More applause from this corner. It sounds pretty promising. It has been a long time since I have had to do that yet I still rememeber just how hard it is to overcome. Good Luck
Congratulations! 
Brilliant! That’ so cool. And I bet that whatever happens, you will feel better for having asked.
Btw, maybe this is stupid, but could someone please enlighten me and explain what a “gyro” is? Just so I can picture the scene.
We’ll have to wait and see.
Seconded, glad you did it!
Despite my hopeful wishes, I haven’t heard from the aforementioned waitress. Having to go babysit the sis 'cos she’s still recovering from surgery, I was in town again. (Worth noting that sitting at the bar and reading while drinking is one of my favorite things to do, and there aren’t many places around here where I like to do this.) On Saturay I decided to take the book down and have a couple Guinness while reading.
She was working. She had her back to me and so I took a seat and opened my book. The other waitress took my table. The waitress who has smitten me stopped and said “hi” once or twice, but didn’t chat. It almost looked as if she was trying to not even see me there—though I don’t claim to be a good judge of that sort of thing.
I was secretly hoping for some divine inspiration or some despair-generated strength; however, a paralyzed tongue and acute anxiety were my only friends that day. I’m sure I came off badly…c’est la guerre.
I know the optimist will say to keep trying, and that maybe she’s shy, busy, or forgetful. I hate optimists. Too bad I left a hat on the bed this weekend. How do I cancel that bad mojo?
You asked for it:
I had to run errands for work yesterday and drop some photos off w/ sis, so I was in town again. Driving through town I began playing superstitious games like Am I Superstitious and What Sort Of Sign Would I Look For If I Was. I really felt bad letting down those supportive Dopers, though for all I know all but five of you could be really slick AI programs or something similarly solipsistic.
There was a close spot to the bar and it was lunch time and I was hungry. So I went in. She was there again, with a customer. So I sat down. She came up and apolgetically said, “About Saturday, I was really…out of it,” or something like that.
“Yeah,” I said, “I was really tongue tied. I get that way sometimes.”
“Me to,” she said.
It went much better. At the end of lunch I gathered up all my courage, which isn’t much when it comes to goils, and, hoping to sound funny or at least slightly amusing, I said, “Hey, we should get together for a cup of coffee some time.”
“I said I’d call you!” she said.
“I know,” I replied. She went on to talk about how busy she is (single mom, student, employee) and I mentioned that my schedule is quite flexible. She said she’d call when she got the chance.
So there it is. She’s bogged down & busy—or so she says! The wait is going to kill me.
Sounds like things are going your way.
::still doing the “js_africanus has a date” dance, but getting tireder…::
Seriously, admitting you were tongue tied was exactly the right thing to say.
Yup, sounds like the first post-phone-number-exchange encounter was about mutual shyness – and sounds like she really will call.
twicks, hoping she’s considered among the non-slick, non-AI personae
Sorry. The only Dopers I’ve confirmed exist are the ones you can see here
I am one of those slick AI programs, and my neural network tells me to write the following:
it doesn’t go as smoothly as the movies, but I agree with the other posters that you still seem to be doing well. You come across to her as exactly the person you are, gentle, a bit shy, a good guy, and she seems to like that. I’m glad you manage to continue on your chosen path, with the encouragement of us nosy dopers.
The wait is something you unfortunately cannot avoid. Write poetry or something, but don’t show it to anyone because it will probably suck (people in love are usually not good poets). And don’t push it; I think you’ve gone as far as is proper, if you ask again without some good reason, she will feel pushed.
Pft. No AI program could ever do the “js_africanus has a date”[sup]TM[/sup] dance. At least, not as well as I do. Why, it’s practically a Turing test staple, it is.
Wow, from the tone of the OP I never thought you’d actually ask her out. It sounds like things are going in the right direction. How exciting. Keep us posted. 
So, js, got anything you want to share?
Cultural divide?
How to describe this? If I’m off work during a weekday not in holiday season, and go to do some shopping or errands during work time, when most folk in paid employment are at their desks/workstations/lathes/steering-wheels and kids/students are safely behind school walls. There is a whole 'nother type of life going on in which the words urgent, schedule and deadline do not figure and absolutely nothing has to be done now. The maximum level of urgency is some time today.
So here I am on my day off with my list of chores (tax the car, buy shoes, pay bills blahblah…) zipping between these people living in their total. . .lack. . .of. . . urgency. . . world like one of those aliens-who-move-so-fast-they’re-invisible off Star Trek. Mostly it’s mums with baby buggies and retired folk with the occasional house-husband (yes they exist my brother is one). I’m not passing judgment (well trying not to) but there’s this whole vibe of dawdling and indecisivness. Usually if I’ve got something to do it will be in a work context where one is expected to get it done in a timely manner “Oh I bumped into X and we stopped off at Pret-a-mange for lunch” doesn’t work as an excuse when you miss a release build.
What I do when I go to buy shoes: I go to a shoe shop, straight to the shoe shop, do not pause to chat/window-shop/snack, pick a pair of shoes, try on shoes, buy shoes, total transaction time 15 minutes. On to the next task… the only time I’m not getting something done is when I’m in a queue. This modus operandi does not change just because I actually have all day to get my stuff done.
Is it just me? Does anyone else see a division in society here?
Oops! Sorry js and everyone that’s supposed to be a new thread :smack:
meanwhile js it all over now? 
Not really. She hasn’t contacted me, and the last few times I’ve lunched there she hasn’t been there. I don’t know what else to say.
Bummer.
Isn’t a first date pretty early to be thinking about doing such a thing?
Seriously JS good for you, do you think it would be easier asking out a girl next time you tried? (from a fellow sociaphobic klutz).