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I Got Punked in Tijuana
Apologies for the late arrival to my own party. What's eight months, anyway? Inquiring minds: I had two days to decide how to approach my coworker. He had begun blowing up my phone at four in the morning that night, but I didn't return any of the (very drunken and slurred) messages. There was really no way for me to exact revenge without compromising my job, so I abandoned the idea entirely. Instead I walked up to him on Monday and acted like I hadn't even noticed he'd bailed on us. I apologized for not returning his calls, but explained that we'd ended up staying the next day - we'd met a couple guys from Mexico City, and partied with them allllll night. Then I told EVERYONE at work what happened, and "Chito" got raked across the coals. (That's not his real name.) It was great. Kspssd - if "poor" Chito thought he was hanging out with a couple of high school chicks he could get liquored up to the point that they'd shack up with him in a TJ hotel, that's his error in judgment. He ought to know better. I never once asked him to buy me a drink, nor did I finish most of what he put in front of me. But I agree, he would have done the same in any neighborhood. Still, offering to be a host and tour guide, and then ditching someone you know for a fact is counting on you for a ride home = pretty lame. I'd have been pissed if he'd done it in PB, too, but at least there I could have caught a cab. Visduh - to be honest, the encounter did not entirely surprise me, but that doesn't make the behavior any less reprehensible. And it certainly doesn't mean I was asking for it. We made it back okay; it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. I wouldn't have gone down with him if I didn't speak Spanish, or already know my way around a little. But it was a crappy thing to do just the same. Your second point was acknowledged in the article. I explicitly stated that our evening could have been a lot worse. Although I was angry with him for ditching us, I didn't have a lot of reason to complain. And yes, we did cross the border with herb. This dovetails with one of the central themes - people harbor prejudices, but they don't tend to work against us white folk. We have a lot less to be scared of than we think. Attractive white women don't get frisked coming back from TJ; it doesn't happen. The fact that maybe it should is part of my point. Thanks for your comments, everyone.— January 22, 2011 11:17 p.m.