Dating Disasters·
ROMANCE ON A WORK TRIP
On a lucrative London work trip, a self-employed surveyor tries to work while his girlfriend seeks a romantic escape, sparking mounting tension and a definitive boundary showdown.
Was he too blunt, or was she ignoring the trip?
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She tried to turn a work trip into a romantic getaway, and by the second night she was in the hotel bathroom in tears while he was eating takeaway alone.
A week before Christmas, a 38-year-old self-employed building surveyor got a lucrative last-minute request: two days' work in London on December 29 and 30. He said yes because he had no kids, little else on, and the money was good. Then he told his 33-year-old girlfriend.
She wanted to come too, calling it a "nice break in the capital." He said she could join, but only if she was happy entertaining herself while he worked early mornings. He booked her train ticket and added her to the hotel room. Right away, she was disappointed. The budget hotel, she said, was not nice enough for a "romantic break." He reminded her, again, that it was not a holiday.
The next morning, he went into work mode. He scouted the property and nearby amenities, then returned with bottled water, protein bars, and bananas. She was getting dressed up and putting on makeup, which he assumed meant she was meeting a friend.
Instead, she expected him to join her.
She had made a reservation for a nice meal, and she wanted him to get dressed up and go out. He told her she had created the problem herself and that he was not being unreasonable. She locked herself in the bathroom. He went out and bought food.
Later, she came back apologizing, changed into comfy clothes, and they spent the evening doomscrolling and watching a film. But before bed, she produced a sexy maid's outfit and tried to initiate sex. He refused because he had to be up early. She got angry, retreated to the bathroom again, and later apologized a second time.
The next morning he left for work. When he returned around 6 p.m., she had bought him a brand new outfit and announced that they were going out for food and drinks with a friend and the friend's husband. That was the moment he blew up. He said this was the third time she had ignored his repeated warnings that he was there for work.
He refused to go. He told her she was entirely at fault, and he headed out to get food on his own. She texted that she was going home, then left the hotel.
By the end, he was still asking the same question: how could he have made it any clearer that this was a "working fucking trip," not their romantic getaway?