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She put her elbow on the table and supported her chin with her hand. “I have lots of time.”
Normally, it took Barry a while to be vulnerable, even with women he was dating. But Xolani made him want to open up.
He began, “While I was working at Lantern, I dated someone there…”
His ex, Robin, was an accountant at Lantern. She was a beautiful woman, but what really drew Barry to her was how affectionate and generous she was. She seemed like everything he wanted in a partner.
What Barry didn’t know was that Robin was generous with other people’s things, not hers. A few weeks into their relationship, she’d given Barry’s Play-Station to her cousin without his consent. Her reason; the cousin was having a hard time at college and needed a distraction.
Not even a week later, she found Barry’s credit card and used it to pay for the bridal shower of a friend of hers. Days later, she stole the car keys and lent his truck to a friend who was going on a road-trip. When the truck came back with a dent, she refused to make her friend pay for it because they were less fortunate than Barry.
On and on it went.
He’d come home and find his stuff missing because Robin had decided that someone else needed it more than he did. Any complaints Barry had about her generosity with his property were met with deafness or grandiose declarations that since they were so blessed, it was their duty to bless other people.
And then there was the ‘affectionate’ side of her personality.
Affection had turned to clinginess almost as soon as they became exclusive. Robin wanted access to all his devices and social media passwords. Of course, he refused and held firm even in the face of her pleas that ‘there shouldn’t be secrets between us’.
Frustrated, Robin covertly put a tracking app on his tablet and a tag on his car. That was a dumb move because he was a techie and found the trackers almost immediately. Forgiving her for that offence was a terrible mistake because she only got worse from there.
She sent a million texts each day and called almost as much. When it wasn’t texts, she was constantly dropping by his office and distracting him. She’d even gone as far as to recruit someone in his team to be her spy and tell her if Barry was doing anything suspicious.
“Yeesh!” Xolani trembled. “That sounds like the plot of a horror movie.”
“I wish it was a movie, but it was my life.” He added, “I had to cut her loose. But things got even worse when we broke up.”
“There’s worse?” Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “I thought we were already scrapping the bottom of the barrel.”
“The bottom of the barrel has a secret compartment that is even dirtier.” He exhaled loudly before saying, “She went crazy.”
Robin went to HR and accused him of sexual harassment. Her goal was to ruin his reputation and get him fired. No one in the office knew they were dating, so with a few well-edited text messages she got the higher-ups to call him in. Fortunately, Barry had the original text messages, and they soon proved that he was innocent.
When the sexual harassment accusation died in the water, she told everyone who had ears that he’d abused her. Few people believed her since by now most of the office knew what she’d tried to do. But the few who believed her were loud about it! Barry made into several ‘me too’ social media posts.
Xolani’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “And Lantern just let her do all that?”
“They fired her eventually,” Barry said. “But the damage was done, and I was tired of all the dirty looks from her supporters, so I decided to leave too.”
“You shouldn’t have let her run you out of town.” Xolani was appalled. “You should’ve sued her.”
“I thought about it,” Barry admitted. “But she was obviously a mentally troubled woman. I didn’t want to get involved with her any further.”
Xolani thought about that for a second. “I get that. I wouldn’t want to be around vermin like her either.”
“Yeah, so that’s why I’m done with office romances.” He sat back in his seat. “From now on, my dating life stays on the street where it doesn’t affect my ability to pay my mortgage.”
“I don’t blame you for feeling like that.” She said, “You were burned.”
He tilted his head and studied her. “Why does it sound like you don’t feel the same way?”
She shrugged. “I just think there are pros and cons to every type of dating.”
“No way.” He shook his head. “There are no pros to workplace dating. It’s all cons.”
“Really? I can find a few pros.” She pointed out, “It’s the easiest way to meet someone once you’re out of college other than apps. And unlike apps, you get to filter out the lies before you’re too deeply involved. Before you approach someone, you have a chance to investigate them.”
Xolani took a breath, then continued, “You can get opinions from other coworkers about the person’s personality. You get to see how someone treats their subordinates and superiors, and how they deal with high-stress situations. You can find out if you’re financially compatible… These are a just a few pros. I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting.”
