Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Unwelcome surprise

“Kids and their music,” I said on a long-suffering sigh. “Who puts that word in a song title?” A colleague’s son – all of 17 years old – watched Chienne while I was away. I returned home to every single light I own burning brightly and wondered if he’d been afraid or just loved wasting energy. With a shrug, I wandered through rooms, flipping switches and pulling cords and opening the blinds so that natural light could replace that from bulbs.

I sat down at the computer, having taken both laptops with me on the trip (Yes. I am that cool.) and saw a new file on the desktop.

When I was in college, I went to a bachelor auction that a sorority was throwing. One of the men decided it would be fun to drop his pants. While most girls squealed with glee and shifted to get a better view, I blushed and immediately dropped my gaze to the back of the chair in front of me. I don’t know why – he was a very cute boy and it seems I’d want to look – but I didn’t. Organizers quickly asked him to cover himself again so it was a limited-time-opportunity sort of thing.

So when the file opened in a movie player and the opening image was a dark-haired young lady seated in a rather unladylike way and without any clothing on a wooden chair in some sort of wooded area, I looked away from the screen. “For crying out loud,” I gasped and closed the file, giving her the privacy she needed to, um, enjoy her outdoor activity.

“Huh,” I said to Chienne, not sure how to react to such a finding. It’s not that I abhor pornography. Given a person of that age, I think sexual curiosity is pretty natural. Having access to a house and high speed internet all to yourself, perhaps I’d have done the same thing in high school. But I would have done a better job at covering my tracks!

“He could have at least deleted the file,” I told the dog before turning to face the computer again. That’s when I saw the box of Kleenex sitting on my filing cabinet next to the desk. “Oh, ew,” I moaned with dismay. “I so don’t want to know this!”

“Would you rather it be your desk or bed?” Friend asked as I shared my disturbing story. At which point, I paused from spritzing cleaner on my keyboard and mouse and went to strip the bed so I could wash sheets.

18 comments:

The bean-mom said...

EWWWWW! A most unwelcome surprise, indeed.

Most sorry. Guess that's the last time that kid gets asked to petsit...

life_of_a_fool said...

I'd be mortified if I were you, but it is pretty funny from here!

Anonymous said...

Better the computer/desk than the bedroom/underwear drawer... Eeeek.

Anonymous said...

Ew.

Just,

Ew.

Julie @ Bunsen Burner Bakery said...

Ewwwwwwww! Seriously, it is not that hard to delete files/browsing history/etc. I mean, what happened, happened, but... how hard is it to delete the file off the desktop when you're done?!

ScienceWoman said...

Ewww. I think you can safely cross him off your list of future pet sitters.

Amanda said...

Gross! Seriously? My first thought was that this boy will not make it in life, if he can't figure out to cover his tracks! Ew!

Maude said...

oh you poor girl! that' soooooooooooooo very gross!!!!

bleck!

Cath@VWXYNot? said...

My friends found worse things than that on their computer after having someone house-sit once... no actual videos, but lots of visits to some very very dodgy websites. Nothing illegal - but very borderline.

Anonymous said...

That's pretty lame. But 17 year olds are lame, I guess. I keep thinking though, what's "unladylike?" Sitting with her legs spread? It's always struck me as dumb that women are required to sit with their legs closed lest someone think them not a lady but men get to sit as wide as they like. Can you tell I share a lot of train seats on a daily basis?

-A

Psych Post Doc said...

Yuck!

Anonymous said...

"men get to sit as wide as they like"

not if they're used to wearing kilts and/or sarongs they don't.

Anonymous said...

I don't live in a kilted or saronged area of the world.

Anonymous said...

So make it one!

Anonymous said...

How, exactly? Force the men around me to wear kilts? And why would I want such a thing? No, what I want is there not to be different rules for "ladies" instead of for men. There's nothing wrong with a woman sitting with her legs spread, is my point.

Anonymous said...

Well, if you were male, you could start wearing one.

It's not 'unladylike' to sit with your legs apart. It's pretty disrespectful no matter what your sex.

microbiologist xx said...

I am so grossed out. blech.

post-doc said...

By 'unladylike,' I meant that her feet were propped on the arms of her chair. I'd rather people not do that around me in general. I have no problem with uncrossed legs though.

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