Breaking a Rule II

I spoke on the phone with Dilbert last night. We made plans to go out Friday night but we hadn't come to a conclusion about where we are going. He first suggested we go down to his hometown (somewhere in L.A.), but I thought driving down there at 8 p.m. was a little late for me. It is a 65-mile drive from Lancaster to L.A. and I'd still have to drive back once the fun was over.

The conversation got really interesting when he started to explain how he didn't want me to talk about our phone conversations or dates with the people I work with. Well, duh! I'm not real big on divulging details of my personal life in the workplace.

I was really put off by this. It was reminiscent of the last office relationship I had when I was in the Army. The guy told me we should keep everything on the downlow because he was promotable and he didn't want to risk losing his sergeant stripes before he had the opportunity to pin them on. I understood that. I would have asked the same thing. But after dating three weeks, he dumped me and he didn't do it with much finesse.

We were hanging out at one of the local bars together and the bastard had the nerve to ask the bartender out right in front of me. That was a blow. I've had that happen to me before. I shrugged it off and carried on with my life. It was awkward working with him afterwards but eventually things went back to normal.

The part that really got me happened a year later when the new soldier arrived at our unit. She was tall, slender, and blonde. He didn't waste any time asking her out and he certainly wasn't secretive about his crush on her. Yip, for some reason, he was willing to risk a promotion just to be with her.

That was the part that hurt so much. I just wasn't worth the risk. And this is exactly how I'm interpreting Dilbert. He thinks I'm not worth the risk. This is why I'm going to tell him I can't go out with him tomorrow. So much for breaking rules.