My coworkers and I were playing Pokémon Go outside of the office during lunch when we suddenly noticed a female from another company walking out of the building and playing as well. Clearly, we had to talk to her, so in true Team Instinct fashion, I impulsively shout out “Team Instinct or what?!” She responds, “sorry I‘m Team Mystic” and walks over to us. We all introduce ourselves and start talking about our love for Pokemon and made small talk such as where we work and what we do. At no point in the conversation did I ask for her number. Bad move?
-Team Confused
Girls playing Pokémon Go. Photo by Neil Bui.
What do you mean, “Bad move”? As far as I can tell, there were no moves being made.. at all. I bet she would’ve gotten all hot and bothered if you had taken the initiative to flirt and ask her for her number in front of all your friends. BUT alas, I am not Doc Brown and there is no such thing as a time machine. No worries, we can recover from this. And by we I mean you, with my help.
The good news is, she went out of her way to come up to you and hang out for a bit, even after that not-so-smooth introductory cat-call from outside the office, so that’s good. Introductions and obligatory small talk have also already been initiated, so that’s out of the way as well. Now that you know what department she works in, do some covert recon- nothing crazy, like don’t all of a sudden start hanging around the water cooler in the marketing department (I’m operating under the assumption that she’s in marketing, because she’s a girl. I also realize I’m being a generalist. SORRY). Maybe just note that since she’s in marketing, she has to walk through IT to get to the cafeteria and hang out around IT’s water cooler around lunch time. And yes, I realize that’s not much better than the previous scenario, but at least it won’t be AS OBVIOUS you’re stalking her. My point is, try to CASUALLY bump into her during the work day. When you do, make another obnoxious comment about Pokemon (or whatever), I encourage it because it worked once didn’t it? Chances are if you throw another nerd comment out at her, she’ll give you a couple more minutes of her time. This time, make sure your banter leads to you asking her for her number, email… shit, try to lock down a lunch date if you can.
Remember, the worst she can say is no. If you’re worried about getting rejected around co-workers, don’t be. You are a Poke-slayer. You are fearless. You are man. Go get’em Tiger.
