Close Encounters of the Wierd Kind

Because I have been somewhat distracted this past week, this morning I attempted to shake up my routine.

I don't have office hours on Tuesday mornings, but students tend to come in anyway. Normally this is desirable, as many have questions they need answered or just want to chit chat. I often come in Tuesdays to prep and grade anyway. Today, though, I had a stack of assignments I wanted to grade before my 11:30 class. I didn't want any distractions, but my office--a cubicle surrounded by a dozen other cubicles--does not have a door I can shut, which we all know is the universal signifier of "hey, these are not my office hours; I'm here to grade/prep or do other fascinating work." I knew it would be futile to work at my office, so I decided to find another place. I had the public library in mind as I set out at 8 this morning; however, I remembered that it does not open until 9.

On a whim, I decided to do my grading at a nearby restaurant, The Village Inn. I figured I'd get some breakfast, another highly unusual decision, and get some grading done at the same time. I do not usually like to go out to eat by myself, and I can probably count on one hand how many times I've done it, so I was definitely out of my routine.

After ordering my breakfast, I settled in with my stack of assignments and made quite a bit of progress before my food arrived. I ate, pausing now and then to grade another quiz, and was, in general, enjoying the productiveness of my morning. Then I glanced up and knew I was about to regret my earlier decisions.

A guy was standing next to my table. Not too close. He wasn't young nor too old. He wasn't an ogre, but he was hardly Hugh Jackman. He was...um...non-descript. Anyway, he smiled and said, "Do you watch Big Bang Theory?"

I politely said, "Sorry, no."

He laughed and said, "When I saw you I thought you were Leslie from Big Bang Theory."

"Nope. I've never heard of it. Sorry. I often get mistaken for someone else in town though; apparently I have a twin."

"Oh, no. Leslie probably lives in Southern California. But when I saw you, I thought what is Leslie doing in Fargo at a Village Inn?"

I give a small smile and shuffle my papers, clearly not knowing how to respond to this as i am just beginning to piece together that this is a TV show and that he might be a little unbalanced.

"Are you a regular here?" he asks.

"No. This is the first time I've been here in two years," I reply, fidgeting with my pen.

"I'm a regular. I come here a lot. I used to go to the Village Inn in Fargo, but I don't like what they've done with their steak and eggs, so now I come here."

I don't know what to say really. I want to give him a look that will send him scooting away, but I wasn't entirely sure it would register with him anyway. What comes out of my mouth is "Oh. Well, yea, I don't usually come here."

"You must be a teacher." (As I told this part to my colleague, she quips, "I would have been like 'OK, Perry Mason. You've done enough detective work for today.'" She cracks me up).

"Yep. I decided to come here this morning to get some grading done before class. It seemed pretty quiet."

"I work at ___ .I'm a ______" I will leave this a mystery to protect the not-so-innocent; well, let's just say it is computer-geeky and leave it at that."

"Oh."

"I suppose a teacher busy grading doesn't want any company," he says as he starts to turn away.

"Yea, I'm just wrapping it up here."

As he walks away, waving as if we are boon companions, he says something I didn't quite catch. All I heard was "Monday at 4." That must be when Big Bang Theory is on. Either that or we have a date.

I left the restaurant pleased with the amount of work I got done, but kind of disturbed by the unwanted attention.