20180215 TerraHertz http://everist.org NobLog home
Near where I live there is a factory that makes and imports fasteners, nuts & bolts. They have a small shop, with wholesale prices, their stock is the huge warehouse. I've been going there for years (retired EE & hobby machinist.) In all that time I never once saw a girl come into the shop. It's very industrial.
I've been feeling pretty lonely lately. Separated for years, but an awkward situation persists due to property & other tangles. So apart from a few friends I have little social life.
Yesterday, Feb 14th I was there getting some obscure thread tap. Stunning young woman walks in, gorgeous figure, interesting cute face, cutoff shorts. She waits nearby for the one sales guy to finish with me. I pay for the tap, smile briefly at her as I walk out. In the parking lot there's a small car with an electronics-related company name. Wasn't there when I drove in. Hmm... being an EE I'm interested to know of any electronics outfits in the area. I decide to go and ask who they are.
Just as I get back to the shop door the penny drops — could it be her? At that moment she comes out. I ask "scuse me, is that car yours?" She says yes. We get into a conversation about what the company does. Yes, they are very nearby — Chipping Norton. She says the logo on her car is no longer the company name, it's now Aqualogic. I write both down. Ask if they have a web site. "no, we've had some difficulties lately, but.. ." more talk of what they do. I figure having the company name I can look them up online. Contemplating asking her name & number, but I'm about 3 times her age, so... little point. Then she asks my name and number. I give them to her, surprised. The landline, since I wasn't carrying my mobile or notebook, and I can never remember my mo number.
At this instant, is where I should be shot. Bear in mind I'd forgotten all about it being Valentines day. And I'd started this conversation honestly thinking just to get details of some local electonics co (area has very few) and figured I'd go visit the company anyway. I'm notoriously slow at social processing. Typical guy. Anyway, I didn't ask for her details. Despite having clipboard and pencil in hand, writing down other stuff.
Later, it turns out neither of those company names exist on record in the suburb she mentioned. Though there is an Aqualogic a looong way away (other end of Sydney) that does the stuff she was talking about. I guess the small company is local and does contract work for the bigger, but has zero web or phone directory presence. May not even exist as a business entity anymore, from her hints.
It only occurred to me as I was driving away... I was just thinking I wish I'd meet a nice girl. Preferably one into electronics and engineering. Never seen a girl in that industrial shop before. Today is Valentines day, and there she is right in the middle of the few minutes I was there today. Her car says electronics, and she's buying engineering parts. She seemed happy to talk with me. Even asked my name and number. Not to mention that the shop primarily sells screws, so that meeting was a coincidence wrapped in a pun.
And I dropped the ball, didn't ask for contact details. Kill me now.
This is possibly overthinking it: The most distressing aspect — suppose she too was feeling lonely that day, and wishing she'd meet some nice guy into electronics? She unexpectedly asked my contact details... Was that meant to be a big hint that I should ask hers? In retrospect it does seem to me she was a bit disappointed when I didn't. She might have taken that as a kind of rejection. But actually it was just because I'm socially retarded, in shock due to the unexpectedness of having a pretty girl ask my contact details, and too slow to drop my idea that there was too much age difference.
Sigh. A practical demonstration of the result some psychologists found in an experiental study. In the presence of an unknown pretty girl, male functional IQ drops by some large number of points.
Ow, ow, ow... I have one big phobia. Of accidentally hurting the feelings of someone I like. Comes from an awkward event in my early teens. Did I just do that?
My primary phone is an old style landline in my electronics lab, since I'm relatively old and not so keen on cell phone culture. I gather with the great predominance of cell phones these days, the number of landlines is shrinking. One side effect is an increasing number of scam phone calls to landlines. Fewer to prey on.
Scam center calls are very stereotypical. The phone rings, you pick up, there's a click sound, then silence. At this point the scammer's Indian call center autodialer system has registered that you picked up, and has queued the call for one of their operators. After a few moments of silence, a cheerful guy or girl (usually a girl) connects. Their accent will be 'disguised Indian', sometimes almost Western native English, but usually quite Indian. Often you can hear call center style chatter in the background. They'll start off announcing something like "Hello, this is Microsoft Security Department" or various other ridiculous names designed to get the attention of the computer illiterate. If you want to know details of their scam spiels, you can look it up online. It's not the point here.
These types of calls seem to come in waves. For a few weeks I'll get lots, sometimes several a day. Then months will go by with none. There is nothing you can say to them to get removed from their phone number database. The government 'do not call' list is about as effective as "the goggles, they do nothing." I *have* to answer the phone promptly, since my aged mother has a medical emergency alert pendant, and any call might be one of those. There are other numbers in that system, but my landline is the first in the list.
The scam calls are extremely annoying. Especially when you are busy doing some complex stuff in another room and have to drop everything to answer the phone, then it's just those jerks. Generally I'm polite, and never actually rude, but there are times when I've been abrupt with them, or just hung up without a word.
On the 14th, the day of my sad Valentines tale, I had not had any scam calls for several months. Early in the morning I was sitting at my desk by the phone, and it rang. Pick up, it's a scammer. I do sympathize with the poor buggers who have to do this kind of work to live, and today I happened to mention that. When the girl had barely started into her spiel I said "Hi, that must be a terribly frustrating job. But sorry, not interested. Goodbye." And hung up.
Well. I don't know what happened, but somehow that got me flagged for retries. Maybe the lady was just so astonished that a target victim showed some sympathy, and she mentioned it to others? Who knows? Anyway that day I got four more scammer calls. After the first one my sympathy was gone, so I abruptly hung up on most. Around dusk the phone rang again while I was busy in the adjacent mech workshop. I ran through to the lab, picked up, young female voice says something like "Hello, this is..."
I think she had an Indian accent, not sure. I'd really had it with them by this time. I said loudly and abruptly "PLEASE STOP CALLING ME!" and hung up hard. Thought no more about it.
About a week later, a horrible thought occured to me. What if that was the girl from Circuitek/Aqualogic? She did get my phone number earlier that day — that landline number. Could she have called me after work? I just assumed it was another scam call; didn't listen to more than the first two or three words, so really it could have been any young female. I think it sounded like a call center, but can't be sure. Was there the silent delay? Can't remember.
If it was her, then she must have actually been interested in me, and she's proactive. But I shouted at her and hung up.
Oh god. Please, nuclear strike from orbit on my location, right now.
I really hope that wasn't the case.
The only path I can think of, is to phone Aqualogic in Castle Hill, and have a conversation something like "Hey, do you have an affiliate that used to be called Circuitek, in Chipping Norton? Do you know a young woman associated with Circuitek, who was at Premier Fasteners in Milperra on the 14th February? Can you please give her these contact details, and ask her to call Guy? I have an apology to make. Maybe two apologies."
This sounds a lot like stalking. I'm not keen on the idea, especially considering I'm probably imagining most of it, and she meant nothing at all by asking my contact details. Sigh.
Oh well. Doubt I'm ever going to hear anything. (I didn't)