Sylvie's boyfriend

[vaneramos]

Monday: Canada goose on the Eramosa River


During choir practice Sylvie started gesturing from the alto section. She needed to talk to me. When I went down at break time, she slid her arm into mine and drew me away from the crowd.

"I have a boyfriend," she said solemnly. "His name is Van."

She explained that the bakery where she works started training a new employee. Let's just say he comes from a place where women are treated differently. Immediately he started asking Sylvie to go out with him, asking for her phone number. To make matters worse, he hardly speaks English. He is fluent in French, so translation falls to Sylvie.

"He keeps winking at me," she said.

In desperation, she told him she has a boyfriend. All the rest of her coworkers know about Sarah, but her boss said he would support her however she wanted. Her boyfriend's name is Van and he's a writer.

"Yeah, I'm a sports columnist," I elaborated, my voice booming with testosterone. "I write about hunting."

Then we laughed for a while.

"We need to get together," Sylvie said. "I miss you. Maybe you can drop by the store sometime."

I think Sarah should drop by brandishing power tools.

Comments

[that-dang-otter.livejournal.com]

A cute story, but it kind of riles me up. I can't help but think that if women started reacting to the unwanted advances of straight men the same way straight men react to the unwanted advances of gay men, there would be a LOT less sexual harassment.

Re: You do know that...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, in fact Sarah is a carpenter. :-)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. On one hand I thought Sylvie could have handled the situation differently. On the other hand, I'm not in her shoes. She and Sarah seem to have bad luck with creeps like this. Sarah had a very bad situation a while back with a coworker who harrassed her to the point where she was afraid to walk home. And they just moved to a new apartment because of harrassment from an alcoholic neighbour. Enough experiences like that will put one on the defensive. I wrote with humour, but it is also a sad reality.

[apel.livejournal.com]

I first thought she'd fallen in love with a Canada goose. :-)

Coming over to her place of work and putting the fear of $deity in that creep seems like a good thing to do. From what you write in the comments she's had enough of harassment to last her a lifetime.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Haha, I like to try choosing a picture that relates, at least metaphorically, to my writing, but this topic was hard.

Yeah, I think I better buzz my head, put on my lumberjack jacket and go in there with all my butchness blazing.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I first thought she'd fallen in love with a Canada goose.

Me too.

My initial reaction to this story was to wonder why she didn't just tell him she was a lesbian, but after reading your response about the harrassment she's suffered I'm somewhat more sympathetic.

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

You're such a wonderful, loving, supportive friend. We all need someone like you in our lives!

Pleased to call you my friend even if it's a la distance,

Shimmer

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

In Sarah's case the guy became more aggressive when she told him she was a lesbian. He believed he could fix her problem. The situation is similar, so Sylvie wanted to avoid making it worse.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Shimmer. :-)