FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER!

Sabrina had a masters’ degree and a professional job.  She decided to go online to meet a guy with an equal education. She tried a site called Elite Singles.  She found Curtis, and they talked on the phone a few times. They decided to get together for a meet and greet.

Curtis had been a teacher. He had been married for thirty-five years but was recently divorced.  Sabrina ordered a glass of wine, and Curtis ordered a beer.  Then he started dumping his stuff all over the meet and greet.

He had a history of depression.

He didn’t have any friends.

He didn’t do anything or go anywhere.

Then the big reveal. His wife had left him because she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with him.

Sabrina ordered an appetizer. She could see that the guy needed a shoulder to cry on and some good advice.

“Join a singles’ club,” she said.

“Go to meet-ups.”

“Get out and do volunteer work.”

Do something!

Sabrina ate her appetizer while Curtis droned on and on. He lived with his brother. He didn’t have any money. He volunteered at the library but not up front with the people, in the back with the books.

The guy was an introvert, which was okay for someone somewhere. Just not for Sabrina.

She thanked Curtis for the glass of wine, and she chipped in for the appetizer. The two said their good-byes, and Sabrina was happy she’d dodged that bullet.

The poor guy wasn’t ready to be dating online. You have to have a little bit of confidence to find a date online. Curtis had zero confidence in himself.

Two weeks later, Curtis called again. He wanted to go hiking in a remote place called Mitchell Canyon. Sabrina didn’t feel comfortable going there with a guy she didn’t know, one with depression and one too shy to keep up his end of the conversation.

“Maybe,” she said.

We all know what that meant.

The guy wasn’t bad looking. But the meet and greet had been a little bit excruciating.

Sabrina didn’t see the two of them working out.

The maybe turned into a maybe not.