I just remembered a story from my 6 months as a male singer for a 6 piece “show band” on a cruise ship that I don’t think I’ve ever told.
One night during one of our shows, I couldn’t help but notice this beautiful woman with a short blonde haircut. All night long she caught my eye. Then after we were done, a group of us were meeting on the Lido Deck for some late night food and to say goodbye to a performer who was leaving. I arrived first and there was no one else in the area…except for this woman sitting alone at a table. I can’t remember exactly how it transpired, but we got to talking and she invited me to sit down.
We got to chatting, and while I tend to be pretty blind to advances, I’m pretty sure she was flirting. My group slowly started arriving and sitting at a nearby booth, but I continued chatting with her for a bit. As a single guy who had run away to the cruise ship to nurse my wounds from the worst heartbreak of my life, there was naturally great temptation to see where this went.
BUT as mentioned I always default to the assumption that someone is just being friendly because I want them to feel safe and comfortable and never want to misconstrue friendliness for flirting. I’m also someone who has just never been a “sleep around with strangers” guy. I have nothing at all against it, and I’m certainly not saying that I wouldn’t (or haven’t) done it, but it’s not something I even know where to begin trying to initiate. However the biggest roadblock was that the cruise line had a very strict policy against any involvement with passengers. Zero tolerance. If they somehow found out, you would be immediately fired and I believe, left in the next port to make your own way home. I did not want to risk my job and I’m generally a pretty dedicated rule follower, so I eventually excused myself, said goodnight, and joined my group for our farewell gathering and she got up and left shortly after. Still, it was a pretty great ego boost.