/mike

So there I was, sitting at Panera Bread with Colin working on a form for a client of mine. It was a gorgeous afternoon and the store was relatively empty. I just happened to be wearing my “Geeks Love *” shirt, thinking that in this area I wouldn’t be asked to explain it, guess I was wrong.

As the afternoon progresses the foot traffic continues to dwindle down. We had a table facing into one of the larger areas of the restaurant, which was great for my people watching. Little did I know I was being watched as well.

My shirt had caught the attention of an elderly woman. How do I know? Well, as she walked past me she walked very slowly and continued to look back at me. I was caught off guard to say the least, expecting the worst — even though I’m not entirely sure what “the worst” would be from this particular woman.

She approached me and squinted slightly. It was then that I could tell she was looking at my shirt and this was when the feeling of dread started to swell.

The woman spoke softly, “I’m just getting a look at your shirt.”

Suddenly the Jaws music started playing in my head, signalling the impending doom that would be my explanation of the symbols.

“I really like it.”

Cue record scratch sound. You could say I was somewhat surprised. There is a possibility that I stuttered but I won’t fully admit to it. Of course I coordially thanked the woman for the compliment. Then she got a puzzled look on her face and that’s when I knew I was really “in the shit” as my British counterparts would say.

“Sunglasses. Heart.” She pointed at my chest, “What’s that though?”

That was it. Now I have to figure out how to make this sound nice, clean, and short.

“It’s and asterisk.” I said.

“Oooh. An asterisk. Ok.”

Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to satisfy her curiosity. The woman was still puzzled trying to figure out just want the symbolism meant. In order to move the conversation along saying “These are geek glasses. So it’s ‘geeks’.” I pointed to the glasses. Moving my hand along my chest I continued, “This is a heart and the asterisk means everything. So it’s geeks love…”

“Ah yes, I see.”

In my mind I rejoiced, she had cut in at exactly the right time. I dodged a big bullet there and secretly sighed as the woman continued on her way looking satisfied with the explanation. Colin on the other hand, was attempting not to bust his gut laughing.