all them girls look the same

okay, so two weeks ago i was walking down the hall at work, minding my own business when i see this woman approaching. she's a tall skinny white girl with dark hair in a really short roundish bob haircut. she was wearing a trendy outfit and was smiling. like really smiling, not just the courteous upturn of corners of the mouth thing you do to people you haven't been introduced to.

but thing thing is, she thought she had. been introduced, i mean. to me.

'hey! how's it going?'

'uh, pretty good. how are you?'

'great! hey, when do you get off tonight?'

[looking confused] 'um, i think 11...'

'oh, that's too bad. i'm getting off at nine. we're all going to hang out at the [bar where everyone goes to chill after work]. you should totally give me a call on my cell and see if we're still there. maybe you can meet us!'

'uh... okay...?'

'great! hopefully we'll see you later!'


i was bewildered. i had never met that broad before in my entire life. i had seen her a couple times, but thought she was naturally that smiley. i ran over to my coworker and asked her to quickly identify her before she rounded the corner, but my coworker didn't look over in time. i was pretty sure the woman had confused me with that new intern from the east coast (who looks nothing like me, aside from the fact that we're both short brown girls with slightly frizzy hair.) dude, i know we all look alike, but still.

later, i asked my carpool buddy, who has been there a long time and knows everyone, for identifying help. she thought it could be one of several people, so i said i'd let her know the next time i ran into the woman.

so today i see that tall brunette bob walking through the cubicle area. i become extremely interested in my computer to avoid a weird interaction, and as soon as she passes, i get my friend's attention and start jerking my head in the woman's direction. my friend nods at me with a knowing look.

fifteen minutes later, i look up and see another, different, brunette bob walking through the desks. to my dismay, i realize that this in fact is the woman who had approached me that day, not the one from before. i run over to my buddy and tell her i was only kidding about the first one, but this one was the real deal.

on the drive home we pieced together who all the characters were. at first i was like what the heck, she can't even tell the difference between two brown girls with long hair! but then i realized that despite all that covert operating to learn her identity -- complete with head-jerking, whisper-shouting and complex hand signals -- at the end of the day i have the very same problem with skinny white girls with brunette bobs.

that moment, to me, was wildly entertaining.