At the meat of our conversations, we talked about how he had never before experienced racism until he moved to the mainland - particularly in Florida. And similar to my Uber driver ROLLN (previous post), he also moved to Hawai'i and felt right at home - saying how the color of his skin didn't seem to matter much (or even at all) here; that locals were friendly with no ulterior motives and everyone treats each other like they would family. I shared with him that my experience so far in Hawai'i has been just that and telling him about my dance studio with the warm and all the hospitable folks I've met there.
It was nice having his company for the time as he shared more stories of his upbringing as well as his travels - all super interesting - and he invited me for breakfast the next day at the Cheeseburger Waikiki. So this morning, I got up, got ready and that's what I did. Though he was friendly enough, as a female and staying solo at the same place he was at, unfortunately it is in my nature to still be very cautious, so I was glad that it was a pretty public area that was nearby (I'll rant another time about how unfair it is to be female and always having to be extra paranoid).
Well, it was a peculiar start to the day given I had very much enjoyed our conversation yesterday. However, things got weird. He had also invited his friend, Marcus, who he mentioned had changed his life by introducing him to the job he has now (which all I understood it to be was something within the utilities industry). Marcus, who then joined us for the latter half of our morning meal, arrived in a suit with his laptop and expensive watch on his right wrist. Already, I felt like I regretted coming out. Hahaha. To keep a long story short, Marcus then proceeded to ask me questions regarding what I do for a living and what motivates me in life, only to follow up with a presentation on this "utilities" business that he is a part of... aka *drum roll please* ...pyramid scheme! I didn't want to have such rude feelings - he was just doing his thang - but I could not help but mentally roll my eyes.
After his presentation was over, I straight up told him thank you but it's not something I was looking to be a part of. He tried to rebuttal me but I quickly stopped him in his tracks to let him know that really, I am not the type that has the energy or desire to be part of something like that. It got real awkward and I could tell Gerry felt horrible for inviting Marcus; he had thought because of my friendly personality, I'd be a good networker and someone interested in this. I guess I had taken his question too loosely when he had asked me yesterday if I would be interested in hearing more about what he did. I WAS JUST BEING POLITE! Anywhoo, what's done was done and now I can say that I have formally been a potential recruit to a pyramid scheme. Lulz.
The day went on and at least I got to end it on a really nice note with Jeff and Aaron for dinner. Jeff swung by my dance studio to pick me up after my yoga barre class and we had Pa'ina Cafe where the boys and I reminisced about Alpha Kappa Psi (the co-ed business fraternity we were both in at our respective universities) days and all things during our early twenties. I told them about how I got recruited for a pyramid scheme and we had a good laugh about it. I guess it's now a story I can tell
No comments
Post a Comment