The Big Barrier

I was about to post this entry on the eve of Ramadan when my friendster blog suddenly turned cranky. I couldn’t update it for a week. Probably God was sending me a message. Anyway, after ‘waiting in agony’ and the administrator didn’t even reply my query, I decided to start a new blog:)

Remember Mr Designer’s boss aka my friend aka ‘Ms-Mix-Business-with-Pleasure’? Well, now she’s my ex-friend. When she called me on Monday, I was groggy from lack of sleep due to the incident with Mr Designer. She wanted to ‘pimp’ another guy to me, one of her contacts, said that he offers corporate video service. As she did with Mr Designer, she said that he was cute, but she wasn’t exactly sure of his sexual orientation. No mention was made of his professional skills though.

I snapped, I told her that I’ve enough headaches without her adding on to it. I blurted out that I was tired, that Mr Designer and I were out till 3am. She freaked out. Note this: she said I was distracting him, and he’s vulnerable now. If I’m going to take so much of his time, I should give them a lot more business. Excuse me! And what makes she thinks that I’m not vulnerable. She only has herself to blame, she introduced us.

Oh, I see what’s going on here! He did tell me that he thought her marketing style is like a bimbo. She flirts with married men to get business, and thought of it as normal. Of course for her things couldn’t go any further, she is already married. She wanted him to ‘bimbo’ around with me like she did with her clients, for more business. But she didn't want our relationship to go any further. Wrong person totally! No 1: I don’t flirt just for fun, I only flirt when I’m interested. No 2: I don’t normally mix business with pleasure, but since I already had, thanks to her, I’ll see this through. Both of us are single and available, so we are free to pursue this as we like, without having to stick to her script. She admitted that she panicked when she saw how fast we were going.

She’s a manipulative bitch but not a smart one though. I could see right through her. In order to separate us (so he has more time for her business), she started acting concerned that I was going to get hurt, that men like him are like that. She claimed that lots of girls were chasing him because he was cute but he’s not serious in relationships. Whoa! That wasn’t what she said when I told her I wasn’t interested in him when she first introduced us. Yeah, he’s cute and tall alright at 5'11”, but to me the attraction wasn’t physical. It was when we talked and connected that I got hooked.

She kept on telling me not to rush him. He got a lot on his plate. Hello! It’s a two-way street. It takes two to tango. It’s not as if I’m chasing him! She made it sound as if he is the angel and I am the devil. In the story of my life, I’ve always been the angel, okay!

She even went to the extent of claiming that maybe he was lying to her too since he told her he and I were just friends. She tried to dig out if he had said otherwise to me. No chance in hell that I was going to reveal anything. It was totally none of her business to ask him about our relationship in the first place.

She made it clear that she is paying him, so I’ve no right to his time. That is unless I give them more business. Man, is she running an agency or an escort service???

My friend (my true friend, I mean) did caution me about her. She seems like a big barrier, no matter where we move, we will bump into her.

I made it clear that I wasn’t giving her more business opportunities because I like him. I’m giving her more because she is now one of the few small Bumiputera suppliers with a real in-house designer. It’s as simple as that. We may used to be friends but she noticed that she got less business than other suppliers. Yeap, I was much strict on her than others. (If the auditor doesn’t question me while I’m still alive, God may do so, later in the hereafter) So, she chose the wrong strategy by being chummy with me. Also, she didn't have a real designer until she hired him more than 2 weeks ago. So, her competitive edge has just increased and that entitles her to more business.

She did take a lot of risk with him, a total stranger. She gave him her extra car to run around and she is leaving him mainly in charge of her business when she followed her husband for his overseas posting end of the year. She would only check in every other month or so. Okay, but how is that my problem?

Why am I so mad? She actually admitted directly that she is more concerned about me distracting him from her business rather than about me getting hurt. From where I come from, that's not something a friend would say to you. So, the conclusion is ‘she crossed the line and we are done!’