Rejection #23: I'll have to ask the manager

Well, the last day of Rejection Therapy has come and gone. I don't know for sure if I made it to 30 rejections, certainly not 30 solid, blog-worthy ones. But I did learn a lot. I want to tell you about one last good one, and hopefully I'll get to a wrap-up post soon.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/sports/baseball/05bar.html

I was at Olde Blind Dog with fellow bootcamper, Pamela. We were almost the only women in there, and definitely the only women not with men. A couple different baseball games were on the bar TVs and we were sitting on stools basically in the middle. We made friends with the bartender pretty quickly. Then my brilliant plan came to me.

I had to muster some acting skills to keep a straight face. In front of a camera, it's easy for me to keep a straight face and stay in character. In a bar, I found it more difficult as I giggled even thinking about asking the bartender what I wanted to ask him. So I closed my eyes and pretended it was a scene. Then I asked him ...

"So, my friend and I just came from my place and we were watching this really great movie on Lifetime. But then we wanted to get a drink so we came here. Is there any way you can change one of these TVs to Lifetime so we can watch the ending?"

... so far, straight face ...

He immediately bowed his head and kinda looked away. He clearly bought it and felt bad, but knew he couldn't say "Yes". He looked up and said, "I'll have to ask my manager." I started laughing. Not because I couldn't keep a straight face, but because I felt guilty. Then he said, "Y'all are f*cking with me aren't you? Thank god." I nodded my head and we all laughed together.

Afterwards, Pamela and I discussed. She asked me why I felt the need to break character. I told her that I felt bad, I didn't want him to go ask his manager. After we talked it through though, I realized that him doing that would have been fine ... it wasn't very busy, it wouldn't have killed him, and it would have pushed me through some discomfort. I wish I'd kept it going longer, but it was still hilarious.