took HIM to Pastrami QUEEN

For once, I think I got the story almost as it broke. And I'm overjoyed by its content as well, for a number of reasons. This post is so artistic that I unilaterally tagged it greatest Hitts right off the bat. It's humorous yet evocative in its absolute slap down of every move Jim thought he had up his sleeve:

• No car service on weekeend's when we know that the car service was likely the only reason Ellen ever consented to Jim's Coney Island proposition--and even then, she was hesitant. Sure enough, her aversion to "hot and smelly" public transportation means the date ended several hours before Jim wanted it to...and despite his enviable professional status and advanced years, he took the bus home when it mattered most.
• Jim wound up wanting pastrami, or at least expressing this desire, in a blind boyish pursuit leading him to forget his real objective. Ellen had said that Pastrami King was a "YUM"-my prospect, but is also concerned about her weight, so she could have gone either way. The tenuous resolution? Pastrami QUEEN! Here is a rare instance when I think Ellen's CAPS actually convey special meaning. SHE took HIM to Pastrami QUEEN--meaning that the lunch went from his prerogative, and his dime, to hers, with the shift from "King" to "Queen" as setting an impressionistic touch. (By the way, further to yesterday's exchange and map about Ellen's habitat, I think she threw in "near my apartment" on purpose here. Pastrami Queen, from what I can tell, only has one location. I had also reminded readers that Ellen might live in Brooklyn, but it sounds like she wants to set us straight on this.) 
• The other important change to lunch, of course, between Jim's vision and what actually went down, is that far from bringing greater intimacy with this delicate young lovely, he is being BILLED for Ellen's TIME AND THE PASTRAMI. Further, it sounds like she's going to bring this (metaphorical) meat back to MP, solidifying that her loyalties are to work/employer rather than romance/client-turned-beau. Ellen is all business, as Jim should have known! 

1. In sum: I can't think of a greater burn, after asking someone out, than talking shop the whole meal, having my suggestion for a further activity flatly refused, being sent away on a bus as my love interest made sure I did not find out where s/he lived, and then seeing all of it on an invoice at the end of the month. No word here on whether Ellen is still considering Jim & Co. as a prospective employer should she choose to go IN-HOUSE, but at least as a suitor I suspect this was it for Jim. In this capacity, I project that he now follows Larry, Harold, Captain in the Army, Guy from 4th Avenue, and all the others (except star-crossed Alan) into total oblivion.

1. Have a glass of wine when you're done today, Ellen. I'd treat you myself if I could. This was a rare coup de grass.

Ellen August 5, 2012 at 11:28 am

I am workeing NOW. FOOEY!

I wasted alot of time yestereday going over the EBT’s with Jim. Then he told he did not have the car service on weekeend’s but we could hop an F train to Coney island. I said it was to hot and smelly and their was a lot of track work on Saturday.

He wanted pastrami so I took HIM to Pastrami QUEEN near my apartment, and b/c we were talkeing about WC Law, I am billeing him for my TIME AND THE PASTRAMI. Yummy pastrami and the Manageing partner doesn’t know that I will be billeing back the cleint! Yay!

I told him it was too hot to go to a movie so he took the bus home. I did NOT TELL HIM WHERE my apartement is.

Read more: http://corporette.com/2012/08/03/weekend-open-thread-144/#ixzz22ghL6rFZ

I guess our intel isn't much better than Jim's--but still progress. Ellen resides somewhere around here (Pastrami Queen identified as Point A):

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