We were sitting on a bench in a Peruvian town square, people watching, when a young man approached with eyebrows raised and his shoe-shine kit held up. My friend and I must have looked behind us to see who he was facing; I was wearing Tevas and my friend had on canvas sneakers.It turns out, that in Peru, shoe-shine sales pitching has nothing to do with the need for or feasibility of a shoe shine. But, when it became clear that we were not buying, our entrepreneur changed his approach. He motioned for his wing man to join him and shifted from trying to score a couple of customers to trying to score a couple of dates.
Both young men did what they could to engage us in conversation and we were entertained by the small talk. Based on overall attentiveness, tone of voice, and the hopeful expressions on each guy's face, I am certain no ill was meant by one particular attempt at connection:
"You two like to eat alot, huh?"My friend and I immediately broke into laughter and went on to explain that the way to an American girl's heart is not through pointing out her stomach. "But yes", we admitted, "the answer is yes."
1 comment:
I love it!! Some years ago I heard Rosie O'Donnel describe a trip to Mexico that she took with a very slim friend. She was surprised to find that everywhere they went, men hit on her (Rosie) and not her friend. When she finally asked one of her would-be suitors why he and his compatriots were ignoring her companion, he responded, "The meat is for the man, the bone is for the dog."
Amen.
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