Oops, I Did It...Again

Anyone who knows me, knows that I may be a halfway decent writer, but have been known to put my foot in my mouth. A lot.

Exhibit A: I was a waitress a long time ago, and, as I was taking a customer's order, asked when she was due. You guessed it: she was not pregnant. Nor was she going to leave me a tip at the end of her meal served to her by the dumbest woman alive. Note to self: never ask that question unless you see a woman's water break in front of you.

You would think that would teach me to think ahead and be more careful, right? Nope, not me.

Last year, I went on a first date with Don. We had a nice enough time and I was open to getting to know him better. However, as any dater knows, it's either feast or famine. Drought or downpour-you get the point. Since I had been chatting with Don, I had also connected with Tom online. Tom and I had been exchanging e-mails, and he finally asked for my number, stating in an e-mail that he'd call me early that week. Back to Don: we had also exchanged numbers prior to meeting and being "Supersticious Sally", I never put men's numbers in my cell as an official contact for fear that I was never going to see their name pop up on my caller id.

So, as I expected, my cell phone rang early in the week as Tom had promised. Naturally, the number was not familiar to me, so I assumed it was Tom. I sat up straight, cleared my throat and answered with a smooth "hello...". A man's voice said, "Hi Julie" and I said, "oh, hey, Tom." Do you see where this is going? Yes, you guessed it...it was not Tom, but Don, the date from the night before. OOPS! Don was upset and I was beyond embarrassed...the magnitude was up there with my faux pas with the seemingly pregnant woman I waited on years before.

Now, after one date, I was certainly far, far away from being in any kind of committed place with Don. It was well within my right to see other men at the same time, but I would never intentionally shove that in someone's face. So, right off the bat with Don, feelings were hurt and tensions were a bit high. Date number two was filled with little jabs by Don about my phone error. Maybe I deserved it, mabe I didn't, but we never did make it to date number three.

Oh, and what happened with Tom, you may wonder? Nada. He never called.

Something constructive did come from this little situation: the next time I exchanged numbers with someone, I put those digits right into my contacts. Deleting a number from your cell is sooooo much simpler than saying you're sorry.