I visited a fairly new coffee shop not far from my place this morning to do some work for the first time. I'm a new small business owner without an office and enjoy the pseudo company when I have laptop work that needs to be done. I rolled in just after 6am when they opened and stayed until around 11am. On this particular morning I invited a girl I have an interest in to stop by for some coffee (she lives just a block away, hence me coming to this shop instead of my usual place). I met her two months ago and we have hung out together in group settings for the past few weeks. This coffee meeting was essentially our first solo date.

She shows up around 9:30 and we have a good time for about half an hour. Shooting the breeze, sipping coffee, etc. Here is where the weirdness sets in. Roughly 30 minutes into what has been a good date the barista approaches our table with a work phone in hand, extended toward me.

"...sir, there is someone calling for you"

"...really?"

So I take the phone, naturally shocked. I'm in my mid-late 20s and never had a chance to experience the age of calling up business owners in order to get in contact with their patrons. My first thought before I put the phone to my ear is that the one buddy of mine who knew I was meeting a date here this morning is trying to screw with me. All three of us display puzzled looks. So I answer with "Hey man, what's up?".

Complete silence.

I sit on the empty line for about 10 seconds before I begin questioning the barista. While I remain on the line she explains that a man called up and asked if there was a man sitting at the 'group table'. This is the one table in the entire shop that features more than two chairs. Yeah, I was hogging the group table solo for most of the morning. She tells him that there is indeed a man there. He then asks if he is with anyone. "Yes, he is with a lady". "Okay, I want to speak to him". As if on que, a voice picks appears on the line. Best way to describe it is 'professional'. He sounded smart and confident. Salesman like. Paraphrasing since I don't remember word for word, but it was close to "Hey man, how are you today?" I respond, "Good man, now what do you want with me? Who is this?". Guy then goes silent again for what seemed like 30 seconds before I finally hang up. I'm spooked and am instantly scanning the store front window to see if I'm being watched. The girl is weirded out. The barista might be the most freaked. So I ask the barista to check the caller id.

.....private number.

So we joke around with the barista for a bit trying to discern the situation and stare down everyone who comes into the shop. We leave about 20 minutes later. I want to chalk it up as a mistake. The guy maybe had some coworkers meeting and meant to call the other shop a few miles away (small chain here in Birmingham). But the private number is just too weird. The girl seems fairly normal and is friends with my friends, so I don't think she is some psycho chick messing with me. As I mentioned, I had told one buddy about this date this morning, but he didn't know the location. There was this strange man sitting at the table outside when I arrived at 6am who was still there when we left. He would come in periodically and order diet coke and even once asked the barista for an ibuprofen. But the voice doesn't seem to match up. Other than those possibilities, no idea.

This post was edited on 7/23/21 at 1:08 pm