If That's What Keeps You Alive

I've become so accustomed to being sexually harassed that most of the time I don't even acknowledge or process it.  In fact, at my advanced age I am now so immune that I didn't even realize when my married doctor was asking me out.*  These difficulties with harassment seem to have been made worse by the fact that apparently once one crosses the border from New York state into [my state] all women are assumed to be stupid and living in some type of 1950s era reality. 

We needed to touch up our front door and some of the other woodwork in this historic building, and I manage all repairs and renovations.  At the suggestion of a general contractor (GC), an eighty-five year old man with supposed experience in stained wood restoration came by to commence the work.  I always talk to the people working on the house, just to learn about them and make them and me feel more comfortable.  Unfortunately, I apparently made this decrepit old man too comfortable, as he directly told me that I was "just his type" and that he "didn't stand a chance" of winning my affection.  I don't even think I responded to those comments.

Sadly, a few months after this man was gone, part of the finish on the front door started bubbling.  I wanted to jokingly say to the GC that if decrepit man wanted to spend more time at my house there were other ways to do so.  However, before that email could even be sent, decrepit man showed up unannounced on my doorstep, wearing street clothes and wanting to spend some social time together.  I didn't let him in.

Faced with the prospect of even more extensive restoration work, I was on the one hand incredibly offended at the nerve of this lecherous jerk.  But on the other hand, I couldn't help but appreciate his optimism.  Perhaps he should get a free pass on his offensive behavior if his delusions are what is keeping him alive.

 

* A story that may or may not end up being recounted here.  I wish I had seen it coming.  That poor man and his Humbert-esque shaky hands; I feel somewhat sorry for him knowing that maybe his feelings aren't completely under his control