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The Spin Cycle this week is about dating. My dating days are far behind me, thank goodness. However, I’ve done my share of it, and I’ve written about it. In fact, I can’t think of anything else to say about the subject top that post, so I hope all of my long-time readers will forgive me if I re-post my little ditty on the trials and tribulations joys of internet dating.
In 1997, after my relationship with The Young One’s father limped to an end and we did the “let’s be friends” thing (which we have, quite successfully) I decided after nearly 16 years of long-term, exclusive relationships it was time for me to play the field a bit. Unfortunately, it had been so long since I’d actually dated I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. Hanging out in bars wasn’t going to cut it – I’d had my fill of that in the year before I married the first time – and there was the fact I had three kids at home and worked full-time. I was pretty sure I could make time for dates on Friday or Saturday nights, I was just worried about how to meet people to date.
Oddly enough, it was The Young One’s father who came to the rescue. Just as anxious to get on with his life and a bit more computer savvy (at least when it came to the opposite sex, but then again, he’s a man), he’d already dipped his toes into the waters of internet dating and found them to be just fine. So, I asked a few questions, which he answered, and before I knew it I was back on the meat market.
Now, you’ve got to understand this was over 10 years ago – Match.com was in it’s infancy (in fact, it was free in those days and yes, I had a profile – I even met a pretty nice guy through the site) and eHarmony hadn’t even been conceived. Most people put ads on various online bulletin boards, and that’s how I started. You also have to realize that Google was very, very new (and therefore not the powerhouse it is now), search engines were far more numerous (and far more inaccurate), and you couldn’t just do a search for something like “rules of internet dating” and find 4 million websites dealing with how to safely meet and date people online. It was pretty much a “learn as you go” process and brother, did I go and learn. Very quickly.
But all of that is for another post. For now, I’ll just tell you about My Four Most Memorable Internet Dates. Because honey, I’ll never EVER forget them.
#1 – Cyrano de Bergerac I think out of all my internet dates, this one was the most disappointing. I exchanged emails with Cyrano for over two weeks before we decided to meet for dinner. I was so excited to meet him – our email exchanges had been marvelous. He was intelligent. He was eloquent. He was sensitive. He was charming. He was very, very witty.
He was a goddamn fraud.
We met for dinner at a restaurant halfway between his place and my apartment; good neutral ground. Okay, so he never told me about his Popeye-esque forearms, but that didn’t bother me in the least – I’m sure I’d downplayed the size of my ass. But we sat down to order and…he said nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Bupkis. I dealt every conversational gambit I had in my hand, and was met with monosyllables followed by eerie silence. I’ve never sat through a meal that dragged on the way that one did.
And at the end, he paid the check, looked me dead in they eye and said, “So, do you want to go back to my place?”
Uh…no. I went home. I never emailed him again, and he never emailed me again. I don’t know about him, but I wasn’t sorry in the least.
#2 – The Stock Broker He was a little pompous and self-important to begin with, but we really had a lot of common interests. I enjoyed our correspondence. And, I have to admit, after 16 years of what couldn’t quite be described as penury (but wasn’t far from it), I was not going to turn down a date with a real, live stock broker. With whom I apparently had a lot in common.
We decided to meet at an “English pub” not too far from my workplace because I’d recently become enamored with Black Velvets – like a Black and Tan, only with hard pear cider instead of Harp’s lager – and because he wanted to see if their Shepherd’s Pie was “authentic.” *sigh* Yeah, I should have realized then, but I’m nothing if not optimistic.
We’d no sooner sat down and ordered dinner when he apparently decided we’d dispensed with enough pleasantries, thank you very much, and began to plan, in great detail, our next date – which included sex. And more sex. And nothing but sex. When I asked him, “Don’t you think we should get to know each other a little better before we discuss that?” he looked me dead in the eye and replied, “We’ve already gotten all of that out of the way.”
I did NOT wait for my beef and Yorkshire pudding. I don’t care how authentic it was.
#3 – Hair Club for Men This date is memorable for so many reasons. Our email exchanges had gone pretty well – ten or twelve years older than me (or so I thought), he was suave, sophisticated and experienced. While we didn’t share the immediate chemistry I’d felt with Cyrano, our correspondence was such that I believed we might be able to develop something more than just friendship, and his maturity intrigued me, especially since I was older than both The Ex and The Young One’s father.
I’m afraid I embarrassed myself a tad when we met for lunch, because although he was waiting for me at the hostess’ station of the restaurant, in plain view, I kept looking around. You see, he was at least twenty years older and 50 pounds heavier than the picture he’d provided. And he had something that resembled a dead wombat on his head – it took me a few minutes to realize it was a toupeé. I must have recovered really well, though, because he was every bit as charming as I’d anticipated as we sat down to lunch and I really enjoyed myself. I was quite willing to meet him for another date when he suggested it.
Until the check came, at which point he looked me dead in the eye and asked me if I minded going dutch, because his wife controlled their expenses and he didn’t want her to see anything suspicious.
Back to the drawing board.
#4 The Really Creepy Old Perv There’s just no other way to describe this guy. Nothing he told me about himself was true – not his age, not his looks, not his marital status, not his motive. Nothing. I went to the restaurant to meet him – mercifully at lunch, so I had my job as an excuse to flee the premises as quickly as possible – only to find a man in his early seventies rather than his mid-forties. Nor was he interested in maintaining any sort of pretense once he had me at the table with him. He was very straight-forward, I have to give him that.
It was the only thing he was getting.
Because he looked me dead in the eye and announced he and a very close friend (who was the same age) were interested in the occasional-yet-regular threesome with a young, attractive woman. They were prepared to pay handsomely. I was prepared to run like my life depended upon it.
And I did.
I don’t want you to get me wrong – I had a blast during the 18 months I dated via the internet and met a couple of really great guys. Most people out there are just who they say they are – perfectly normal individuals with varied interests and lifestyles. I really believe you can meet the person of your dreams that way.
I also know I’m not the only person out there with blind date horror stories. What’s yours?
Thank you for letting my day start with this! I am in SUCH a great mood now after laughing my butt off. I’ve been on 1 blind date in my entire life and it was nothing like any of the four you had, just friendly and nothing happened. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during your dates! Until you got home, of course. Even flies have decency, right? You’re linked!
Sprite’s Keepers last blog post..It was a quiet afternoon…
Thanks for the great laugh, Jan! I have a whole new respect for you…WOW!!! Them there dates are some doozies! Don’t think I can top that!
Nothing Fancys last blog post..Halfway There
I met Hubby on an internet dating site back in 1997 called American Singles and had a few strange dates as well. I met Hubby in March and 2 months later we were living together… he was normal, handsome, not a pervert, single, employed… need I say more? I took the normal guy and ran with it and here it is 12 years later. Now married to Mr. Normal with no toupee and no threesomes. YAY
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
Dis last blog post..Framed Corkboard Project
I was so horribly unprepared for that Wombat picture…now yogurt parfait is all over my computer screen! Hilarious post…sorry you had to live through those stories but I enjoyed reading them!
The Stiletto Moms last blog post..The Silence Of The Bunnies
haha, what, you turned down the threesome?
I have not been on internet dating, but at uni there was a website called uniromance or something like that for our university, where you could just chat, and my friends and I used to go on it together to see if there were any “normal” guys. Sad to say the ones who spoke to us were just up to see if we wanted a shag or to wind us up. Which I guess is why we were on there, to wind them up. I think it is good nowadays when so much of life is conducted online though, why not meet people online?
SSGs last blog post..New York, New York
Great spin! Funny, my spin is also about internet dating.
I had Mr. Grope and Slobber (yuck!), the guy who was ready to move from Erie to Philadelphia and move in with me because he didn’t have a job (uh. no.) the guy who finally admitted that yes, he was married but his wife didn’t meet his needs (just go away), and finally the guy who readily admitted he was married and was looking for a girlfriend because he was sleeping on the sofa at home because his wife wasn’t interested in sex any more since she had her hysterectomy. Strangely, we ended up being friends! At least he was honest in his intentions!
Then I finally met truly available and we’ve been togehter for nearly 3 years now!
Joanie Ms last blog post..Spin Cycle: Dating: Breaking all the rules
I think you might have missed out on some authentic beef.
Twenty Four At Hearts last blog post..Yes, I’m Staring at Your Boobs
Oh man am I glad you invited me over here for this post. Too funny. I have to say though, you kinda prove my point about dating being different, even that many years ago. Seems people just wanna skip to the horizontal mambo ASAP-RIGHT NOW. BUT I see that you were able to make the best of these dates from hell, as you should, and I thank you for sharing them with us! I needed a laugh!
Oh the marvels of the meat market. Nothing like it I tell ya!
GiGi @ Incrementums last blog post..Sort of Wordless Wednesday
Funny and Scary at the same time. Makes me want to stay home with some Netflix and chocolate this w/e…
Maureen at IslandRoars last blog post..Island Life
Great stories
The blind date that I can’t remove from my memory was when she needed a shave more than I did.
On her face, I hasten to add.
Red Squirrels last blog post..Sorry…
I enjoyed it just as much the second time around.
Smart Mouth Broads last blog post..GOAT WHISPERING
Nothing beats Manee trying to hook me up with the guy who had a prison tattoo that said “Redneck”. He drank too much and I got to watch him puke all night
Well, my last dating was BEFORE internet dating was thought of, but there WERE blind dates. Um . . . the guy with terribly bad breath whose job was to figure out if people had lost their sense of smell or were just lying about it (yeah, all he’d have to do is breathe in their face and he’d know in an instant). . . of course there is also the one that got away but that’s a whole nother story! Thanks for the entertaining post!
Elaine at Lipstickdas last blog post..Pool Sex
I am so cheered up right now. Only you could have told these stories so perfectly. I cannot even say which one I liked the best, I loved them all. The wombat picture, still sponging the zinfandel off my chin.
Pseudos last blog post..Spin Cycle: Dating (Sorta Kinda)
hah! High Five! I re-posted too. Mine was not one-fourth as hilarious though. Follow up high five! Behind the back! Down Low! Too Slow! Yes, I’ve had too much sugar tonight. Why do you ask?
Rachels last blog post..Spin Cycle: To all the boys I loved (or liked, or whatever) before…
Ok, see most of those are just so wrong! What the hell are people thinking? The wombat is too funny though. Though IT will probably not like the fact that I just spewed juice into my keyboard…
Mama Badgers last blog post..My Date Spin
Thanks for the laugh.
Kingsmoms last blog post..Spin Cycle – Dating
You are just too funny, sweetie. The description of that silent date really struck home with me. I had a few like that during my four year hiatus back into the dating world. There is nothing worse than having to endure a whole dinner in miserable silence! Give me a man who at least knows how to talk! In fact, I am going to go kiss my wonderful husband right now….
Gingers last blog post..Ginger’s Drinking Ginger Mojitos!