Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Awkward Question

We have a lot of team based long term projects where I work. It's like being in school, except for the part where we actually get paid, unlike real school kids who end up getting involved in projects for the sake of getting good grades. Ahem.

So, one of these projects involves about four of us, where all of us are between 32 to 34 years old. I don't know if it's the age or our personalities, but we seem to get along pretty famously (despite being from 3 different departments) But then again, we have been in a team together since July of 2009 in a different project which ended last year and we were automatically chosen to get involved in this new project because our bosses too could see that we worked well as a team. 

Something very odd happened towards the end of last week's meeting, though. Only three of us were left behind to remove the laptop from the projector, turn off the air conditioning, and rearrange our chairs and ensure everything is locked before we left the room.

Out of the blue, whilst unplugging the cable that connects the laptop to the projector, Levin, one of the members asked me:

 "Hey, if Tivenka (the other member who was not in the room at that time) was the last guy on Earth, would you marry him?"

While I'm usually able to answer most of Levin's weird questions without batting an eyelid (and there have been plenty of those), this was one question that caused raised eyebrows and a nervous laugh. Why would Levin phrase his question in such a manner? Even worse, why did such a question even cross his mind? Did he think that Tivenka was not man enough to have anyone want to marry him that he's be the last (presumably single) guy on earth? Or did he think that Tivenka would outlast all the other men on the planet and actually be the last guy around? 

The two seconds of silence (which felt like an eternity, trust me) was interrupted by Canoska, the team leader who saved me from having to answer this awkward question. She suddenly said something about how Tivenka could hook up with this other girl who was single as well (Canoska clearly didn't get the question -probably only hearing half of it), but by then Levin had ceased looking for the answer to his question (thank goodness!) and we were all hungry (it was a few minutes into lunch time at the time) and so we all walked towards our own destinations.

Point of this post? Nothing. It's just one of those pointless ones. 
P.S: Not their real names, of course.

14 comments:

  1. Well usually something like that would mean that Tivenka likes you and he's either confided this in Levin or he's put Levin up to it. I thought that kind of behaviour ended at a certain age. Guess if it does it's a bit older than I thought.

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    1. Exactly, IF we were all 15 to 20 years younger than we are now, I'd have similar suspicions - which is why I made it a point to mention the age of all the members.

      Somehow, Levin's question seems slightly contemptuous.

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  3. Hey Terra :) Its been too long, come blog with me again? (I have finally decided to give this blogging thing a go again ;) )

    SS

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    1. Hey SS, yeah, it's been awhile. Sure looking forward to checking out your writing again... :)

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  4. I thought the same thing as Mark, that is what it usually means he likes you and was just trying to get your other partner to see how you would react. But for most that does end early on as we get too old for such crap.

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    1. Hmmm. I did not react well at all? Levin being the astute observer he is, would have read way too much into my silence than I'd ever be wiling to reveal.

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  5. The drawing is seriously funny! But really, Levin's question sounds like something out of a romantic comedy movie. My guess is he was looking for a reaction rather than an answer.

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    1. Oh, thank you. That was my intention - although my (ahem) computer artwork could do with a whole lot of improvement!

      Seems very likely that Levin was looking for a reaction...

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  6. What an odd question. It always takes me weeks to work this sort of thing out. I then have a rare moment of clarity where I realise it is connected to other apparently mysterious and unrelated events/comments.

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    1. Yes, really odd indeed. I could ask Levin why he asked me such a weird question now that I've overcome my initial surprise, but I haven't been able to do so just yet.

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  8. That is an odd question - maybe he was trying to gauge your feelings for Tivenka? Or maybe for himself?

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  9. I can't say... but definitely not for himself. He's married with 2 kids and is family man through and through.

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