"Let's do lunch?" No, thanks
It seems this company will set you up with a match and then you meet the person for lunch or after-work drinks. “You don’t do a thing,” the company’s website claims. “All you have to do is show up.”
Interesting. It seems our society has become so lazy that even internet dating has become too much of a hassle. Instead, we want someone else to set up the date, pick the location and time and we will just “show up.” Sounds like a plan for success, doesn’t it?
“I don’t think we would have ever had more than one date if we’d met through something like that,” he said.
I had to ask why.
“First of all, you would never have let someone else pick the restaurant for dinner. Secondly, it drives you crazy when I take a long time to order, so that would have been a killer, too. Then, I would have thought something was wrong with you when you got up to go to the bathroom at least four times.”
He’s right. I don’t imagine those first impressions would have been so great on either side.
Luckily, we met under circumstances that allowed us to get to know each other slowly so that by the time we had our first real date, we knew each other had a wide array of idiosyncrasies.
I wonder if people really meet each other through this type of company. It probably would be easy to go on lots of first dates - after all, you get to sit back and do nothing - but I wonder if any of the first dates lead to second ones.
I imagine the scene sort of more like a business transaction than a date:
Two people show up, both wearing their work clothes and smelling like copier toner. They smile at each other, sit down and explain how they are so busy they must use a dating service to meet someone. They share some small talk, mostly about work of course, and maybe dinner. Something quick, as they are very, very busy. At the end of the date, they stand up, exchange business cards, and mumble some words about having to do this again sometime.
Romantic? Not really.
Of course, I could be wrong. It could be a fantastic system, one designed to foster great relationships.
For me, however, I think the old fashioned way is best. I appreciated the time and excitement involved with an old-fashioned date. That and I hate the smell of copier toner. A lot.
