A Night Out

Last night I went to a local Mexican-themed bar to have a few drinks with some fellow employees after a Board Meeting and dinner. I'm significantly younger than the others and not terribly close to anyone at work (save my boss, perhaps), but thought it would be interesting to interact with them out of the office.

[Truth be told, I stayed at the bar mainly because I'm a skinflint. One of them was supposed to give me a lift home after the meeting, but decided to go to the bar with some others that attended the meeting. There was no way I was going to take a cab all the way home, which would have cost at least $30. I ended up taking a cab anyway, several hours later than I intended, because my ride flaked on me.)

It was really odd to see some of the guys "in action," so to speak. I get a very odd feeling in my stomach (nausea, perhaps?) when I see tipsy middle-aged men being way too friendly with middle-aged women in a bar, especially on a Wednesday night. My co-workers were all at an age where they should be married, at home with the wife and kids. Instead they were carrying on like awkward frat guys.

It really was quite sad to see, especially when I looked into their eyes. They reminded me of children; not in the good, innocent sense but in the stick-crayons-in-your-eyes-stupid sense. Have you ever seen an unattended child's dietary habits? A kid will eat nothing but candies and sweets all day. The junk will provide a momentary bit of pleasure, but almost as soon as the desire is satiated hunger begins to set in again. Candy is empty, after all. More than that, it's destructive when eaten in excess. Yet the bone-headed child will gorge on sweets and sink deeper into a slovenly torpor.

My co-workers seems to be the same way. There they were, grown men, picking up chicks in a bar on a Wednesday with no interest in any sort of meaningful relationship. But the more they satisfied themselves, the more they starved themselves, and it showed. To pick up the candy metaphor again, rather than enjoy a dessert at the end of a satisfying meal, in its proper place and according to the proper proportions, they stuffed themselves silly and got progressively sicker.

It's rather awkward to be caught up in such company. One co-worker repeatedly tried to set up a tryst for me, acting as some sort of broker in a rather perverse exchange; he was trying to find me as many women as he could since I'm young and "need to enjoy myself." Not being the philandering type, I tried to play his suggestions off with a bit of humor, and eventually steered the conversation to some other topics. Morality aside, I also simply have no desire to get to know middle aged women, whether or not they were models in their youth.

So yes, a very awkward evening all in all, I hope to never repeat. There was but one bright spot in the day, before the Board meeting started--much earlier in the afternoon: I briefly spoke to a young and attractive woman (still a few years older than me). The discussion turned to my employment at the company, which I'll be terminating very soon to pursue my studies. She asked it I had a wife or kids that might make the transition difficult, in a not-so-subtle attempt to see if I was attached. When I responded that I had only commenced all too recently and that marriage was a relatively far off prospect she stammered, abruptly put an end to the conversation, and shuffled off. I had a good laugh at that.