Missed connections?

Have you ever known anyone who had success with Craigslists missed connections? I've never heard of anything, but I now know that it happens from time to time, because it just happened to me.

Now, I've never posted anything to missed connections before, and it's been a long, long time since I've even browsed the section (which is a shame, because and can provide some quality entertainment). But for some reason, that changed the other day.

Come back with me if you will...

Saturday afternoon, August 23rd, 2008. While working at the ol' Go Fish, a very cute girl comes in and does some looking around. Now, I've seen this cute girl in the store before, but haven't ever talked to her. One should never mix business with pleasure, and if I hit on all the cute girls that came in, I'd probably drive a lot of them away and we'd go out of business. So I try not to make a habit of it. She asked me about a coffee table that didn't have a price on it, and while saying she had to think about it, proceeded to purchase a vintage plate that said "New Mexico" on it. I asked her if she was from New Mexico, she said no and started telling me a little bit about a recent trip of hers there. We conversed for a few minutes about each of respective trips out West and then she left and said she might be back for the table before the day was out.

Sure enough, she returned later in the afternoon to buy the table, and I thought I probably shouldn't let her leave without asking her out. We made small talk a little more as she was buying the table, but then a friend of hers came in and they got to chit-chatting and walking around the shop. Their conversation moved outside and the next thing I knew, she was picking up her table and carrying it down the sidewalk. I went to the doorway, watching her walk away, contemplating if I should run down the sidewalk after her or simply wait patiently for her to return for another shopping adventure one afternoon. It seemed a little extreme to run after her, so off she went left me wondering if I would ever see her again.

I stopped at home after closing up shop that evening to change clothes before going out and for some reason I had the idea to post something on craigslist's missed connections. I'm not sure why, I haven't visited or even thought about missed connections in a long, long time, but I figured I had nothing to lose.

The post:

subj: Enjoying your new table?

You: Cute, adorable girl with a lovely new mid-century coffee table.
Me: Future yellowstone park ranger who sold it to you.

I was delighted when you came back for the table and I wanted to invite you to join me for a drink one evening. Of course, you ran into your friend, and that was the end of our conversation. Hoping you'll somehow stumble upon this and we can get together and talk about adventures out west.

I hit the publish button and off I went for the evening. I thought one of two things would probably happen, either a) I wouldn't get a single response or b) I'd get lots (or at least a few) all wanting to try on the glass slipper. At 10:45 this next morning, I receive this email:

the universe works in the strangest ways. i'm glad i went back for the table, too. and i'm glad something possessed me to go on craigslist just a few hours later. missed connections is something i haven't looked at in literally years, but i felt compelled to check because i felt our conversation got cut short. it's a wild world out there.

so yes - i would love to get a drink with you and share tales of western adventures. i'm obviously in the neighborhood and pretty open time-wise.

looking forward to hearing from you.

dxxxxxxxx

(what's your name?)

I was a little excited to receive that email, but at the same time I was very skeptical, there are people out there who get off on fucking with other people... it's how the world works these days I'm afraid. After all, she said nothing in her initial email that I hadn't said in the craigslist post. It could have been anyone. So, I wrote her back, expressing my hesitation and asking her what it was she bought the first time she was in the store. Then I ran out the door for the rest of the day.

Thank goodness for technology, because I couldn't help but continue to check my email on my phone for the rest of the afternoon, and finally an email came. The excitement grew. "I bought the New Mexico plate" was about the only sentence I caught initially, it was all I needed. So there it was, a missed connections post that actually worked and two people found each other again.

Will it be a success? I guess it already has been. Even if we turn out not to like each other, we'll always have this fascinating story to tell. Keep your fingers crossed, first date is this Thursday.