Chicago people suck. Those are the words he said to me. He said New Yorkers are much better than Chicagoans. This is due to his one trip to NYC to visit his daughter.
OK, I’ll bite. I asked him if he could explain that further.
He said he sails with a lot of Chicagoans at lakes in Wisconsin and they are always looking down at him. I asked why? He said, because they have a lot of money, and they think he should grow his business. I said, what do you do? He said he has a family business making cushions. He said there are 4 people in his company (he is one of them) and he does just fine. He said he doesn’t have a lot of money because he doesn’t need a lot of money.
He went on to say it is all about respect. (BTW, this is when he started pointing at me and somewhat in my face). He said, if people don’t respect me, we are going to have problems. He said many of these Chicagoans probably inherited their money which makes them worthless to me anyway.
I said, I know we just met but, you seem to have a giant chip on your shoulder. What if those Chicagoans were trying to help? Maybe they grew their own businesses and had some advice? Why do you automatically think the opposite? He said it really doesn’t matter because if people don’t like me, I don’t care. At all.
His tone was condescending in general during our conversation and then the mansplaining began. He said you should go to Colorado sometime, there is a lot of great skiing out there.
Heavy sigh. I really tried to not be that Chicagoan he was talking about, but I couldn’t help it.
I said, I have been to Colorado skiing many times. Actually, I have been to all 50 states and love to travel. He said 50 states? So, you are probably a girl who should just stay in Chicago. You could never handle this life in Wisconsin. (finally the man is making sense)
He then said you have to try this pizza place in the area, you would love it. I said, how do you know what I would love? He said believe me, I know.
His final topic he wanted to school me on were heart attacks. He said women are dropping like flies from heart attacks these days. Much more than men. I said, I think everyone should be concerned about heart attacks, not just women. He said no, just women.
I asked him, do you have much gray in your life? Or is everything black or white? He said no gray in my life at all. He said he models himself after that one general who won the war. I said, what general? He said, I don’t remember the name of him.
OK – I have had about enough of this nonsense.
For the record, he had 2 beers and I had one beer and he ordered quesadillas. I was just trying to get out as fast as I could.
The bill arrives on the table. He looks at it and said I am a guy who likes to go Dutch. I said, excuse me? He said, I like to split bills.
I said, I don’t. I peek at the bill, it is $23.00 (it is Wisconsin after all). He takes a $20.00 bill out of his wallet and studies it. He said, I guess I should leave this, but it is more than half?
I said look, I can’t make change. How about this? How about if I just pay for it? (Yes, I am emasculating him intentionally).
He said, well, if you don’t have change, he puts the $20.00 back into his wallet and pulls out a $10.00 bill. He said, maybe you should just take this. I said, don’t worry, I got it and throw my credit card down.
Honestly, I would have paid $100.00 to get out of that date. He then said, I have to hit the head (sailor talk of course). I said, I am going to leave.
I leave and he goes to the bathroom. I am in my car trying to shake off what just happened. I put my windows down, open my sunroof and turn on music for my drive back. As I am getting ready to pull out of the parking lot, he is coming out of the bar.
He looks at me and yells, really? You drive a Mercedes? I said – YUP! So, I am sure I re-enforced all of his insecurities about Chicago people as I smiled and drove away.
I was a bit curious to see what he was driving but my desire to leave outweighed it.
He then texted me later that night saying how nice it was to meet and he sent me a link to the pizza place. It is on a working farm and you sit on a blanket to eat in a field next to the animals.
Lesson Learned? I think many problems in the world today could be solved if there was a little more gray in people’s lives. I find the extremes so exhausting! And, I am not sure if I would like to eat pizza next to a cow or a pig. But, you can’t tell him that!
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