The Meeting: Daniel and John

He looked again at the flyer in his hand.

Thursday’s. 10:30pm.
Community Library Main Hall.
Free drinks and snacks!

He’d sat in his car, engine off, lights off, and watched while the ladies from Over 60’s Yoga had finished filtering out through the library doors, most of them heading straight into The Dog and Duck next door. As they entered, an older gent left the pub and headed in the opposite direction and into the library.

“Dutch courage.” Daniel thought to himself. “Not a bad idea.”

He took a deep breath and adjusted the Airking on his wrist. He hoped it was a good choice.

“Let’s just get this done.” He muttered to himself and pushed open the car door.

—

The hall was excessively bright from the overhead strip-lighting, but instead of smelling of sweaty pensioners, as he had feared, it was actually filled with the mouthwatering aroma of fresh pastries. A quick wrist check of the dozen or so others in the room told him he was in the right place. Everyone seemed very content to keep themselves to themselves and most had already taken their seats in the circle of chairs. Zero eye contact was being made.

Daniel headed over to the table at the side of the room with the coffee thermos and the source of the delicious smells. He grabbed a coffee and a still warm tart of some kind and was about to take a bite when he felt someone’s eyes on him. He slowly turned to his right to see a slim lady, perhaps in her 50’s, wearing an excessive amount of makeup, a dainty ladies OP and a disturbing wide smile staring at him intently. He moved the pastry away from his mouth to say hello and her smile instantly faded…

“Don’t you like it??” her question caught him off guard “How can you know?? You haven’t even tried it! Was it the smell??” She looked down at the other pastries on the table anxiously.

Daniel fumbled for a response when an official looking lady with a clipboard appeared beside him…

“Amanda!” Clipboard Lady had a slightly chastising tone “Remember what we said?” Amanda gave a sheepish nod and an attempt at half a smile before going to take her place in the chair circle. Clipboard Lady followed after her and Daniel sat down in the last unoccupied chair.

He eyed his circle companions. Everyone continued to stare into their coffee cups as he glanced around. He recognised the guy who had stumbled out of the pub earlier. The rest of the group seemed to share a slightly disheveled and anxious appearance. He noticed the clipboard in his previous rescuers hand had ‘The Crown’ on the back,

“Ok!” Said overly cheery Clipboard Lady. “I see we have a new face today!” She looked at Daniel. “Would you like to introduce yourself?”

He swallowed down a mouthful of bitter Kenco. “Hi, I’m Daniel” he glance around the circle, gave an awkward wave and receive a few equally awkward glances and “Hi”‘s in return. Clipboard Lady smiled in approval, but continued to look at him… expecting more…

“Oh! Right!” He suddenly realised what she was after… “Hi, my name’s Daniel and I’m a Rolex Authorised Dealer.”

She gave a satisfied nod. “Welcome Daniel! I want you to feel happy to share anything you need to here. Everyone is dealing with their own issues and there is no judgement… unless you’re wearing a Tudor!” She gave an excessive laugh at her own joke and a few forced laughs and grins rippled through the circle in response. “Anyway! Let’s crack on shall we?” She consulted her clipboard. “Who would like to share today?”

She cast an eye around the room. “John!” Her gaze landed on a smart looking guy, mid-40’s, classic 70’s GMT on his wrist. Daniel figured he’d been in the game a while… but that sweet looking watch didn’t match the sad look in his eyes. “Why don’t you share today?” Her tone made it clear this was more order than request.

John gave the sigh of a guy who’d just been told that Submariner he’d bought still didn’t get him on the Daytona list.

“Hi, I’m John and I’m a Rolex AD.”

“Hi John” we responded. I was getting the hang of this now.

“I’ve been an AD for about 20 years now, and, I can’t lie, there are bits of this game I really bloody enjoyed when I started. Who the hell doesn’t love all these people treating you like you’re a damn king?! It’s always been pretty sweet, but these last 5 years… damn… customer’s just popping in to say hi, bringing gifts, buying whatever I suggest to them… watches… jewelry… whatever I need to get rid of… and doing it all with a smile on their face! It’s been great man.”

Everyone in the circle gave knowing nods.

“But… too much of a good thing… ” He hung his head. Were those tears? “I met her in a bar. We hit it off straight away. Getting girls was never hard with one of these” he shook his left wrist and they all knew what he meant, “But she was different. Classy. Wore a Longines. Not interested in what was on my wrist. I really thought she was the one. But it’s hard being an AD’s girlfriend. I get that now. All the attention we get from these other women… and men… the gifts, bottles of wine. They send emails, Christmas cards, birthday cards… invites to parties. Everyone wants to be your friend… more even! Man… the things people have offered me for a GMT…”

He shook his head. I saw Amanda blush. He continued… “Julie… that was her name…. she’d say ‘Just tell ’em to leave you alone! You don’t need all that stuff! You’ve got me now!’… but the truth is… it was a drug… hard to give up. Impossible.”

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “She left. And now I just spend my evenings rolling my sleeves up in bars, flaunting my wrist for whatever cheap attention I can get. I feel dirty, but I can’t help it!”

There was an awkward silence and Amanda handed John a napkin.

“Well done, John!” Clipboard Lady seemed satisfied, and wore a wide smile that did not fit the mood of the rest of us “I think everyone can see a bit of themselves in your story John, so thank you for sharing! And we all need to remember that there is no shame in enjoying the perks of our job people! Our role as ADs is a valuable one, and someone has to make all those ‘Calls’ don’t they??”

She raised her eyebrows and jotted something down on the clipboard. “I think John just needs to find himself a woman who’s more grateful to get her hands on a Datejust!” She gave another annoying laugh, oblivious to the fact that no one else joined in.

“Soooo…. Would anyone else like to share tonight?”