One of the strange things about working in a remote office is that you spend a lot of time talking to (or chatting with — we use a lot of the instant messenger) people you’ve never met in person. Since I had to skip this year’s trip to the Great White North, I missed my opportunity to meet a lot of the new people I work with. But part of that was remedied this week when two of my co-workers spent time in the Minneapolis office.

I was super excited to meet MC Accent. I had spent every day this summer talking to him on the phone and I was beyond curious to see what he looked like. I was not, however, prepared for the kick in the stomach laying eyes on him would give me.

When MC Accent walked past my cell, I gasped. He looked so much like the last guy to break my heart that I was taken aback. I covered up the inappropriate reaction with sheer enthusiasm and forced excitement. It garnered me a smile that gave me butterflies.

Instantly I found myself oddly repulsed and yet completely attracted to this messy-haired creature in the nice sweater. Plus, he had the extra-added bonus of the dead sexy accent from a different continent. I wanted to spend all my time flirting with him and at the same time avoiding him at all costs. I was drawn to him, and at last night’s office party had to resist the urge to leave my posse to go sit right next to him and learn everything I could about him.

My reaction has puzzled me.

See, I have another co-worker who looks like a different ex. However this co-worker, who works in my office, repulses me. He bothers me so much that I have a hard time being civil to him. I can only give him the smallest of fake smiles, and I can’t make eye-contact when he talks to me. His only crime is looking, sounding, and talking exactly like an ex-boyfriend. It’s infuriating that not only does his voice sound like the ex’s, he uses the same words, same phrasing, and talks exactly like him. If I didn’t know better, I would think they were brothers. It’s disturbing.

These two different reactions to the doppelg?ngers is bugging the shit out of me. If I think about it, things ended better with the Minneapolis Doppleganger’s ex than it did with the Canadian Dopplegänger, and yet I wanted the CD and cannot stand the MD. I can’t figure it out for the life of me, and unfortunately it’s all my brain wants to think about.