Bad Date Stories
Cheapskate!

I met this man via the internet...seemed like a decent guy after we talked on the phone a few times, and decided to meet for coffee at a local cafe. He was there before I was, and when I arrived and greeted him, he suggested I get myself some coffee. Hmmm. Okay, so he's not the chivalrous type. We get along fairly well and make plans to see a movie later in the week. Even though I only lived about 10 minutes away, he called me and suggested that we meet at the theater. Since parking is always an issue, and the cineplex is huge, I told him we'd be better off going in one car, and if he wanted I'd drive over to his place and we'd go from there. Fine.

Anyway, we get to the theater and he tells me he has coupons that the theater sent out to the community soon after they opened to encourage business. Great, I said, but why didn't I get one in the mail? Anyway, it was early and neither of us had dinner, and after we found our seats and had a few minutes before the movie started, I said maybe I'll go out and see if they sell soft pretzels. "Oh, well, while you're there would you get me a large popcorn and a medium coke?" Um, okay, was my response, anything else? No, he said, oblivious to my sarcasm. I fulfill his order, while I had to punt because they didn't sell the damned pretzels and I get something else. The tally is over 10 bucks, most of it his popcorn and coke.

I return, fully expecting him to, at the very least, offer to ante up $$$ for his share. All I wanted was the gesture, had he made it, I would have declined. But I'm thinking, we got into the theater free, I not only fetch him his popcorn, but pay for it as well, and he asked ME on this date....But did I cut my losses then and there? Nope. Why I don't know, because frankly he was rather boring. So we continued to date, sort of. The only thing we had in common was a passion for professional football, so for a few Sundays I would go over to his place and watch the game...but when I would leave it was after dark, and he never, even after I mentioned it, walked me to my car. It wasn't that he lived in a bad neighborhood, but I parked my car by his garage and had to step around garbage cans and various other potentially hazardous objects that were easily maneuvered in daytime, but not after dark, and there was no light. Strike 2.

I really knew this relationship was not going anywhere when he invited me to join him in Hawaii for three weeks, and all I would have to pay was $1500, and I turned him down. Three weeks in Hawaii for 1500 bucks, including airfaire, was a steal, and considering how cheap he was this was quite an offer. But alas, as much as I love Hawaii, the mere thought of sitting next to him on an 8 hour flight made me shiver, and as I said to a friend, although not original, it was quite apropos: "If those were my last three weeks on earth I would go with him, because it would seem like forever." So he returns, ready to pick up where we left off, wherever that was.

One night we walked to a local restaurant from his place, about four blocks, and the entire trip, to and from, he walked about 10 paces in front of me. He's 6'2", I'm 5'5". Gosh, who do you think has a longer stride? I'm all but running to keep up with him and I can't, because it's freezing out and he speeds up because he's cold. Meanwhile I'm feeling like an ass because this moron's all but leaving me in his dust. After we arrive at our destination, I tell him I don't like that he walks ahead of me like that, that it's degrading and humiliating. He tells me to walk faster, I should keep up with him. Say what? I explain that this is physically not possible, his legs are far longer than mine, and he had to slow his pace. This was the second time we'd had this conversation, obviously, he either didn't get it or didn't care, or both. We leave the restaurant, (I don't remember who paid, it didn't matter anymore) sure enough, the poor thing is cold, and sprints ahead of me. That was it.

Strike one, he was cheap...overlooked. Strike 2, didn't walk me to my car, even after I asked him to (okay, anything after this I deserved) Strike 3, insulted me by ignoring my requests not to make me feel like his underling and disrespecting me by walking in front of me. He left a couple of messages, and finally I just sent him an email wishing him luck. I told him I met someone else.

~by an Anonymous Girlposse.com Reader
October 2002

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