The following piece was submitted to us in response to Patricia Martinez’s October 30 column in Newspaper Tree.

First of all, yeah, I said it. I said that my compadres and I would only talk to women who are “gainfully employed.” That’s how we roll.

Secondly, why you hatin’?

Now, sorry to scare your prima. Maybe someday we will cross paths again.

You seem to have an issue with my and my compadres’ preference for “gainfully employed” women. I happen to think that a person’s occupation says a lot about that person. It is an indicator of that person’s accomplishments and ambitions. Besides, I am not sure how many trust fund heiress socialites live in El Paso. Further, the fact that I desire such a trait shows that I am looking for more than just a one-night stand. If I wanted to hit and quit, do you think I would care about what a woman does for a living? I am entitled to choose what type of women I talk to. After all, I am a busy guy, so I don’t have the time to talk to every single woman. Any single person out there is familiar with the process of elimination. We all desire certain qualities in another person, and the process follows that we eliminate those lacking desired qualities. One quality I desire in someone is gainful employment.

Think about it, when getting to know someone, what is one of the first questions asked? “So, what do you do?” Personally, “I work at Applebee’s,” is NOT one of my favorite responses. I hope that in the near future, your prima or a friend of yours gets hit on by a janitor. We’ll see what happens there. How’s that for a double standard?

Having my compadres scout women at a bar is not a big deal. It is like recruiting or a job application. Don’t you do research on a product before buying it? Doesn’t Mike Price watch a player’s highlight reel before offering the guy a scholarship? There are 2 scenarios:
1) No scouting. I start talking to a woman and ask about her occupation. If she is not “gainfully employed,” I’m stuck in the position of ditching her and breaking her heart.
2) Scouting. I save time and a woman who is NOT gainfully employed does NOT get her heart broken (not by me anyway).

And just for the record, I don’t need to see W-2’s like you claimed. An occupation is a simple getting-to-know-someone piece of information, and I’ll take a woman at her word.

Besides, doesn’t a person’s occupation say something about that person?

Finally, if a woman is “gainfully employed,” she can probably hold her own. I don’t want to go out and have to hear about how you put too much mayo on someone’s burger or how a customer got pissed off because a button was missing from his sports coat. I’d like to hear about how you completed a project or landed a new client.

Excuse me for having standards.

Cheers,

Lounge Lizard