  Today my boss sent me into the concrete jungle of downtown to collect information from the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board concerning one of our bigger oil and gas clients. Normally I would have welcomed leaving my oh-so-dreary cubicle on a mission such as this, but considering I woke up at 7:30 this morning sleepy and dazed and had to be the office by 8:00, well let's just say I wasn't too excited about going anywhere just at the moment. I am the type of person that needs to eassssse into the day, like you slowly easssssse into a nice hot bath. I still can remember my thoughts as I was finally absorbing the idea of leaving the office, and formulating a plan: "Lessee, hmm, here's a couple of websites of parking companies showing where their lots are located, and in relation to where the EUB office is, which is approximately half a block away...which side of the street?
Ah, ok. Now normally it takes me 23 minutes to get back to my downtown apartment from work, so that means if I take this route from the office to the EUB, I can add on approximately 12 minutes to find a parking spot, if indeed it is multilevel and need to drive up a couple of levels, and of course factoring in the time needed to walk back down to street level....unless there is an elevator available.
But hey, what if it is one of those slow elevators? Add on an extra 2 minutes...." Anyways, you get the idea. Did I mention before I obsess about things? Nevertheless, I eventually got anxious to leave. Now if you have ever been around engineering firms, you know that women tend to be a rare sight. If you've *worked* in an engineering firm, and are a single man with no girlfriend, you tend to get a little itchy spending 40 hours a week with nothing to talk to or look at. When you are that deprived, you tend to be a little more sensitive to rare opportunities as they come your way.
So here was one of those opportunities for me to have an environment with more pleasant distractions where I could relax and get the chance to flirt. After saying that, imagine if you will: looking up from a service counter and being thrown back (not in a good way) by someone you saw.
In my case, looking at a woman, in her mid to late thirties with big BIG frizzy long hair, too much makeup, overweight, wearing: a way-too-tight thigh high red stretch miniskirt showing off large salon-tanned tree trunks, bright pumps, and a white tailored shirt busting out of its seams. Yikes. Where's the exit again??? Looking back, I think I may have physically been jolted when I made eye contact with her, and I think the first word that came to mind was "urgh!
" I'm sure by the reaction I had, she wasn't too happy about that. But when I listened to her talk, (very loudly and immodestly I may add) to her young coworker, I could tell she was the type of person to just shrug it off, immediately label me as a jerk, and move on with her life without even a second look. But really, someone should go tell her and give her some helpful advice. Ya think? 
