by Karen Nunn

Created on: February 16, 2010

Have you ever had a first date that was so bad you didn’t want to tell anyone you were with the person that caused such a scene it was the topic of conversation at work the next day?  I have to admit that I was the subject of such a date.

It was a Barbeque fireworks show at a local water park that was being hosted by my workplace.  There were quite a few tickets so I invited a group of friends to go along with the guy I was interested in. This was to be our first date but it turned into a group date as it was a perfect opportunity for all of my friends to get to know him and there were a lot of activities at the water park for the kids.  Things were going great and my date and I were having a nice day getting to know each other. We ate at the barbeque and found a nice shade tree to sit under. We both had a few beers but I didn’t think that was an issue until later. While we were waiting for the fireworks they decided to hold a karaoke contest.  There was a very large crowd and everyone was having a great time watching the karaoke show.  I ended up going to the restroom and when I got back my date wasn’t there.  I asked a couple of people in our group but no one knew where he went, they just assumed that he went to the restroom also and then all of a sudden we all heard it.  He and a couple other guys that were in our group decided to get in on the karaoke contest.  The song that they chose to sing was “Roxanne” by The Police.  My date was the lead singer and when he sang the opening word, everyone in the entire crowd got quiet and cringed.  He didn’t just sing it he screamed it.  I wanted to shrink down into my chair and never come out.  I have never heard anyone screech out such a horrible noise and everyone in the crowd started laughing.  I just wanted to disappear!  I was just grateful that it was already dusk by the time they finished and the fireworks show was starting. We finished watching the show; he took me home and thanked me for a great day.

I went in to work the next day and asked my office roommate if they had a good time at the barbeque the day before and to my horror she started talking about the guy that was screaming out the song “Roxanne”. They were all the way by the front gates leaving and they stopped in their tracks at the sound. She kept talking about it so I decided to go on my break. I went into the break room and found a magazine. I was reading an article when I overheard the rest of the people in the break room start talking about the fireworks barbeque. Then they all started in about the karaoke contest and the guy that should have won the worst singer contest which was my date. I was horrified for anyone to know that he was MY date.  This was the hot topic for the next week around work and I just kept my mouth shut hoping that soon it would all die down. After a couple weeks of this it finally wasn’t the hot topic around work and I could breathe a little easier.

We continued to date and eventually got married and we are in our 16th year of our marriage.  He is an awesome person and a great Dad.  We have a lot of fun together but when we go out I just make sure that there is no karaoke where we are going and things will always be great!  Sometimes I feel bad though because he loves to sing and he can’t hold a tune at all. There are times at home that he will sing but I am just grateful that we have not been in a situation where there would be another “Roxanne” incident.

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