A work outing (Morning check-in)

Where: Desk at home
Wearing: Nothing
H Factor: 5
C Factor: 8

Yesterday afternoon I was listening to some of my cow-orkers¹ chatting about living on Long Island and the cost thereof. The conversation went into demographics, and one of my colleagues, Gerry, mentioned that his high school was about 70% black and 25% Hispanic, with only 5% or less being white. It so happens that is the same high school Gary (gmjambear) graduated from (Uniondale), only Gary did so 10 years earlier than Gerry. So I told Gerry so. His response: "Who's Gary?"

I'm generally out to my office-mates, but Gerry (until now) had been the exception. He's somewhat of a "born-again" Christian, tends not to attend social events involving the other folks in the office, and as a result had never met Gary. So I hesitated a moment and finally said "He's my housemate."

Immediately my other colleague from Long Island, Rich (who has met Gary and, until just before his marriage, lived with a gay roommate) pipes up, "Are you guys going to get married?"

I felt slightly embarrassed about not just telling the whole truth, and without much further thought about it proceeded to carry on as though Gerry knew everything all along, and let the chips fall where they may. I responded, "We've discussed it, but I don't think we will any time soon."

Gerry let out a simple, "Oh." The light bulb had obviously gone off.

Rich went on, "Where's the nearest place you could go if you wanted to get married?" I responded, "Niagara Falls." Rich said he would make a mental note of that, and the conversation drifted to other topics.

I suppose I needn't have worried. Thanks Rich. ;-)

¹The other people in your office. WARNING: Orking cows is dangerous, and possibly illegal in the state of Utah.