Saturday, March 9, 2013

Genuine request or original pickup line?

So I'm sitting at my position at a conference and the first session has begun so I'm alone in a room. A young man walks by the door and looks in. A few seconds later I see him back up and look in again. I look at him, he waves. I smile. He leans into the room and with a thick accent and broken English he tells me that he is there every weekend for an English class and he pays close attention to all the doors down the hall and this was the first time this door was open. He asks why so I tell him simply about the conference that is on. He leans into the door and asks if he can come in. I nod approval. He tells me about his class and how they need friends to practice their English. "Do you want to friend?"

I wasn't sure what to say to that...then was even more unsure when he asked for my phone number. I settled for e-mail addresses. I try to believe he was genuine in wanting contact for that reason. He tracked down a pen and came running back with his e-mail written on a big bumper sticker from the educational institution we were currently in. He took mine down on a business card he had in his wallet...we shall see.

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