Oh I just couldn't do it.....I'd just HAVE to go on my own, and if anyone questioned, I'd have to tell them that it's not necessary for me to have a man on my arm to validate me.

YOU are the one who works for the company. YOU are the person that needs to 'mingle' and make a good impression. If you take a man with you, you may judged on his merits (or lack of them) and not your own....how could you do that, if it's not a man you choose to be associated with long term?

How would you be expected to handle this if you were in a same sex relationship? How can they discriminate against single people by MAKING you take a bloke with you? You say, 'This is Texas' as though you are not entirely in agreement with this attitude, so why not challenge it? It'll always be that way if people who disagree fit in for the sake of not making trouble. If it weren't for Rosa Parks, then perhaps there'd still be racial segregation. Why not make a stand against an outdated (and frankly, to my foreigner's mind, shockingly offensive) attitude?

__________________
"Time flies like an arrow -
Fruit flies like a banana"

M Y - N A U G H T Y - P I C T U R E S ! !