Wax Off

Story Sent in by Cindy:

Daniel held the door open for me when we arrived at the Pizzeria Uno's, and I was sure to thank him. When we sat down, he asked me, "Are you into gender fairness?"

I replied, "I sure am."

He said, "Since I opened the door for you, it's your turn to do something nice for me."

I was game. "What do you want?"

He said, "You can pay for dinner."

I laughed. "How about we split dinner?"

He laughed, too. "So much for gender fairness!"

I replied, "I hardly think that opening a door equals paying for dinner."

He said, "But if we split dinner, then I'll still have done one more nice thing for you than you've done for me. It's unfair."

I was growing tired of the conversation, so I thought I'd bring it to a hasty close with, "I'll figure something out for you. Don't worry."

He said, "Oh, I've figured something out. It involves us and... I don't know. Some hot candle wax."

I laughed again, but this time, he didn't laugh back. He stayed really quiet for the rest of our time, together. In retrospect, it was stupid for me to stay through dinner (which we did indeed split), as it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life.