I'm well aware by posting this, there will likely be folks chiming in, "they're waitresses, they're trained to be hospitable, friendly, it's their job... what they want, it's not you," and so on. Of course, you may well be right.

And yet sometimes, I like to at least entertain the thought one of them had a "thing" for me. I'll see a glint in their eye, and wonder if it has meaning beyond the mundane... and, well, why not?

So I was at the bourgeois cafe, this bohemian place in the center of town, everything is farm-to-table. The menus were affixed to fine mahogany slabs of wood, you held the very essence of this place in your hand, soon as you sat down.

I was in a party of three. In comes our waitress, immediately I notice the sleek face, angular like a work of art. Her brown hair was pulled back in a down-to-earth way, she's very plain, but in the best of ways. She gives off an air of cool introversion, you might mistake for "cold" but I took it as "not very extroverted" and that's, like, perfect for me. She had to be around 30 years of age, but only looked better for it. I was hooked.

I was dressed well and must've looked good, and she knew it, right? Because she was by-the-numbers with the other 2 in my party, and yet reserved a beaming smile and solid eye contact just for me. And every time she came back to the table. Surely, it meant something good?

The thing is, what would/could I have done, in this situation? If I complimented her or asked for the number, isn't that forcing an awkward situation because she's on the clock?

Could I simply be imagining things or projecting fantasy scenarios for my ego? Because surely any decent woman--who must have any number of options in the market, if they're not already taken--would not be attracted to some thin, awkward loser like me right?

TL;DR What would you have done, in the same situation?