Sue Awesome

I was out with a couple of friends after work. One of my friends brought her 22 year old niece and we had a great time chatting.  One of the topics we discussed was her shyness and how hard it is to meet people in a big city.  I was giving her some advice and she said many things were out of her comfort zone. I told her this comes with age, but, that is the exact reason you should do something because it makes you uncomfortable. That is a great way to grow.

This particular night, I had a couple of things lined up to do so after happy hour, I had 3 hours to burn before going to a comedy club. As I was walking past a bar, I thought to myself, I should stop in this bar and grab a drink. That will pass some time and it is out of my comfort zone to do this. I normally don’t go to a bar by myself in my home town, only when I am on the road for work.  So, I figured it was time for me or practice what I preach.

I belly up to the bar and as luck would have it, a group of 4 guys sit right next to me.  The guy closest to me introduces himself.  He asks what to order, etc. so we start chatting.

Come to find out, he is from North Carolina and is here with his co-workers.  He said, do you see that guy at the end of the bar?  He said he is meeting a Tinder date here shortly.  I laughed and said I know exactly how that feels.  My new friend went on to say that he has never been on Tinder.  I said, let me show you the talent here in Chicago!

So, we start “tindering” and he was intrigued.  He tells me he is single and we start to talk about everything – travel, politics (yes, politics), work, and life in general.  We are having a great conversation.

About a half hour later, the Tinder date shows up.  Now, this is August in Chicago.  She orders a hot tea at 7pm at night. 

I said, that is the tough part of Tinder, you don’t know that your date is going to order tea when it is 100 degrees out. 

We laugh because my new friend said – I know the guy she is meeting with very well.  She will need at least 5 beers to put up with him.

Now, my new friend asks if he can go with me to the Comedy Club.  I told him he would have to see if there are tickets and unfortunately, it was completely sold out.

Since he is from North Carolina, I begin to tell him about my super cool friend that lives in North Carolina.  I said, you should go out for a beer with her.  He said – I am not interested in your friend.  I am interested in you.  Boom.  Who knew?

He then said he wants to meet up after the show tonight.  He asked if he could have my number?  I say sure so he types my name in the phone and slides it over to me to put in my phone number.  Since we just met, we were only on a first name basis.  I look to see what he wrote? 

He put my name as “Sue Awesome”.  I said, did you just make my last name Awesome?  He said – yes, because that is exactly what you are.

Love it.

We then part ways and I head to the show.  He is blowing up my phone the entire time.  By the time the show is over, it is 1am.  He wants to meet me at the Lodge on Division.  As much as I would have loved to, I knew nothing good would happen at that hour with a group of guys from out of town.

Never heard from him again.

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Lesson learned?  Do something out of your comfort zone, always!