Caught in the Net

Submitted by Ashley:

During dinner with Brad, it came out that he was unemployed.  At first, I tried to keep an open mind.  After all, the economy was/is bad, and it might not have been due to any fault of his own.

But then, he said, "A website I was on redirected me to a porn site.  Soon as you could blink, they hauled my ass onto the red carpet and told me to get out."

I was as sympathetic as I could be.  "That's terrible.  Did you tell them that it was a redirect?"

He answered, "Yeah.  They wouldn't listen to me, though."

I asked, "So what are you doing for work?"

He replied, "Nothing.  I don't have to.  I've brought a lawsuit against the company for wrongful termination.  It's in the bag."

My breath caught in my throat.  I asked, "Did you win?"

He said, "Well, it hasn't happened yet.  I called up a few lawyers and I might be meeting with one in a couple of weeks."

"Oh."

"But it's in the bag," he reminded me.

I wished him, "Good luck."

He said, "Yeah.  Oh, that reminds me.  Since I'm sort of out of cash until I win my lawsuit, I don't suppose there's any way you could cover this, is there?  I'll pay you back with interest once I win."

"I don't think so, Brad.  I don't really like having the rug pulled out from under me this late into a date.  I can split it with you, but that's it."

He shoved his plate away from himself and leaned at me across the table.  "I don't have the money.  I'm going to win this lawsuit.  I'll pay you back with interest.  What's the big deal?"

I informed him, "Lawsuits can take years to work through the system.  I'm not going to pay for your dinner based on a gamble that you're going to win some lawsuit that you haven't even begun."

"Fine," he said, "We'll split it, but this is our last date."

Worked for me.  That was two years ago.  Last I heard, he's found another job, similar to the one he used to have.  Go lawsuit, go!