ExposedNYC

…is another guy at my new job that has me reconsidering quite a vulgar old saying. I’ll paraphrase (in part because the original saying is pretty damn disgusting in context of preparing food and drinks), as “don’t date where you work”.

Since everyone needs a moniker, we’ll christen him Mr. NY. I have a feeling he would approve, based on a pretty hefty sense of pride on being born and raised here and an undying loyalty to the Yankees.

He won me over pretty quickly with a charming smile and flirtatious banter, but I was also immediately hesitant over the fact that he practically looks me in the eyes in flats. I’ve already owned up to the fact that this is an unfair and judgmental bias, so let’s move on. Combined with mutual invites to any company Christmas party, that totaled two strikes against him.

But there are a few factors swinging things in his direction.

While most people have been polite and friendly making small talk, he seems generally interested in what I have to say and has come in to work on numerous occasions with tidbits to add to previous conversations. He’s even a huge fan of a small magazine that I’ve written for, and his face lit up when he discovered I was associated with them.

There have even been a few small developments so far. He has asked if I want to hang out sometime after work, but not with a set time, and not explicitly as a date. This is common among many members of the hospitality industry, so I didn’t read too much into it. He also made a point of saying hello when he stopped in on a day off, all dressed up for a night on the town.

The more I write, the more I’m realizing, what interests me about this guy is that he seems interested in me (did you see the light bulb just flicker on over my head?). To be perfectly honest, that’s not always a quality I’m drawn to in men, so I’m not surprised that it required seeing it on a computer screen to spark the revelation.

I still have some serious reservations. I know that when he stopped in the other night he was coming from a date. I may accept that I’m not immediately going to be the only girl someone is dating right off the bat, but I don’t want to be witness to shop talk between him and the boys.

I also don’t want to become company gossip. Play-by-play recaps with your girlfriends become much more difficult when said girls are friends with both parties involved. I would be twice as worried about getting dressed or my behavior at work whenever he was around. I could go on and on with my cons list.

But I’m not completely ruling it out. After an odd date this weekend (more on that later) I’m embracing the idea of dating more proactively. I found myself pausing on ESPN tonight to watch the end of the Subway Series (Yankees vs Mets for all my fellow non-baseball fans out there), just so I would have something to talk to him about. That’s got to say something.

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