I recently started a new job. It isn’t my dream job, but it helps for now. During the supervisor’s introductions, I spotted a woman in another department and briefly lost interest in the rest of the company. An efficient orientation, depending on what you’re measuring.
She works in a little office in the corner of the warehouse. I don’t see her often, and some days I miss her entirely. We’re both new hires, so I haven’t had much time to get to know her or determine whether smiling at me is a special occasion or standard office procedure.
A few days ago, she came over smiling and giggling and asked for help printing a page. I managed it. She called me her hero, which seemed generous for a task involving paper, but I accepted the promotion.
I told her she could ask me for help anytime. She said she would. Since then, we say hi and make small talk whenever we pass each other. Once, she gave me a huge grin, stretched an arm toward me, and waved. I found this ridiculously cute. My available evidence remains a wave.
That’s where I’m stuck. She could be interested. She could also be a friendly woman who needed something printed and was pleased when it printed. I’ve missed flirting before, so I don’t entirely trust my ability to distinguish the two.
I’d like to get to know her, but I don’t want her new workplace to become somewhere she has to manage an unwanted advance. Then there’s the familiar warning about dating coworkers. It’s difficult to forget advice that usually arrives phrased like a plumbing emergency.
Soon I’m supposed to join a work group chat she’s in. That would give me a way to message her, although having access to someone’s name in a work chat doesn’t tell me whether they’d welcome a personal message.
For now, our conversations still happen when our paths happen to cross. I can help her print a document. Whether I can ask her out without making things awkward remains the more complicated assignment.
