A Cute Gesture, Or Total Insanity?

One of my co-workers, Jenn, went temporarily psycho a few weeks ago when her overseas love interest visited NYC from Denmark. I've decided to chronicle the events here to save others from making the same kind of error.

She met him over New Year'sand the two hung out for a week before the guy had to conclude his visit to NYC. At this point he headed back home to Denmark-needless to saythis was quite a long distance relationship. But if they were making one another happy, no problem there.

For Valentine's Day, chocolates and a teddy bear showed upat our office prompting a wild reaction among co-workers like village town folk gathering for a witch trial. I often wonder if sending huge Valentine's packages into offices is a good idea. Bored workers cooking under white light are just waiting for something to spice up the day. It puts the spotlight on the recipient and they have a lot of explaining to do.

This occasion was no different; she explained that her and her guy decided to stay together and that he was coming to visit soon. We even read the card: "To My Favorite American," which led us to wonder if his favorite English, Italian, Chinese, and Samoan had received the same form letter. Perhaps something was lost in translation.

For the next few weeks we all came to accept the strange little yelps and sighs that Jenn emitted as she got instant messages from her Dane. The Visit was coming, and we knew it was going to be a production, but we were not prepared for the opening act.

Just a day before her Dane's visit, Jenn showed up and quickly drew a throng of female co-workers around her. As I approached, I noticed female co-workers leaving the circle with pensive and slightly disturbed looks on their faces as if they were walking away from a snake exhibit after getting a close look at the specimen inside. When I got into the huddle, I saw the source of the ruckus: Jenn had decided to paint the flag of Denmark on her toenails.

She had her toes out of her shoes (already questionable) and was wiggling them with the red background against the white cross-I must say it was a rather handsome flag. The beauty of the flag aside, the guys looked at one another with that collective "she's gone psycho" look. But she was sitting there pleased with herself with that "I've just joined a cult" perma-smile. We decided we had to do some intervention.

We told her that she had to get rid of the patriotic pedicure. It looked calculated and insane. This guy, after his long trip overseas, would get off the plane and see that she had adorned her body with his country's colors, and would probably turn around and get right back onto the plane.

In addition to thinking she might be insane, the poor Dane would see that the entire challenge and mystery of this girl was gone. Personally, I would take one look at this girl's pedicure, even if it was something as amazing as, say, the Maryland flag , and assume that I had already won this girl over and could easily makeout with her.

Guys like a challenge, and they like to work a little bit to get to "paint my flag on your toenails" phase.

Guys look for managable baggage and general sanity in women above all else. Perhaps we were a little tough on our co-worker, but we felt that it had to be done. In a moment of sanity, she later thanked us and said that she had "clearly underestimated how crazy this maneuver would look to a guy."

Do you think we were too hard on our co-worker, or do you agree with her defense that she thought it was a "cute" idea? What is the most insane stunt an admirer has pulled for you? Have you made any "insane stunt" errors in your romantic past?

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