# Enough with the incompetent flirting **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2003, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846 "2003-04-15T10:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/101 "2003-04-22T09:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Collounsbury \* > \*\* > > Getting busy in the office, however, is something of a no no, although vaguely interesting and challenging as a one off sort of thing. \*\* Care to elaborate? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/102 "2003-04-22T10:00:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anahita \* > \*\*Care to elaborate? \*\* No, errors of youth. ---
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/103 "2003-04-22T10:10:43Z")
Khahesh mekonam!!! (Please!) If you do, I’ll tell you about my work-related sex escapades. Ok, I won’t, but still. I think telling us would allow us all to see a different side of you. Really. Gowan. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/104 "2003-04-22T10:15:31Z")
Khelas Oukhti Boring boardroom meeting footsie escalating to ducking into someone else’s office and almost getting busted by security, having to hide under a desk. Errors of youth, althouhg I suppose I wasn’t all that youthful come to think of it. She started it in any case. All her fault. ---
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/105 "2003-04-22T10:19:26Z")
Hrmm…interesting. Would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall when the security people busted you. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/106 "2003-04-22T10:21:42Z")
But they did not bust me, far too talented a fellow am I. ha. However after some time with these games it seemed to not be such a good idea. As I said, (a) all her fault of course, and (b) errors of youth, relatively speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/107 "2003-04-22T10:23:53Z")
I’m sure I speak for a few others when I say, “Good for you, you sneaky fellow!” Somehow, I cannot picture you doing anything other than reading the papers and meeting with important sheiks. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/108 "2003-04-22T10:25:54Z")
Good, one has to cultivate an image. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/109 "2003-04-22T10:29:50Z")
Although come to think of it I should like to cultivate the more down and out image of the alcoholic expat who hangs around in bar/cafes all day reading the paper. An image that has always appealled to me, since reading of the French administrator who was fired for going to work drunk in his bathrobe for more than a year running. Clearly I have to work in more references to my Cuban rhum habit. White rhum mind you. ---
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/110 "2003-04-22T10:32:38Z")
You roll your own cigarettes, don’t you? (This isn’t an example of the thread title, is it?) I was the victim of some pathetic attempts at flirting just last weekend. It made me both uncomfortable and annoyed. Just to keep in line with the OP topic. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/111 "2003-04-22T10:46:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anahita \* > \*\*You roll your own cigarettes, don’t you? Nope, I don’t smoke at all, not even Narjila. Another affectation of mine. > [@](#): > > (This isn’t an example of the thread title, is it?) I should hope not. > [@](#): > > I was the victim of some pathetic attempts at flirting just last weekend. It made me both uncomfortable and annoyed. Just to keep in line with the OP topic. Hah, pity I do not have a talent for writing: Recently, before all the people went off to Iraq, I had the bemused pleasure of watching some of the newly arrived to the region war profiteers and journos trying to pick up local girls in a club here. Transients trying to pick up local girsl with well honed lines… Perhaps not entirely hopeless, but one of the frustrated fellows came back to me to ask what the deal was. After some chatting he hit upon the idea of going to church for some action, although was moderately put off when I observed that there was this annoying custom of shooting the unwelcome suitor(_) (as well as the girl if she goes along, but let us abstract away from that), so he should best recall the number of AK-47 per capita. That’s why Russians are so bloody popular around here. [sub] (_: First week I was here such an event happened.)[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/112 "2003-04-22T11:11:59Z")
Yikes. Being shot for poor flirting attempts. Maybe **jjimmm** should propose that tradition to the HR people at his office. The worst chat up line I’ve gotten: “You’re Eye-rain-ee-an. Do you wear a jewel in your bellybutton? Do you know how to bellydance?” Also the most culturally inappropriate one. This was in the Hilton Hotel bar after the No-Ruz party. Seems some of the local singles cottoned on to the fact that the Iranian singles all hang out there after the No-Ruz party at the hotel. It took a few guys (including my 6’4" brother) to convince them that we weren’t really available in that way. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/113 "2003-04-22T11:42:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Emperor Penguin \* > **It’s nothing without the wink. The click sets 'em up. The wink is what reels 'em in.** Amateurs. The click and wink is simply displaced activity. Cut to the chase and use the mime that means something, the one the professionals use. Cast a line as you would in fly fishing in the direction of desired target. Then mime reeling them in. Women find this incredibly attractive and can’t resist being drawn to you, almost as if by an invisible fishing line! Do **not** attempt to mime removing hook from the woman’s lower lip. This is a mistake that beginners occasionally make and almost always results in rejection. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/114 "2003-04-22T11:48:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Futile Gesture \* > > Do **not** attempt to mime removing hook from the woman’s lower lip. This is a mistake that beginners occasionally make and almost always results in rejection. And if removing the hook dosen’t earn you the elbow, pretending to gut and suspend from the ankles for a photo certainly will. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/115 "2003-04-22T12:14:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Collounsbury \* > **An image that has always appealled to me, since reading of the French administrator who was fired for going to work drunk in his bathrobe for more than a year running.** If this is a true story, would you care to provide a link? Sounds hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/116 "2003-04-22T12:25:07Z")
Well I’ll be damned - _she_ just asked _him_ if he’d like to go to lunch! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/117 "2003-04-22T12:29:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*If this is a true story, would you care to provide a link? Sounds hilarious! \*\* Regretably it’s not online, it was in a historical reference I was reading (sadly enough for leisure) on the French colonial admin. And yes, absolutely true. Author was a William Cohen, name of the book escapes me, but you it was translated into French from the English original so you should be able to find it. Published in the 1970s or early 80s as I recall. I tell you it was inspiring. I said to myself, “this is the lifestyle I aspire to.” The moment I read that I knew what I wanted to be. Of course colonial rule being over for at least 50-60 years, I have gone for the next best thing. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/118 "2003-04-22T12:30:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Well I’ll be damned - _she_ just asked _him_ if he’d like to go to lunch! \*\* Well go lick a pig. I just hope then the dear fellow I was advising isn’t so lucky, I’d hate to feel responsile for a gunshot to the head. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/119 "2003-04-22T12:34:41Z")
By the way, my memory is shaky on the Adminsitrator thing but as I recall as it was related, as a sidelight to the problems in the Administration, the fellow actually showed up drunk in his bathrobe for several years running. At some point, however, the French decided to fire him for being, if I recall correctly, an affront to the dignity of the Republic. Ahhhh, if only I could come to work in my bathrobe. Well, I suppose I could come to think of it, but might damage my street cred. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846/120 "2003-04-22T12:38:08Z")
Poor social skills? Incompetant flirting? May I just remind you all that I work in an office full of _actuaries_. I’ll take my prize now. pan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-incompetent-flirting/168846.md?page=7)