Eve-ntually...

You have to hear about this guy! Seriously ya3neh.

He's my ex-boss, hardworking yes, but simple and hard-fisted in a funny kind of way. Just to draw you the big picture, I'll say this: I remember there used to be two restrooms in the company, one available to all employees, but which one should count to ten before using (yak!); and the other, fancy and neat, but always locked up for the exclusive use of daddy (boss senior) and son (boss junior; a.k.a. the person in question). Boss senior and boss junior used to occupy the same office; and since they "disagreed" a lot, boss junior was a grumpy young man most of the time. Boss junior would also lose his temper if you were one minute late (and I do mean one minute), if you kept your personal things in your desk drawers, used a walkman or even laughed.

When I was in France two years ago, an ex-colleague of mine showed me her wedding tape. At one particular moment, she told me: "Right there, you see when we were all dancing and singing in the middle of the hall? See how he approached and whispered something in my ear? Do you want to know what he said?" I gave her an intrigued look and asked: "What?"
- He actually asked me: "where is that memo I asked you to write?" and the weird thing is: HE WAS SERIOUS ABOUT IT!"

Ok… all this talk about the guy is leading somewhere.
What I have missed mentioning so far is that boss junior has a crush on me, and hasn’t really got over the fact that I'm not working for him anymore. He calls every several months, and gives me a new offer, over which we negotiate vehemently. In the end, it goes like this: he finally agrees to the salary I impose, but then calls back two days later to say he has changed his mind. The whole process usually repeats itself every couple of months. As you have probably figured it out, I'm going through this phase right now. Only this time, I'm satisfied with my current job, and wouldn’t think of going back to that place again (where I only lasted for two weeks by the way).

Yesterday, he told me: "Eve, if my calls are bothering you, please say so!"
Finally he was sensing something! La2, inno ma3leih! Why do guys do that?! (Ok, don't answer that). Inno, when someone is not returning your phone calls; when the only useful words someone uses are: "ahuh… yes… no… really?"; when one keeps inventing reasons to avoid going out with you, for nearly a year up till now (by the way, to all the girls in the house: I have invented a dictionary for excuses- bita3 kollo; if anyone needs a tip, don't hesitate to ask); considering all this and more: do you really have to ask? I think he does. It's funny: with guys (ma tez3alo, most of the guys), it's more likely that you're keeping a mysterious terrible secret that is keeping you from calling them, than actually rejecting them. So, if you answered "no, walaw" to the above-mentioned question with an implied "yes", only blame yourself; and if your answer was "yes", you're a terrible heartless person who was leading him on (and above all, don’t you think it will work, I have tried it before but got a marriage proposal in return).

So, I chose the "no" answer and used the "work" excuse. I was awarded by the now famous line: "Oh, you're so boring!" Hear that? I'm so boring! Tayyeb, ma3leish, ma2bouleh. So why on earth are you still calling if I finally managed to bore you?!

All this talk about the guy should have made me feel guilty. Only it doesn't. The truth is, sometimes, I have much fun in turning him down. What an evil person I'm turning into!