"Do you think about women?"

That was the question I was asked at work.

Let me paint a picture of the scene for you: There’s me, a rather cute, if large and soft, young lady, carrying a door through the rain. I try to be friendly at work and acknowledge the residents, but when you’re hauling doors through the rain, it’s easy to get distracted. Along the way I pass a small group of teenagers, who snicker and smirk as I go by, and I quickly smile and keep going, when one of them gets my attention.

Her: Hello
Me: Hi there!
H: How’s it going?
M: Not bad. How’re you?
H: Good.

I start walking away again, since doors do get heavy after a bit.

H: Excuse me, I’d like to ask you a question.
M: (Thinking it’d actually be relevant to my job) Yes?
H: Do you think about women?
M: (Caught off-guard and wondering about the relevance) Think about them… how?
H: You know, sexually.
M: Why do you care?
H: (Looking amused but sounding slightly defensive) I’m just curious. It’s for a survey.
M: …
H: … Well, I’m gay.
M: Well, that’s great. Good for you!

At that point, I’d just like to get back to work. I’m not in the mood to be hassled by teenagers who’re just looking to harass some random stranger (it’s harder to tell from text, but her tone, plus the smirking buddies gave the vibe that that’s what it was about), so I walk away. She says to my back “Now that’s a shitty attitude.”

Later I realized that I after she asked if I thought about women, I ought to have asked if she was looking for a date, maybe with a wink and devilish grin.

Now, I ask you: Did I have a shitty attitude or was she just rude? I’m still wondering what prompted that exchange, really. Perhaps she’s got pre-conceived notions about women doing my work. Of course, for all I know she was looking for a date, or it was a strange survey, but I doubt it.

It’s my first week with this new company. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.

Well, that’s a, “WTF?” conversation if ever I’d been a party to one.
I hate teenagers. They’re so…odd. :smiley:

My guess is it was a miscommunication. She was trying to hit on you and you were trying to get home with a door. You saying, “that’s great. Good for you.” Might come off as condescending or sarcastic, while to you it was because you were holding on to a door in the rain and wanted to get home.

Y’know, if I was in a similar situation, I think I’d be rather tempted to react like this:

Him: “Do you think about men?”
Me: “Think about them how?”
Him: “You know. Sexually.”
Me: “Not particularly. Ever been to a Turkish prison?”

But to the question, no, I don’t think you were rude. If I detected that they were just trying to be dicks I would have done the same thing.

I’m having comma and gender trouble:

Are you a rather cute, if large and soft, young lady who was carrying a door through the rain? Or Was this scene composed of you and also a rather cute, if large and soft, young lady, carrying a door through the rain???

If you’re a rather cute, if large and soft, young lady, carrying a door through the rain, and you’re gay, I guess explaining to “H” that such is the case might have some bearing on the question, insofar as I guess lesbian gals do tend to think about women sexually, being lesbian and all. But if she was asking the question to you, a rather cute, if large and soft lady carrying a door through the rain, isn’t it reasonable to assume she figured you were? (lesbian, not large and soft and carrying a door through the rain, I mean) I mean, why would she ask a straight door-carrying large soft rained-upon lady whether she did or did not think of women sexually?

If, on the other hand, you’re a dude, a malefellow and boy-parts and all that, your response to the questioner makes more sense, but if you were a guy and were at that time accompanying a gal who was large, soft, door-encumbered, and rained-upon, could you explain or at least elaborate upon this?:

I mean, perhaps you were being chivalrously concerned that She With The Door was getting tired while waiting for you to finish being flirted with by cluelessly gaydar-impaired straight woman, but if you’re gonna be chivalrous, mightn’t you offer to carry the door at least part of the way?

Pbbbts!! Teenagers.
My vote goes towards they were being smart-asses.

I would have told them to fuck off.

Whether she was hitting on you or just being a punk, it was still rude of her to harass you while you were wielding a door in the rain.

I’m just curious what kind of company employs cute, if large and soft, young ladies to haul around doors for them?

I can see myself in such a door-shop going: “…hm, I think I want that door. And I want that cute lady to carry it home for me.” :wink:

Anyway, asking rather cute, if large and soft, young ladies, carrying doors through the rain without presenting themselves as doing a survey before they ask about that sex ting, is just rude.

My vote for the kids up to no good.

Why am I hearing this whole thread being read in a British accent? Especially the OP. That’s just odd.

If it happens again, you can just say, “Not while I’m carrying a heavy door in the rain.”

Ah, yeah I had a lot of odd commas there, didn’t I? I am a young lady. I am also cute, though large and soft. Better? :smiley:

I also do think of women sexually, but I have a boyfriend. Either way, it’s hardly relevant information for a complete stranger. It’s possible she was making a bad attempt at hitting on me, but the whole situation had a feeling of my junior high days: “Hey, I really like you. Want to go out sometime? Yeah? Well… Just kidding! HAHAHA loser!”

The lot of them watching me and snickering beforehand didn’t really help matters.

Hmm… just an adolescent wind up.

I think you are really suffering from a touch of the Oscars (peeved about not having a witty reply)
Oscar Wilde: (on hearing a really smart quip) I wish I had said that
Friend: You will Oscar, you will

Because it might be a lost Monty Python sketch?

Even odder…me too!

I didn’t, and I have one!
Surely if they were winding you up, wouldn’t they have yelled a hearty ‘fuck you’ as you went past not responding as they had hoped?

I agree with the “teens being rude” group. Personally, I don’t want to discuss my sexuality on the job with a complete stranger - its rude and borders on sexual harassment.

I did that once. This guy at work was asking me a bunch of questions and he asked, “are you married” to which I replied, “Why, are you asking me out?” I thought I was being funny but it turns out he was gay and I was always afraid he thought I was making fun of him.

She was rude.
Marc

Since when is it correct to start a random conversation with someone who’s carrying a large weight? Even without the rain and the extremely personal nature of the conversation, I’d consider anything longer than “oh here let me open the door for you” to be extremely rude when adressing someone who is carrying an Og-damned DOOR.

OMG !I must be a lesbian I think about women all the time.