sense of
humor – and I used traditional dating sites.
So, I meet
the Doughnut Man online. He owns three doughnut shops in the area. Great!
Employed. Gainfully employed. Must have some business (and common) sense. And,
he can bring me free éclairs. Bonus! Sounds promising so far. The only drawback
I see is he’s blonde. I’m blonde, too and I really don’t think blondes should
date each other. Someone has to be the smart one in the relationship. (Jeez!
I’m kidding. I do not want the National Organization of Blondes to start
hate-mailing me.)
We’ve
talked on the phone a number of times, mainly about innocuous things. He seems
nice enough. We agree to meet for dinner. The conversation is light and breezy,
like a warm summer afternoon.
“What kind
of movies do you like?”
“Comedies.
I love things that make me laugh.”
“Me, too.
If I want to see reality, I’ll look out the window.” (Hey! Something we agree
on.)
“Do you
read much?” he asks me.
“I read
voraciously. Every night before I go to bed.”
“Me, too! I
just adore a good book.”
Dare I hope
that my Freak Magnet is losing its polar powers?
“In fact, I
just finished reading Rush Limbaugh’s new book.”
Oh, Lordy
Lord. I now know that he’s a Republican. I have not had good luck dating
Republicans – which may be because I’m a flaming, hair-on-fire kind of liberal.
OK. Not the end of the world, even if my family will shun him at all holiday
events for voting for a Bush.
[Author’s
Aside: I shouldn’t make generalizations about Republicans. Have I met every
Republican in the U.S. of A? No. Have I even met the majority of them? No. It’s
just been my (dating) experience that any Republican I’ve gone out with has
been a hater and has expressed his homophobia or racism to me within the first
30 minutes of meeting him. So far, I have not had this experience with any
Democrat that I’ve gone out with, but this may just be a coincidence. And, I
just cannot tolerate intolerance. How funny is THAT for a quote?]
“Really?
Because I just finished reading The Way Things Aren’t by FAIR” which is a book that
refutes most of the nonsensical things that Rush Limbaugh says. Yeah, this is
going well.
I steer the
conversation toward our jobs so we don’t start fighting about what a giant
goober I think Rush Limbaugh is. I tell him what it’s like to run a magazine
and touch on the struggles I’ve had as a first-time manager. He starts to tell
me about the doughnut shops he runs.
“It’s hard
to find good help,” he says.
“I’ve heard
that it’s hard to find good part-time help,” I reply. How many managers
actually love their part-time employees?
“I mean, I
try to find good employees, but only blacks apply.”
“Pardon
me?”
“It’s
because of where my stores are located. You know, in the Hood I just can’t get
good help.”
Oh, this is
taking a very bad turn. This table is kind of small, but maybe I can still fit
under it so no one will know that I’m with this racist freak.
“Well, you
know, it’s those people’s fault that I’m overweight.”
WHAT???
He had
expressed over the phone his concern that I would reject him because he was
somewhat overweight. (Who says that to someone before they’ve even gone on a
date with them and WHY didn’t I see that giant red flag flapping in my face?
Was I that desperate?)
In truth, I
didn't really think he was overweight. He had what I'd call a “husky” build and
short cropped blond hair. With his short crew cut and thick frame, he reminded
me of a former marine who'd just started to go to pot. He could probably stand
to lose 20 pounds, but let she who doesn't need to lose a spare 20 or so cast
the first doughnut. I thought he was a rather nice-looking man in an Average
Joe sort of way. And, I'm no raving beauty, so we probably looked like we
belonged together.
“Those
people? Who are those
people?” (I tried to make my tone as frosty as possible in hopes of
discouraging him. In fact, I think a few snowflakes flew out of my mouth while
I was speaking.)
“You know,
the blacks.”
“No, I
don’t know. Perhaps you need to explain it to me.” (Can he really not hear the antagonistic tone in my
voice? Does he think what he’s saying is OK? He must, or he wouldn’t still be
flapping his giant cakehole1.)
“See,
doughnuts cost the least to make and have the highest profit margin. Bagels and
cream cheese are my most expensive item and have the lowest profit margin. So,
I only allow employees to eat the doughnuts.”
I
understand this concept. That’s a business decision. Many restaurants have a
similar policy – we’ll give you free food, but you need to choose one of these
four or five low-cost entrees. I’m still waiting to see how Captain Crazy Train
is going to bring this back to black people making him fat.
“I would
really prefer to eat a bagel with cream cheese every morning since it’s much
lower in calories (yeah, not so much, Sherlock), but I can’t because of those
people.”
Still not
getting it.
“If those
people see me eating a bagel, then they think it’s OK for them to eat a bagel,
too, and my profits go down.”
If an
employee doesn’t listen to your rules in your store, you give them a warning
and explain what they did wrong and what the correct course of action is. If
the behavior continues, you fire that specific person. You do NOT attribute an
inability to follow the rules to an entire race of people.
“So,
because of those people, I have to eat doughnuts for breakfast every morning,
which is making me fat.”
“Do you
have a refrigerator at the shop?” I ask him, knowing damn well that the answer
is yes.
“Of course
we have a refrigerator,” he replies.
“Then why
don’t you bring low-fat yogurt and granola to the shop and eat that for
breakfast?”
“Don’t you
think that I’ve thought of that? I’m sure that those people would just eat
that, too, so what would be the point?”
Right.
You’re one of those
people. You know, the ones who blame their shortcomings on everyone EXCEPT
themselves? I’m sure in your world, it’s also the fault of Native Americans
that your hair is thinning on top since one of your relatives was scalped
during the French-Indian War.
At this point,
I excuse myself to go to the restroom. While I’m in there, I actually find
myself gazing at the window wondering if I can fit OUT the window and escape
from Mr. Fantastic. I then remember that my coat is back at the table. He
probably would have been suspicious had I taken my coat with me to the
restroom. And, who am I kidding? I would only climb out that window if the
restaurant was on fire and the bathroom door was locked from the outside. My
mother raised me properly. I am going to have to go back out there, thank him
for dinner and bid him a good eve . . . even IF I have to choke the words out.
Stupid manners. You know that he asked me out again. I told him that I just
didn’t see it working out.
1cakehole
(kāk·hōl) n. 1. This is a technical term, synonymous with piehole, that refers
to someone whose mouth should only be opened to shove cake (or pie) into it.
Any other opening or closing that occurs is simply the flapping about of hot
air. Please note: This is similar to the term, “claptrap” that refers to a
mouth from which only clap and drivel spill forth.
