Poll Results: The Date Should have Ended When He

When he. . . .:

1. Promised to take me dancing but showed me a DVD in his apartment. (For obvious reasons, he wanted to make-out and then some.)
2. Told me he couldn't stop staring at the slutty girl's breasts. (Wasn't that nice, and so honest of him?)
3. Told me off because I forgot he had to feed his sick cat at 8pm. (Actually, all I did was ask if we could see an earlier movie than the 10 pm, that's when he went off.)
4. Took me to a Bruce Springsteen concert.

The votes are in, #2 won with a whopping 3 votes! We had one vote for #4.

These things really happened to me, with four different men. That's important in order to raise the sympathy factor for me. 4 different men. If it was all done by the same person, I'd be the idiot for continuing to see him.

You chose #2 but the correct answer is:..... #4. I know, not obvious. Let me explain.

The only actual date that ended was #3. We were making plans via email. He sent me a nasty paragraph-long response to my request that we make our date earlier. He said that he 'was sorry, but his cat came first. I should have known that he had to feed his cat at 8 pm and 10 was the only time could go. He thought I understood that.' I replied that of course I understood, but I was no longer in the mood for a movie.

#1, the guy was a sleaze. I should have gone home when he told me it was too late to go dancing. Are you kidding me? It's NYC. It was only 11 on a Friday night. That's when the dancing starts.

#2 happened while I was in Scotland for 5 days with my long distance fling. It was only day 3, so I couldn't end it. And I couldn't go home. I really wasn't very bothered by his dumb remark. We were on our way back from Glasgow after a long day. I already knew he was unmannered and immature so I overlooked it. But, still, it was not cute. And I should have paid more attention given what happened later.

#4. This was the best guy. He actually was nice, respectful, and a real gentleman. I had agreed, reluctantly, to go. That was my mistake, not his. I had no idea what I was in for. I never liked Springsteen much, but his music never offended me and I never thought it was awful, some of the songs were catchy and cute. And it was a favor to the guy who had to go with his boss-- to see the boss, ha ha.

The problem was, I had to sit through 3 hours of Springsteen in Madison Square Garden. His music is not annoying until after the first 30 minutes. Then you realize that it all sounds exactly the same: jangling bells, horns and organ, and his shouting, it never ends It began to get very grating. Then, there was the hour long set when he played his entire new album, the artsy jazzish one. It was one of the longest hours of my life. Horrible and painful. Imagine Springsteen slow and moody. At one point, a tuba player came out on stage. There was also an accordion. Then, there was an accordion AND a tuba playing at the same time!! F or the love of all things holy, there should never be a tuba player at a rock concert, nor should there ever be an accordion! The hideous conjunction of the two wrongs made me feel like I had gone to hell. The music was supposed to be dark and deep. It was. In the worst way.

Then there was the crowd: Beer-swilling, middle-aged, wealthy New Jerseyians (tickets cost upwards of 1k for good seats). Beer got spilled on me multiple times. During the concert, we both got so bored, we texted each other throughout. The only highlight of the night was that Elvis Costello came out for an encore and sang with Bruce. And Bruce obviously did not like to share the stage with another star. The two of them competed for the center stage spotlight until Elvis gave up. That was amusing. And I enjoyed seeing the juxtaposition of their clothing. Bruce with his jeans, T-shirt and sneakers; Elvis with his Italian leather shoes and dark Armani ensemble. (How I adore British men). Other than that, I wished I had stayed home. The guy agreed when I told him he owed me big time. But I never went out with him again. (I would have, he was a good guy, but things were getting serious with someone else so it was time to end it with him anyway.)

So that's why the date should have ended before it even began.