Do you come here often?

posted Sat, 12 Mar 2005

Harpo claims that I am oblivious to men hitting on me. Perhaps so. I never think men are actually trying to pick me up. This lack of confidence comes from my tragic high-school history of not being asked to a single – that’s right, not ONE – high-school dance.

I’m over that. Really. Not traumatized or scarred at all. Not me.

But I think this guy at the pool might have been hitting on me yesterday morning. Or maybe he’s just a friendly, outgoing person. Who can tell with these things? I never can.

I’ll give you the facts and you decide. Let me say first, though, that I do not go to the gym at 6:00 a.m. with the intention of meeting men. I greet the people I have come to recognize over the past five years, but I am there to swim and get out, not to converse. There is one guy I have seen almost every weekday morning since I moved here, yet we have probably said not more than fifty words to each other in that whole time.

So. I had seen this guy once before – let’s call him “Mack” – when I had swum late. He tried to start a conversation with me then, telling me that he hadn’t seen me at the pool before. I smiled politely and told him I usually swam earlier. The next time I stopped, he commented on my flip turns and asked if I would teach him how to do one. I told him that the swim coach could do that. After that, I didn’t stop swimming if I saw him standing at the end of the lane.

Yesterday, Mack was at the pool early. There was one swimmer in every lane. I was the only woman. When I saw him come in, my heart sank. All things being equal, if a newcomer has to choose a lane to share, he is going to pick the one with a woman in it. Men are far more comfortable invading women’s territory than men’s. And another woman swimmer for sure is going to get in the lane with another woman.

Of course, he plunked himself into my lane. I wanted a break after 500 yards, but wasn’t going to stop while Mack was standing there. But then the lifeguard made him move over a lane! Wonderful!

But I still was not safe. I had stopped for a break, so Mack stopped, too. “Do those Tyr goggles leak on you?” he asked. The guy was oblivious, I swear. My back was to him!

Without turning my body and without saying anything, I shook my head. I turned my head away from him right away again.

“They sure leak on me,” he continued. “I can’t use that brand.” He jabbered on until I dove back into the water.

Was this a hit? And if so, why hasn’t this power ever worked when I needed it?