Dear SW Bartender:
You’re so sweet. I want to thank you for pointing out, as I signed for my dinner, that the gentleman I was talking with “was totally digging” me. It’s true that I am infamously bad at that game, so your assistance is very valuable. My week is really sort of full of bad news and six other kinds of blech — I appreciate the shot in the arm that that kind of notice can bring.

It is possible, though, to have dinner at the bar and converse with a fellow diner and just call it a pleasant evening resulting in an innocent business card exchange.

Isn’t it?

I wonder why you asked me, before informing me of his real interest, if we knew each other. Is there a rule about that? If we were work colleagues, would that have changed why he was listening to what I had to say about social networking and blogging? If he didn’t have to listen to me, must he have been trying to hook up? And here I thought he meant it when he thanked me for explaining a perspective that was new to him.

Clearly, this is not my scene. Thank goodness I’m not looking for a boyfriend or even a one-night stand, huh? How silly of me to not realize that he was only after one thing!

For what it’s worth, though, that was more uplifting than the usual heart-to-heart one can have with a bartender. If I’d opened up to you about The Troubles I’ve Seen, this night might have ended much differently. And I’d be bawling in the hot tub instead of blogging in front of The Rachel Maddow Show.

I’m not sure which is better for me, but the latter is certainly more comfortable.

Cheers,
Jen

P.S. That hot chocolate with cognac thing? Very tasty. Well done, ma’am.