First impressions can be deceiving. I was at Barnes and Noble perusing books after services Wednesday night, when this nice fellow, who was striking up a conversation with everyone within a 15-foot radius, decided that I was his next target. He asked me what I did and I told him I worked for a polling firm. “Which one?”…”The Mellman Group”…”Is that Republican?”…No. Do I look like a Republican? Maybe; I have always dressed conservatively (actually that’s why LS tried to convince me I was a conservative in elementary school–because I wore boring shirts).
Simple mistake I guess. But this next story is worse. I was invited to a Rosh Hashanah lunch at the house of the VP of the Mellman Group. I showed up only 7 minutes late; whoops, first one there. To make matters worse, none of my Jewish peers from work showed up. Thus, the house started filling up with people significantly older than me. Their kids were shepherded into basement…making me jealous as it turns out that I have little in common with thirty-somethings (be them married or single).
After a good hour of attempted mingling, I crack and proceed, unvited, down to the basement (I mean, who’s going to stop me). Downstairs, the kids are fighting over the PS2. I look for a ball to entertain the four-year-olds with, but no such luck: the play area is too high-tech. Two eight-year-old girls decide too play chess though…great! that should be entertaining.
Ten minutes later a parent comes down: “Which ones are yours?” (Ack!!) “None, I’m just making sure they aren’t killing each other.” (A plausible excuse for sure.) Next, the father of one of the chess players comes down: “Oh, your daughter likes chess too?” (What?! No! She’s 8! How old do I look! This is not Gilmore Girls. Sheesh.)
Is it that unreasonable that I find kids more entertaining than adults? Could this fact be so unusual that the in their brains the probability that I’m a father is greater than the probability that I enjoy playing with children?
Apparently, in the eyes of society, I’m an adult. When did that happen?