Chikara down day

[Friendly1]

I took a long drive

to another state today to conduct some business with an old friend. I decided to dress in nice white slacks and

another Alfani polo shirt (blue, this time). So, I was dressed nice. Big deal.

Wore four sprays of

Chikara. Drove for 3-1/2 hours.

Okay, got to the restaurant where I was to meet the old friend and he turned out

to be 20 minutes late. I was 30 minutes early.

Finally asked to be seated and the server came over. Crystal.

Tall, light-haired, and cute. A bit standoffish. I decided to tease her a little to see if she was open or closed

(to flirting). She seemed to get into it but since she had to wait on other tables, I couldn't spend much time with

her.

When my friend arrived I introduced them and then told Crystal she didn't need to know my name. Naturally,

she asked what it was. I argued with her for a while and finally let her win.

Well, my MARRIED friend

saw that Crystal was into joking around so he joined the fun. That pretty much killed the mood.

Whenever Crystal

came by, I would try to engage her in light conversation and the old buddy joined in. He is, btw, somewhat LARGE.

Used to be quite slim, but I am afraid marriage agrees with him a little too much. I am not sure if his size had

anything to do with the autodestruct in the playfulness.

And I enjoyed the conversation, catching up with him

about old buddies, and taking care of business. Don't get me wrong. I just realized too late that trying to flirt

with someone next to him would not work.

By the end of the lunch I decided to shake Crystal's hand to see how

she reacted to me. She didn't let me get a good grip, and her shake was a bit limp. So, I couldn't really read

her. I don't think she had much interest although she did ask us to come back. She knew I had dropped by from out

of town.

So, the point of this is that I have now seen the downside of Chikara. I still think it's close to a

magic potion, but there are clearly situations where it won't help (much). Of course, she could have been in a

really bad mood all day and brightened up when I got there, but I doubt that. She seemed pretty cheerful when she

first came up.

Although she did run off two female customers sitting next to me before my friend got there. She

was very nice about it, but she clearly wanted them to leave. She brought their check before they asked for it. That

could have been a hit, but I would say this was a weak-to-borderline hit.

I probably should have worn The Edge

with my Jaipur and touched up with APC before going into the restaurant.

[ImmersifulSoul]

Never pick up when your

with one your mates, that's a big no no. Kill's the mood all together.

[Bruce]

If your buddy acts as your

"wingman", it can work out great (if he's good at it), but if he has his own agenda, is loud and "large", you

generally have a crash and burn story in the making.

B

[Friendly1]

You definitely have to work out

some ground rules with your friends. I have gone through similar experiences before. I'm just so into flirting

these days that I do it out of habit.