A while back I took a typical trip to the nail salon for a pedicure and some “me” time. While I waited, I overheard eavesdropped on a conversation between a nail tech and a female customer. The nail tech was of Asian decent the customer,Hispanic. *I’m only specifying this because it may have some bearing in the point of this post…may.*
Anyway, the customer is saying something that was really annoying me at the time but escapes me now. *Obviously, it’s not important to the story or I would remember!* So, I deduced she wasn’t someone I would get along with. Of course, it didn’t matter if she was or not because we were in the nail salon and I’ve never made an actual friendship connection in nail salon!
Fast forward to me sitting in the massage chair having my feet pampered. The female customer ends up in the chair beside me. Our techs are hilariously funny and goofy. While joking around with them, I realize the female customer has a sense of humor and is quite nice. In between the awful jokes the techs are telling, I’m playing Scrabble on my iPhone. My the female customer’s tech asks, what I’m doing and I tell him. I’m floored to find out he has NEVER heard of Scrabble! I almost fall out of my comfy chair when the female customer admits the same! I proceed to show them the screen and explain the game. I tell them the game is an American classic and they have to play at least once. That gets the female customer to tell me that she and her friends have game nights often where they play cards and board games, etc. *At this point I’m really not understanding why she’s never heard of Scrabble
* Then it happened!
She says she must get my cell number before we leave the salon and invites me to her home for game night!
Ok call me crazy, but I don’t randomly give my number to strangers I’ve met for 20 minutes in the nail salon. *Granted, I’ve given my number to guys in clubs, bars, airports, but I was a 20 something then and that’s besides the point!* I really thought an invite to her home was a bit forward for the start of an impromptu friendship! Could we start with getting together for coffee at Starbucks, lunch at Panera or at least see each other again at the nail salon?! I had no clue where her house was, what her living situation was, what kind of friends she had… or if her idea of “game night” was to sacrifice a seemingly innocent, 30 something, black female with perfectly polished toes! *Too much?! Ok!* Also, have you noticed I haven’t used her name? Well, it’s not for anonymity purposes, it’s because I have NO CLUE what it is!!! How do invite someone to your home and they don’t even know your name?!
Maybe this is a common thing in her culture. Has being born and raised in America made me so skeptical I can ‘t even take a nice gesture for face value?
That may very well be the case. However, needless to say, I smiled nicely and said “sure”, then quietly forgot to give her my number as I snuck out of the salon.
Please know, I make friends with new people I meet all of the time. I’m a regular social butterfly! However, they are usually people I encounter through friends I already have. You know, my friend pool! That way I know someone I trust and love has already vetted them for instances of crazy, deranged, psycho tendancies:)
What do you think? Did I totally overreact? Would you have given her your number and gone to game night?! Do you have steps to making friends with with people outside of your friend pool?







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