Samantha enjoyed her work as a safety officer for a national company. As a bonus, it had her travelling to various parts of the country, participating in safety audits a few times a year. This time, she was at their Vancouver location along with officers from three other locations.
They had started the day before and were progressing nicely. They'd be done by noon the next day. Sam suddenly felt a tug on her braid and automatically answered "It's not a pull cord", referring to the safety cords on conveyor belts.
"Sure it is!" came the reply from her colleague from Toronto, Larry.
Sam walked away, shaking her head. Larry was a bit older and very knowledgeable and oh so calm. Sam had learned a lot from Larry the few times they'd worked together. She admired him and his approach and also found him to be easy on the eyes although he was an untouchable: married. Oh well. She was surprised that he'd stoop to pulling on her hair but then again, for some reason, a lot of men felt it was the thing to do to long hair. Sam could get hopelessly lost when someone played in her hair and that is why she didn't encourage it. It simply wasn't right be be that turned on at work.
Later in the day, she felt the tug on her braid again. This time, her reply was "Hey, I don't pull on your tail, don't pull on mine."
Larry walked away, laughing.
By the end of the day, Sam was almost done her part but had developed a bad headache. When Larry snuck up on her and tugged at her hair again, Sam snapped.
"All right, you win. Here is my hotel room access card, and this is my room number" Sam said as she wrote it onto the card with a sharpie and then handed the card over to Larry.
"What's this for?"
"Well, you've obviously been fishing for an invitation all day and now you have it."
"What? I haven't been fishing for an invitation!"
"And how else am I supposed to interpret that you won't stop touching my hair if not a come on? If it wasn't a come on and my attempts at humour didn't make it through your thick skull, let me be a bit more direct: stop touching my hair!"
After that outburst, Sam walked away and went to the lady's room.
Larry asked "What's up with her?"
Allison, another colleague answered "I think she has a bad headache. Don't take it personally. But Larry? Leave her hair alone, will you?"
Larry nodded and walked away.
Allison went to check on Sam in the ladies' room. Allison, after offering Sam some Tylenol, asked "what are you going to do if he shows up in your room?"
Sam smiled meekly and said "Don't worry, I de-magnetized the card before giving it to him, it won't work."
As soon as they got to the hotel, Sam got a bucket of ice, put some of it into a zip lock bag and, after taking medication, laid down with the makeshift ice pack under her head. She had told the others that she would skip dinner and see them in the morning so she could take her time in breaking the headache. It took a while but the combination of ice and medication worked and Sam got up to take a shower. After her shower, Sam put some lotion all over her body and then proceeded to start drying her hair.
She then heard a card in the door and wondered who could be trying her door. Then, she realized it would be Larry. After trying twice, he knocked on the door and said "Sam?
Sam didn't answer.
"Sam? I know you're right on the other side of the door, please answer."
"What do you want?" Sam asked without sounding too harsh.
"Just want to make sure you're okay, give you some food and offer you some medication I picked up for you."
All of a sudden, Sam realized she was hungry and really wanted that food.
"Hold on a minute." Sam scrambled to put on her pyjamas and then grabbed her jacket and put it on over the pyjamas. She opened the door and allowed Larry to come in.
He looked at her and asked "You cold?"
By the look on his face, Sam realized he was concerned that she may be coming down with something, not mocking her.
