I had just finished a day of work and was preparing to go home when a colleague of mine dropped by my cubicle to have a friendly chat with me.
He was good-looking and was nice guy and I especially enjoyed chatting with him. Sometimes in our conversations, we would add a little bit of flirting but it was all good and harmless.
He asked if he could see my cat
As we were chatting, he suddenly said, “Hey, I heard you have a cat. Can I see it?”
My initial reaction was to say yes and invite him to come over to my house so he could see my cat. But something inside me told me to be careful.
I had a feeling that he was implying something else by his request. I felt like he was implying he wanted to see more than just my cat, but the ‘cat’ in my dress.
I mistook it for the ‘cat’ inside my dress, and slapped him
I was taken aback by this suggestion and before I knew it, I had slapped him across the face. I was shocked by my reaction, but I was also relieved that I had reacted quickly and had not allowed him to take advantage of me.
The man seemed equally shocked by my reaction and quickly apologized. He said he had meant no harm and had only asked to see my pet cat as he was a cat lover.
I was still angry and told him to leave before I report him to HR for harrassment.
He apologized again and quickly walked away. I was still shaking from the incident and it took me a few minutes to calm down.
Once I had calmed down, I realized that my reaction had been a bit extreme. I had jumped to conclusions about the man’s intentions and had reacted too harshly.
But I was also glad that I had stood up for myself and had not allowed the man to have any opportunities to take advantage of me.