by Nicole Sage
In The Cosmo Girl’s Guide To The New Etiquette , circa 1967 quotes “Every day and every night, thousands of girls sit in offices, go to parties, wait for elevators to come and lights to change, buckle their airplane seat belts and straphang on subways, and look wistfully at princes, near princes, and knaves they cannot quite start conversations with. How can you begin a conversation—and begin it so well someone else will want to go on with it?”
In The Cosmo Girl’s Guide To The New Etiquette , circa 1967 quotes “Every day and every night, thousands of girls sit in offices, go to parties, wait for elevators to come and lights to change, buckle their airplane seat belts and straphang on subways, and look wistfully at princes, near princes, and knaves they cannot quite start conversations with. How can you begin a conversation—and begin it so well someone else will want to go on with it?” I’ve always been wary of conversations that start out with the sentence, “I know a great guy I want to set you up with.” Whether it is said by a dear friend or by my boss or even by my parents, and no matter the amount of enthusiasm they are able to muster and the multitudes of accolades they can dump on my potential fix-up, I just can’t help but be suspicious of the entire idea of going on cold, blind dates. And then, one day, something happened that made me change my mind.
I work for a staffing resources company and one day my boss called and said, “We have a new client and guess what? He’s a doctor on Captiva Island that needs a nanny for his 2 boys. “Great,” I replied. “Wait, guess what else,” she said excitedly. “He’s divorced!” “What do you mean?” I replied to my boss, the eternal die-hard romantic.
“I can see it now, you and the Jewish doctor on Captiva Island. The former nanny that mends his broken family .” Thus, the decision was made that I should “handle” this client.
“I can see it now, you and the Jewish doctor on Captiva Island. The former nanny that mends his broken family .” Thus, the decision was made that I should “handle” this client.
Romantic dreams aside, I knew I had to be delicate with this one. Divorce is rough. Dr. Green was his name. He called and expressed his deepest concern and guilt over having to find staff for his children. I explained that I have “nannied” for over 11 years and there is one thing I’ve recognized working with many families. Money or sans money, married or divorced, most families need assistance. If you can afford good help you should feel fortunate. After I made such a convincing plea he continued and explained the tragic catalyst for his separation. Either this man was lonely or he didn’t have time for a real therapist or perhaps the anonymity of the phone allowed him a certain comfort level. Whatever the reason, he was having no problem telling a stranger about the private pain in his life. Maybe I should have been scared, but I wasn’t. I was flattered. Then I was distracted. I found myself lured to Dr. Green’s voice. He sounded like…Bruce Willis. I imagined older, sexy, Bruce Willis, post-Demi, a bald Dr. Bruce Willis.
“Can I ask you a question that perhaps could be unethical?” he asked. Just like a doctor I thought.
“Of course you can Dr. Green.”
“I know that this is an inappropriate question to ask, but, are YOU single?’
“Uh, no…. Yes, I’m single. No children.”
“Never been married?”
“No. No.” I confessed.
He then proceeded to ask me out for dinner. When I reminded him that we lived in two different states he quickly explained that he flies to Atlanta for business once or twice a month. Again, perhaps I should have run for the hills, but I was intrigued by his honesty and sincerity. Before we ended our conversation, I had to ask…
“Um, just out of curiosity, what kind of doctor are you?” I said casually.
“Oh, I’m a Neurosurgeon.”
“Right,” I said and hung up.
My boss gave me the “Dr. Green light” so I got to work trying to find him a suitable nanny for his boys. As I faxed resumes to Captiva for consideration, I began to receive an abundance of emails and phone calls from Dr. Green and they weren’t pertaining to work. Nope, these were personal calls. There were personal calls at work and there were personal calls at 5:15pm while I was in traffic. Personal phone calls at 10pm at night so Dr.Green, the neurosurgeon, could pick my brain. I couldn’t get enough from this man who was entirely interested in me, a man that opens skulls and severs ties between the spinal cord and the brain.
“Can I ask you a question that perhaps could be unethical?” he asked. Just like a doctor I thought.
“Of course you can Dr. Green.”
“I know that this is an inappropriate question to ask, but, are YOU single?’
“Uh, no…. Yes, I’m single. No children.”
“Never been married?”
“No. No.” I confessed.
He then proceeded to ask me out for dinner. When I reminded him that we lived in two different states he quickly explained that he flies to Atlanta for business once or twice a month. Again, perhaps I should have run for the hills, but I was intrigued by his honesty and sincerity. Before we ended our conversation, I had to ask…
“Um, just out of curiosity, what kind of doctor are you?” I said casually.
“Oh, I’m a Neurosurgeon.”
“Right,” I said and hung up.
My boss gave me the “Dr. Green light” so I got to work trying to find him a suitable nanny for his boys. As I faxed resumes to Captiva for consideration, I began to receive an abundance of emails and phone calls from Dr. Green and they weren’t pertaining to work. Nope, these were personal calls. There were personal calls at work and there were personal calls at 5:15pm while I was in traffic. Personal phone calls at 10pm at night so Dr.Green, the neurosurgeon, could pick my brain. I couldn’t get enough from this man who was entirely interested in me, a man that opens skulls and severs ties between the spinal cord and the brain.
The date was set. I anxiously opened the door to greet my Dr. Bruce Willis except this man was no Bruce Willis. Hell, he wasn’t even a William H. Macy. I was disappointed but decided to over look it. After all, our connection was a mental one. And it didn’t hurt that he had the most stunning bouquet of flowers I had ever seen. He was a complete gentleman, opening my door to one of those new convertible Thunderbirds and driving me to a wonderful restaurant where we dined on tuna tartar, Filet Mignon accompanied by a bottle of LaTour (which was decanted at my suggestion). After our decadent meal we smoked gorgeous cigars and drank amazing port. I sighed because this should have been my dream date. The problem was while our conversations had mostly revolved around his woes, I had hoped that once we met face to face, we would move on to other topics. That was not the case as I quickly realized that our reservation should have been for a party of three: me, Dr. Green and his ex-wife. I think the date could’ve been a success if Dr. Green had found the time to prescribe himself some solid therapy. While this man was no knave, he was also not my prince and unfortunately this was one conversation that would not go on.
