I'll start off with the good: because I was off from work today, and I was out running errands, I had more opportunities to approach. I ended up with 6 approaches total, which is my new personal best. And now... on to the recaps!
I was in Copps to get some stuff for a fruit/veggie smoothie, and while I was in the product section, I saw a cute black woman at the salad bar. Now, before the Political Correctness Army (PCA) comes after me, please note that I only mention her race because she was the first black woman I've had the chance to approach as part of my challenges. I thought that was noteworthy, so calm down. And yes, black, not African-American. The former is a better way to differentiate, when differentiation is useful for the narrative. Anyway, I went up to her and told her that I thought she was beautiful. I found out that she's a social worker and she values spending time with family. That's pretty cool. She seemed to be trying to get out of the conversation, so I let her go.
The second approach happened at Hilldale, while walking outside. I saw a woman sitting on a bench, and that's like gold. I don't know why, but a woman sitting on a bench is really easy for me to approach. Anyway, I went with the line of the day "I don't think we've met" and introduced myself. She looked a little like "did he really just say that to me?" so I was like "oh, it's cool, I just like to meet new people and I figure why not just go and introduce myself if I want to talk to someone." I found out she actually works at Hilldale. I won't name the store, because this isn't about revealing people's identities. She was on break, so I didn't have much time to talk to her.
The third approach happened about a minute after the second one ended. I was walking towards Metcalfe's and on the other side of the road I saw a woman and smiled at her and she smiled back. I had to compliment her on her smile, so I did. This was a rare approach where I went for it, despite logistics being less than optimal. I crossed the street and had to call out to her, since she was about 15 feet in front of me. I told her that I thought she had a nice smile and introduced myself. She also works at the mall and again won't reveal where, but she was on her way to meet a friend for lunch, so I also didn't get much time to talk to her.
The fourth approach was in Target. There was this girl that looked really sweet, but every time I saw her, there were people around, and I try to avoid an audience so that I don't make the woman feel awkward (and myself as well, fine!) I browsed around for a bit and ended up seeing her in one of the kitchenware aisles. I told her that she looked sweet and introduced myself. She started coughing as approached her, which was kinda funny and cute. She said right off the bad that she had a boyfriend, which is cool. I'd rather find out early, rather than late. Still, I went forward with the conversation and actually told her about my challenge. I told her about this blog, so she might actually read it. If so, hello! We had a nice conversation, mostly about my challenge.
The fifth approach was while I was walking back to my car, also outside of Hilldale. And by the way, Hilldale threw me some fastballs right over the plate today. Three women outside that I could approach. I usually don't even get one. Well played, Hilldale. Anyway, I saw this older woman walking the opposite way towards me, so I told her that she was beautiful. I introduced myself and she told me her name but kinda kept walking, and I was trying to get out of there so I didn't get stuck in traffic.
The sixth approach was at HyVee. I was on 5, which would tie a personal best, and I knew I was running tonight, so I thought "why not go for the record!" I walked to HyVee to get some extra exercise and avoid 5pm traffic. I walked around for a bit and saw this nice-looking woman. I approached her and told her that she looked nice and introduced myself. At first she looked kinda taken aback or skeptical, so I told her that I'm just a friendly guy that likes to meet people. She asked me if I meet people a lot at the store. I told her that I make it a point to go up and talk to someone if I see someone that looks nice or interesting. While talking to her, I could notice a distinct softening of her expression. She went from a "WTF is this" to "wow, this is actually pretty impressive!" Once she was comfortable, I asked her what she did and found out she was an x-ray tech. We talked about that for awhile, and why she got into that field. She found it through a process of elimination. I asked her what she didn't like doing, and she said one thing she doesn't like is sitting in a cube I was like, "oh, yeah, that's what I do now, which is why I force myself to get out and be social." She asked me what I do, so I told her about my job and all that. Then I asked her what she does for fun in her free time and she didn't really have an answer for that. That might be because she has kids, so spends her free time with them. We had a great conversation; it must have gone on for 15 minutes or so. At one point, I was going to go in for the number and had started on my "you're really easy to talk to" bit, but then someone showed up and was looking at the frozen goods next to where we were standing, and I thought it would have been awkward to go for a number with an audience, so I ad-libbed some more conversation, then went for the number when we were alone. She put her full name in my phone, which I take as a sign that it's actually her number. She asked me what my last name was, so I told her. Then she asked how old I am, so I told her I'm 33. She kinda had the "oh wow..." expression, then asked how old I thought she was. Quick aside here, guys, if you're reading this and you don't already know, guess low, but not too low. Don't say 29 if she's obviously in her 40s, but don't say 45 if you think she might be early 40s. In true Douglas Adams style, I went with 42. Turns out I was close and low. Bingo!
She was really cool, I would definitely like to talk to her again.
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