Sunday, November 2, 2008

Sure Thing, Babe


It's been a bit unsettling to me as to how pessimistic I've been feeling about dating lately. Just to give a most recent example of what I'm talking about, I'll relay my most recent encounter with a guy who seemed to have some dating potential in my eyes.

After we exchanged numbers at a bar, I received a text message from him asking me if I was free to go see a movie that saturday. First of all, a fucking movie? I've always considered that to be sort of a cop out date because you can't really talk in the movie theater so what is the damn point of going to the movies with a stranger? You will still walk away from this date a stranger.

Second of all, a fucking text message? And it's not just him who prefers to text, not to call. I understand that text messages are so wonderfully convenient when you want to relay an important bit of information to someone but do not really have the time for a long phone conversation. Yes, text messaging comes in handy there, but not when you are asking someone out on a date! How tacky, how cowardly, how distasteful. And he is probably the fourth person in a row that prefers to text me more than call me. What's up with that, I say.

I bluntly texted him that I would prefer it if we had a phone conversation before we make plans to hang out, and luckily he seemed okay with that. He called me that evening and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he actually did not have a personality of a cardboard cutout. He seemed lively, humorous, intelligent, and I was again reminded as to how sexy his voice sounds.

That said and done, we made plans to see a freaking movie. Hell, I thought, it's been some time since I've been on a date, maybe a movie isn't such a bad idea. I did forewarn the guy that I might have to do some work over the weekend so our date plans were, by no means, definite.

Friday, the day before the date came, and to my dismay I began to realize that with the amount of work I had to do over the weekend, I wouldn't be able tto get out of the house at all. That meant that I had to cancel my date on Saturday. I texted him (hey, I was legitimately too busy to make a phone call!) with an apology and asked if we could reschedule for Tuesday night.
"Sure thing, babe." he texted me back.

Seriously? Babe? I sighed with disgust and showed the text message to my friend who was with me at the time. He rolled his eyes in affirmation of the inappropriateness of the guy's reply, "He's calling you babe already? You found yourself a winner."

Now Tuesday is only two days away and I am kind of looking at the impending date, if it will ever happen, with a feeling of doom, rather than excitement. I don't know when exactly I stopped enjoying dating, but that moment crept up on me and I no longer find myself excited when faced with a prospect of going on a date. Maybe it's the quality of guys I am meeting in this city. Or maybe it's not them, it's me. Regardless of the reasons, if I do go on this particular date and he calls me "babe" as soon as he greets me, I am so outta there.

3 comments:

Penny Lane said...

I'm not a fan of being asked out via text either. I had one date with a guy who never once called me on the phone. Our entire "courtship" was communicated in text messages. I thought it was pretty weak. It's an easy way for a guy to ask you out without risking a real chance of rejection. If you're not interested, you just don't text back and he doesn't have to hear a lame excuse like "I have to wash my hair" or "I'm not interested in dating right now."

But good for you for at least putting yourself out there and giving it a shot. I think there's at least good karma in that if nothing else.

P said...

i dont really mind the idea of being asked out by text - cuts out the embarrassment factor plus im bad on the phone!!

i'm totally "off" guys right now though anyway. dating is too much hassle.

Anonymous said...

Yes what is up with that! I've never been into text messaging - why waste your time typing when you could just make a quick phone call? But lately, I've been using text messages to send cute little notes like "hey baby, how's your day so far?". I think it's a good way of staying in touch throughout the day without getting tired of each other by talking constantly on the phone...
That being said, I think it's really lame to ask someone out on a date via text. Damn I wish I was 20 in the 90's, back then, guys had to call!

-Narcissiste