I was invited to my company’s luxury box to watch a football game. Normally a couple of bigwigs are there, a few big money clients or vendors, and a handful of other people. I was excited to go.

One of the vendors brought a couple of their employees, including a woman who I would guess is in her late 20’s/early 30’s. She’s very attractive.

About midway through the 2nd quarter, I was standing at the drink rail behind the seats, and she was across the room in a different conversation. I was turned partly in her direction while I was talking to our CFO, and she & I made eye contact. She smiled, I smiled.

About 2 minutes later, she’s standing next to me. We strike up a conversation about the play on the field. She’s been a fan of this team for a long time . Conversation keeps going. We talk about the game, about our jobs, about our pets, then our hobbies, then where we went to school. We’ve got a lot in common, apparently.

For the rest of the game, we keep talking. Other than getting drinks or using the restroom, neither of us moved from that spot on the drink rail. As the conversation goes, she’s laughing and smiling. Begins touching my arm when she laughs. Personal space shrinks and we’re standing in very close proximity (so much so that we’re talking on normal conversational voices, despite being in a crowded place). At one point, I had my hand on my beer, she had her hand on her drink, our hands were close. She reached her pinky out, and we....I dunno....held hands (fingers?) for a few minutes. Until one of us took a drink.

Anyway- The football is winding down, all I’ve seen are green lights. My flirting game isn’t strong, but....I was sure this was going well. Anyway, exact quote from me- “I’m enjoying this, and think you’re cool. Would you like to meet up again sometime for a drink or something?”

She flips out. I hear (loudly) how she HAS A BOYFRIEND (in a tone I can only describe as a mix of aghast and disgusted). I’m surprised she didn’t finish the sentence by calling me ‘creep’ or something. It was unbelievably embarrassing, in front of a number of high-ups at my company.

And now I have no idea what I’m walking into on Monday, and am virtually sure my days of being invited to corporate events are over.

Yesterday (Monday) morning, I was at work about 5 minutes before I got called into my boss’ office. The HR person was already there. I got a written Record of Discussion, an assurance that while it goes in my file there are no negative disciplinary implications. I have to retake sexual harassment training within the next 30 days (despite having just taken it last month). I tried to plead my case a bit, but HR said that what mattered was I made her feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough to complain.

When the conversation was over and HR left, my boss asked me to hang back for a minute. He said ‘That whole exercise was bullshit. All the way around’, and that I was still good with him. His advice- even if someone is coming on hard, don’t respond at work functions or around people I work with. Honestly, sounds like good advice to me right now.