Tag Archives: pda

Am I The Queen of Bad Dates?

7 Nov

You know when you have a gut feeling about something, but you try to push it aside only to find out your gut feeling was right? Yeah well, that pretty much sums up my second date with Mr PAYG.

For those who don’t know, I named him Mr PAYG (Pay As You Go) because when we first decided to take our conversation offline (we met via PlentyofFish) he told me that he couldn’t call me that night because he need to top up his phone credit first. Why on earth he felt the need to tell me that – a). he didn’t have enough money/credit on the phone to call me and b). inadvertently share he that didn’t have good enough credit for a contract phone – I’ll never know.

Anywhooo. I went on the second date planning to have an enjoyable evening but as mentioned in Friday’s blog post ‘The Jury’s Still Out‘ there were slight reservations lurking at the back of my mind. On the positive side, there were lots of jokes and laughter but at the end of the night I came home having decided that there definitely wouldn’t be a date number three. Let me try and break it down for you -

- On the first date I agreed to share a bottle (or two) of rose wine with him. Because, it’s what he drinks and he said it was cheaper to buy a bottle instead of individual glasses. Fine. However, this time the first thing he did when we got to the bar was start browsing the rose wine section of the menu and I pulled him up on it. “I drank nothing but rose last time because it was what you wanted. This time I’d like a rum & ginger beer please, cheers”. He sulked, but got the drinks in and the next round I returned the favour. After which he started on the economic benefits of sharing a bottle of rose again and for an easy life, I just gave in and went with the flow.

- I met him straight after work so naturally after a few hours of drinks, I’m HUNGRY. When I made him aware of this, do you know what he suggests? He suggests “a little place he knows”… and it turned out to be a kebab shop where we shared a portion of chips (fries, my US friends). Did I mention how hungry I was? I’m talking, ‘haven’t eaten since lunch and its now 10pm hungry’. I maybe small but please don’t get it twisted, I love to eat. (Side note: if I’m out with friends or even a guy I’d been dating for awhile I’d see nothing wrong with cheeky chips at the end of a night but even then, I’d want my own portion thank you very much!)

- Before heading home, he decided it would be a good idea to stop in the local Tescos superstore to buy another cheap bottle of rose to drink (whilst walking the streets) on the way back to the train station. Seriously dude? No, just NO.

Everything points to the fact that he is indeed an 18 year old in a 30 year old’s body. He still lives with his Mum, he has a pay as you go mobile phone (and seems to struggle keeping it topped up with credit), he doesn’t have enough common sense to realise if he’s invited a lady out for an after work date, the evening should actually include dinner (NOT standing up in a kebab shop sharing chips) and he thinks its appropriate to swig from a bottle of wine whilst walking down the street – NOT A GOOD LOOK! Also, I’ve since put two and two together and realised that the reason he still messages me on POF although he has my number is because…. it saves him money and means he doesn’t have to use his precious phone credit.

Come now, say it with me “ON TO THE NEXT ONE!”

 

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My Online Dating Pet Peeves

7 Nov

After spending a lot of time browsing dating websites this weekend it has become obvious that I can’t rely on just dating websites alone to aid me in my search. Trawling dating sites is actually a bit tedious after awhile, it’s gotten to the point where I’d much rather be scouring the internet for a holiday or for a pair of shoes to be honest.

So that you can see where I’m coming from, I’ve decided to share some of my online dating pet peeves -

- Mixed Messages. I receive a message from someone who seems pleasant enough so I respond with a bit of chit chat and next thing you know they automatically think that I’m interested. Errr…. no. I was just being polite and not ignoring your message mate. I guess I have to bear in mind that these aren’t social networking sites, these guys are there for one reason only… and it ain’t to make polite chit chat! From now on, I’m ignoring messages if I’m not interested.

- Wannabe Models. Grown-ass men taking topless photos of themselves in the mirror and pouting at the camera. Really? I didn’t realise that I had signed up to be a judge for the male version of Britains Next Top Model.

- Illiterate Mofos. Admittedly online dating makes a person a lot more critical than real life dating does. You can meet a guy in a bar, cafe, park and hit it off without knowing what his spelling and grammar is like. However, here on the net, a guy could look great in his photo and then you read his profile and he sounds like a right spacker. It’s so disappointing.

Just to give you a little taste of what I’ve been going through, here are some of the intro messages I have received:

“hey babes, what u up2?” - Umm. You write like a 14 year old, get lost!

“Ur smile is really wonderful with a lovely face, how are u and ur night. it would be nice to hear from u, keep sweet” Nice sentiment I know, but “how are u and ur night?”. Does that even make sense?

hello angel can i know you if u dont mind” No you can’t ‘know me’ and yes I do mind!

“Where are you from and are you on the phone! Can I take

your number?”- This was a guy whose profile looked promising… and then I got that message. Can you take my number? No, you can’t. You haven’t even bothered to introduce yourself and tell me your real name and this is the first ever message you send to me?

“wow love your smile babes.:0)x “ – Being called ‘babes’ by a guy I don’t know really makes me uncomfortable. A guy I’m seeing, my friends, my family, yep fine. A stranger? Not so much.

“hi u ok nice pic just wanna say hi it would be nice to have a chat if u dont mind” - This guy doesn’t even have a pic on his profile. Do you really expect me to reply to you if you’ve contacted me saying “nice pic”, and you don’t have a photo up yourself? Don’t be silly now.

“hello, u have most beautiful eyes i have ever seen.i wish i was lucky man. xxxx” – Aargh, now I’m just tearing my hair out. Do these guys even read their messages back? Look at that sentence, just look at it!

“hello there ur profile make good reading du make the front page lol how r ya?” – SAY WHAT NOW? *throws hands up in exasperation*

 

Do you see where I’m coming from? Or do you think am I being way too critical? I mean, all of that and I’ve not even mentioned the two users I had to block due to the fact they kept on messaging me morning, noon and night. They didn’t feel that the fact I wasn’t responding was an indication of how I felt, oh no. I found it a bit creepy to be honest. Thank goodness for the ‘block user’ button!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to keep at it. It’s not all bad, there are some promising guys I’ve been speaking to (not managed to bag that elusive first date yet unfortunately) but this week I will be looking into speed dating events. Gotta keep it going!

Please do let me know your thoughts. Am I being too picky? Do you have any tips/ideas/suggestions for other ways I can get out there?

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