Ea and I were skating around town last night, and passed a Baskin Robbins on the way to . . . wherever.

He stopped inside first as I rolled around outside (sometimes I dig the ride on the longboard too much to hop off and walk around). There were two girls behind the counter (hereafter referred to as HBblue and HBgreen, named such as the colors of their shirts were, respectively, blue and green). He opened up HBblue while completely ignoring HBgreen. I didn't catch quite what he said to her, considering I was outside for the first part, but as I saw him with a double scoop, I headed in.

I stood there for a minute, walking back and forth mulling over the decisions. HBblue initiated the convo:

HBblue: So, have you decided what you wanted?
Me: You know, I've never really been a big ice cream fan, so I really have no idea what I want.
HBblue: Did you want to try every flavor?
Me: Is that a challenge?
She explained that she had never seen it done before, so I took it as such. She handed me a cup for the spoons, and started on the end of one cold case.

As we went through the ice cream flavors, she made a point to explain every one, what it would be good with, and mentioned all the ones she didn't like. I borrowed a neg from porktinez:

Me: Ohh, we totally beat you guys last night
HBblue: What?
Me: Aren't you in the CoEd volleyball tournament?
HBblue: No, outside of snowboarding, I don't really do sports.
Me: Actually, on second thought, the girl I'm thinking of had more of an athletic look about her. Well, now you know there's some girl running around that you look like.
HBblue: (giggle)

At that point, a couple of families had come in, and the store was getting crowded. I told HBblue that I was on the verge of diabetic coma after two cold cases of sampling, and needed a rest. I walked outside and had a cigarette as I waited for the crowd to die back down (all the while, Ea had been gaming HBgreen, the girl he had frozen out during his first attempt.

When the crowd had gotten their treats and left, I made my re-entry. HBblue had gone into the back for a moment, and HBgreen was left at the counter. Greenie asked if I wanted to get started again, and I nodded. She got through half of the cold case before HBblue came back out and stepped in for the rest. Some fruity pop song came on the radio and HBblue started singing along. Neg time . . .

Me: Eww, you actually listen to this?
HBblue:Yeah, I like it. Don't you?
Me: I'm kind of a snob when it comes to music. I only listen to the good kind.
HBblue:Well, I have more ecclectic tastes, too

At this point, she began qualifying herself by listing off the genres and groups she liked
Me: (playfully)Your iTunes playlist must hate you

She got to the last flavor on that group of cold cases, which happened to be Love Potion Number 9. After she explained the ingredients, I, in my best Sean Connery voice, said:

Me: Does it work
HBblue:. . . yeah, it tastes like ice cream and melts in your mouth
(Must not've been an SNL fan)

Another rush of people came into the store, and I grabbed my ice water and sat down. Ea and I went over some routines that may or may not work out of earshot, and then worked a canned convo for DHV. The customers left, I went back to work.

After we covered the last cold case, she asked me if I had made up my mind. I said yeah, and asked for a scoop of the tiramisu (the very first one at the other end of the store). She giggled and scooped out a single serving. I told her she should take a picture with me to celebrate this monumental acheivement, and she was down for it.

And at that point I blanked. I paid and left with much buyers remorse for such a great opener with nothing but a picture.

But that's one of my major sticking points. I have a knack for coming up with some great openers, but have some trouble moving past that to secure a number or a kiss when I'm bugging girls at work. I read somewhere that Tyler Durden had gotten some success in these situations, but it's trouble for me. Can anyone give me any pointers to help move past this?