Monday, May 21, 2007

Fear and Loathing at Hank's Oyster Bar

Last week I went on a first date. A first date. You know, meaning we'd never gone out on a date before. We barely knew each other.

So on this first date, we went to Hank's Oyster Bar, which we were both dying to try. The weather was perfect and we wandered around Dupont for the half hour or so we waited for an outside table.

We sat down at our nicely situated table on the outside patio. We'd just ordered beers when two men got seated at the next table. Which was inches from ours.

I don't know what the man next to me looked like, but his dining companion had dark hair and a sort of lobster orange-red face. I understood the breezy "I just got back from a Caribbean vacation" tan look he was going for. But.

Anyway, I was chatting with my date when Lobster Man (let's just refer to him as LM) said, very loudly "I have a very high libido. Probably too high."

My date and I raised our eyebrows at each other.

He went on, "Probably because I'm Jewish. Oh, and I have an enormous penis."

Now, if it hadn't been a first date, and I'd known my dining companion better, I'd have said, very loudly and without hesitation, "Oh, sweetie, you guys totally have those things in common! You and and our neighbor could bond!"

But I didn't want to horrify or mortify him on date one. And actually, I know nothing about his particulars.

So we sort of ignored LM and went back to chatting. Which was hard, because LM was very loud. And every time we talked louder to hear each other, he'd raise his voice.

Our oysters arrived and my date turned his attention to them. And to getting me to try one, even though they kind of ick me. I did eventually try one. And they are so not my thing.

The next thing that got our attention was LM loudly describing his experience with online dating, beginning with a description of his online photos. He'd stuck a sock in his pants in one photo, and now so many more men contact him, many of them asking to see "it" in person.

Huh.

Now, my date told me after we'd fled, immediately post-dinner, that he was dying to ask the guy to whip out the allegedly enormous penis. But he didn't want to embarrass me.

Of course I said, "Oh, I wish you had! I'd have asked to take a picture! We could've horrified him!"

But, since it was a first date, we both just cringed, leaned forward a bit more to hear each other, and focused on our food. Which was fabulous. I'd not been there before, and I was delighted. I liked our server, loved our food, and the weather, as I said, was delightful. Everything could've been perfect.

We were almost through dinner when LM leaned towards his dining companion and said, "You're a bottom, right?"

I choked a little on my fish, and my date froze, a bite of lobster risotto poised on fork in mid-air. Nothing could have prepared us for what came next.

The man confirmed that he was, in fact, a bottom, and LM said, "So, have you ever been in the middle of sex and had to take a shit?"

And so the man next to me said that there had, just once, been an unfortunate incident involving involuntary excretion.

Poo. Sex and poo. With dinner. Yikes! Yuck!

My jaw dropped. My date was furious. We both have strong stomachs but it's such an ugly visual with food.

We got the check and bailed post-haste.

I thought it was a really weird date; he thought it was an interview. Either way, the kind of overheard conversation that makes you throw up a little in your mouth. Which really sucks over a nice meal.

14 comments:

  1. I don't know how you kept a straight face for that.

    I have two girlfriends who work there. I wonder if either was your server.

    Nice seeing you Friday, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't remember quite what she looked like, but she was very pretty and had really positive energy.

    Nice seeing you! I have to get more into your blog. I've been pretty self-absorbed lately.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If she was a spunky Asian gal, it was my friend.

    I'm constantly self-absorbed - it is our world, after all :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my gosh! I can't even believe they would talk about such things over DINNER with people sitting inches away!

    Despite it's, umm, obviously grossness at the dinner table, I think I may have been laughing may "ass" off if that were me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. that is just so rude. i might have said something...

    ReplyDelete
  6. FK - My date said, "I think she was African American with a big smile and a soft voice. Kind of like you but taller. And African American. And not blonde." So maybe your other friend?

    VDoCA - It was pretty hilarious in how shocking it was. I did laugh a bit. My date didn't, though. And he remembers more horrifying details than I do.

    +*+ - In retrospect, I wish we'd said something.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Um. Wow. That's the funniest/most disturbing thing I've ever read! I haven't commented on your blog before, but I thought this would be the perfect occasion. Haha.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lisa: Talk about oblivious. Can you imagine what LM's blog would be like?

    Natch, I'm wondering if I can gues who Mr. First Date was, but will wait and read to see if he becomes Mr. More Dates.

    It's one of those wish I'd thought to say this events. Wouldn't it have been lovely if you and your date had ordered glasses of wine and loudly toast "bottoms up!!!" before leaving?

    ReplyDelete
  9. gn - Heh. Thanks! I'm glad you did!

    DCup - That made me laugh out loud. Very clever! I wish I'd titled this post something like Bottoms Up!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Something about gay men I've noticed living in Dupont - nothing is too promiscuous for them and nothing is too gross for discussion. It's shocking. But then mention a tampon, and they run screaming for more drugs to numb their pain. They are parodies of themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Velvet - Wow! I wish I had mentioned tampons...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Use it next time girl. Toss in cramps and blood, and they would have asked for the check right quick.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, gosh, I don't know if I can. I always get grossed out when women who have given birth talk details - like mucal plugs! and such - in public.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ok. Then you will have to call me and put me on speaker where I can wail, "I just got my period and there's blood EVERYWHERE!" I'm always willing to help a girl out!

    ReplyDelete

Tell me about it.