Last night I went to my first Pilates class. Even though the instructor took it easy on us (16 women and one man [guys, if you're looking for ladies...]), I still thought I would hurt more than I do. My shoulders are a little stiff, but I sleep like a contortionist, so it's hard to tell which made me sore. Guess I'll know by next week when we start the regular routine. I never knew breathing could be so hard.
I mention this whole thing only because I came face-to-face with a blast from my past. After high school, before university, I worked a hellacious retail job on the fast-track to management glory. During my second promotion, I worked for a nutty manager who gave me peptalks on how to get out of the fucked up relationship I was in. But he was seriously nuts, so the peptalks usually involved him telling me to have as much sex with the boyfriend as possible because it could be the last time I ever did. Uh... In retrospect, that probably bordered on some form of sexual harassment, now that I think of it.
Back to the story.
So I went in for my class last night and who should be wandering around but this manager, Al. He seemed to recognise me, though I'm not sure if he really did or if he just responded to me saying his name after he stared at me for a couple of minutes. Then he was all sweetness and light, chitchatting about what I've been up to, if I'm still working at Murchies (I have NEVER worked anywhere that would even be mistaken for Murchies). He seemed to think we ran into each other recently (I haven't seen him in at least 12 years) or that one of our mutual acquaintances told him where I was working (unlikely since I talk to only one person from that time and he lives in the distant suburbs). It was at that point that I told him not to be concerned, that it had been a long time and I didn't expect him to know who I am. "Oh, but of course I know you." Mmmhmmm...
Anyway, as soon as I got home I immediately called my friend from that time and told him about this encounter. He was surprised (even more surprised to realise he remembered Al's last name) and confirmed that he hadn't seen Al for years and that Al was a big liar.
I can't understand when people obviously don't know who you are and pretend that they totally do. Like, even caught in the lie, admitting would be better than floundering. And, I mean, it would have been pretty easy for him to wait the couple of seconds it would have taken me to go to the changerooms and then looked at my name on the card. It just made him look really dumb. I didn't even expect him to know who I was, so would have been fine if he would have just said it from the start. Now he will obviously have to quit his job and go elsewhere to hide from the shame of not remembering someone he worked with more than 12 years ago.
Certain friends are horrible at remembering names and I'm always amused when we run into their acquaintances. Half the time they don't even bother trying to introduce us, the other half they say my name and hope the other person will say theirs. I suppose I do this too, to some extent, but more often than not I don't even acknowledge the person because of my extreme social shyness. Unless they come up to me.
During my last year at university, I happened to run into a girl I met in my first year who really wanted to be friends with me, but at that time she mainly talked about getting an IUD and having a lot of sex with her deadbeat boyfriend (I was almost exclusively interested in music). On this chance encounter, I saw her walking towards me as I tried to shuffle things in my bag on a bench, prompting me to work faster to get away, but she put her bag down and also started sorting her bag. Then she casually (though I could totally see her plan) said my name and then started chatting about what we'd been up to. She still wanted to be friends, but mentioned that she was dating a new guy, with whom she'd had sex in a plane just before they went skydiving, because he was a skydiving instructor and they were talking about getting married during a jump. Uh... I just kept thinking about IUDs while she spoke and tossed her phone number as soon as I got back to my office.
I suppose the point is this: if you want to be friends with me, don't talk about IUDs. (Gosh, I sound like a prude.) Or maybe it's that I don't like being confronted. Or maybe it's that I'm the one who's nuts.
Currently reading :
50 Facts that Should Change the World
By Jessica Williams
Release date: 01 September, 2004
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