The Name Dropper

People in DC are insanely busy, breathe deeply and you can almost inhale the stress. Granted I've never lived in any other large city in the U.S., and coming to the district from a rural town is a very big change. Stress in DC is also unique in that it has a political connotation. This adds another dimension to dating as well as general social interaction. People here tend to talk with so many acronyms and legislative terms that the average newbie would need an encyclopedia on hand to survive a casual water cooler conversation. [Example: I talked with the LD who was over at the OEOB and he said the markup will be stuck in committee for the rest of the lame duck because the whip knows the minority will never get over 200.] After working on the Hill for a year that sentence actually means something to me, but just when I thought I was fluent in DC slang I met the Name Dropper.


On Friday night I went to dinner with a guy I met on Okcupid. Being a stereotypical sleep deprived resident of the district the Name Dropper and I had some trouble setting up a time to meet. He is yet another DOD (Department of Defense) employee-it's like Okcupid has a plan for me to work my way through every defense guy in this city (Pentagon guy and Awkward Asian worked there too)! The time lag between the first conversation with a guy on Okcupid and when we are finally able to meet up leads me to build up dates too much in my mind... I'll try to work on that. Anyways, the Name Dropper took me out to La Tasca. This is by far one of the best places I have been in DC. The relaxed ambiance, fantastic sangria selection, and moderate pricing make it perfect for anything from a girls' night out to a family get together. The food, however, was by far superior to the quality of conversation.

As the title of this post suggests my new date from the DOD was quite a name dropper. He seemed oblivious to my disinterest in this. I admit I would have been at least a little impressed if he had said he could get me a private tour of the White House by night or even if he had some amazing connection with the bar tender at La Tasca. His name dropping, however, was all DOD related. This included a seemingly endless list of generals and weapons systems he claimed to be familiar with. I'm actually more of an educational policy kind of girl so talking about ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) renewal would have been more of a turn on for me. Additionally, the Name Dropper didn't even have an impressive security clearance. But even if he had been spilling his guts about state secrets on a first date that would surely be a sign of complete stupidity. As the evening progressed I became more convinced that he was simply a blabber mouth who had no desire to talk about anything aside from his work.

Believe it or not, there are people in DC who have no desire to associate with those on a different GS (General Schedule) pay scale. While the Name Dropper vehemently stated his distaste for these people and joked that he was on a date with a Senator's nanny as proof of his solidarity with the proletariat class. [Sidenote: Yes I am still working as a nanny, and just got a new boss.] Despite his protests to the contrary I disagree with his self-assessment. If he wasn't one of those people why does he need to name drop constantly? If you feel the need to repeatedly disprove something about yourself, it just might be true. Also why bother to point out my job? The fact that he was on a first date with me doesn't prove anything about his character, but the fact that he mentioned it does prove something about him.

Suffice it to say the Name Dropper and I did not get started off on the right foot. Despite the egotistical turn our conversation seemed to take over the course of the evening, he seemed to be a pretty nice guy. I'm considering giving him a second chance, just to see how things play out. There may be the tiniest sliver of a chance that he just came off as an egotistical workaholic, and is in fact a down the earth person with a sparkling personality hidden somewhere deep inside, ok maybe it's a long shot.

This morning, however, he sent me a message on Okcupid asking to meet up again tomorrow. What happened to cell phones? The Name Dropper has my cell number, is to too much to ask for a phone call these days? I'm a college student so I have yet to enter the stage of life where you get imprisoned in a cubicle and chained to a desk with only a computer for company. So it's much easier to reach me via my phone which is constantly by my side. I feel like that's the second strike against this guy. Now I'm not so sure he deserves a second chance, but maybe I'm being too hard on him. If I do go on another date with the Name Dropper he'd better be on his best behavior, or he's never getting to date number three. Is a second free dinner really worth it though?