Disaster Date # 1: The anti-Semite alcoholic (Part II)…

(Part II of the anti-Semite alcoholic story started here)

She proceeds to describe both of her brothers-in-law. First…

Brother-In-Law #1

She started in, “My youngest sisters, she married an awful man. He’s really pushy. Really disrespectful.”

Then the first brick fell loose in the wall that was our date.

“He’s an arab.”

At this point, my oddness senses were ringing a little louder.

Really loud in fact. I mean, I guess you could describe someone as an arab but most normal people wouldn’t. It’s a very weird way to describe someone.

Then she came out with the doosie of the date. The thing that puts the “bam” in the date.

Brother-In-Law #2

“I really hate the other guy my sister married. He’s terrible. So pushy. So opinionated. And cheap. Really God damned cheap.”

I think you can see where this is going.

She rested her nearly finished vodka martini on the bar. Leaned in to make sure no one else could hear. She spoke in hushed tones.

“He’s a Jew.”

At this point, my oddness senses were screaming. The date was over. She may not have known it yet but it was over in my mind.

The she leaned back, took a final sip of her vodka martini and said inquisitely, “You’re not a Jew are you?”

“Um. No I’m not.”

She couldn’t leave it well enough alone. “I have nothing against Jews mind you. I mean I think they’re God’s chosen people.”

I just want to summarize and put on the table what issues she had revealed at this point:

1. Problem with alcohol and/or discomfort with it.
2. Dislike of arabs and a desire to label people based on their ethnicity.
3. A love/hate relationships with Jews. She thinks they’re cheap and obnoxious but God chose them. If she really did feel they were God’s chosen people, one has to ask why she wasn’t a Jew. (Don’t think about it too long. It will hurt your head.)

One last gift of weirdness…

I really just wanted to be polite at this point and speed through the rest of the date as quickly as possible. I paid for drinks. We were about to head out for La Jolla Cove when she asked, “Do you feel comfortable with me driving?” (Again with the drinking.)

“Sure. You know if you’re ok to drive.”

She: “Oh yeah. I drive best when I’m drunk anyhow.”

My head almost exploded. WTF?

Me: “I’m driving.”

I made sure our jaunt to the cove lasted 10 minutes and I vowed to never see her again.

PS

This was in the days when I thought giving unasked for feedback was a good idea. It isn’t and I wouldn’t do it again. But foolishly I wrote her an email explaining how her constant tension over alcohol made me uncomfortable and also how her anti-semitism was very disturbing.

Her note back: “I’m sorry you misunderstood my comments on drinking and Jews. I think they’re God’s chosen people so I don’t bear them any ill-will.”

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Disaster Date # 1: The anti-Semite alcoholic (Part I)…

Ok. So in my experience, there are four distinct ways a date can go…

1. Super, crazy awesome–a date like a Van Morrison song. You’re attracted to her on a deep, meaningful level. She’s attracted to you on that same level. The prospect of a second date keeps you up at night with excitement and the good kind of “nerves.”
2. Respectable–this is a date where you’re not “coo coo for cocoa puffs” but it was nice. You both enjoyed yourself. Maybe there’s a really strong intellectual, emotional or physical connection and you’re down for a second date.
3. Boring–one or more of the people on the date just aren’t feeling it. You’re both nice people but there’s no spark, physically or emotionally. This is the way most dates play out.
4. Complete fucking disaster–so horrible, so scarring, so debauched that you really need to not go out on another date for week or two after. Really fucking terrible. Very few dates rise to this level but when they do, they’re great stories. I repeat GREAT STORIES.

Which brings me to my current tale…

…the anti-Semite alcoholic.

Rewind to four years ago. I was doing speed dating every. Speed dating is a decent idea on paper; in reality, it’s a bad idea. Ineffective. Poorly run.

What Is Speed Dating?

For those of you who haven’t tried speed dating or heard about what it entails. Here goes…

…there are x number of men and x number of women at each event. Ostensibly they are single. Every x minutes (usually 5), a buzzer is rung and men have to switch tables and sit next to a different woman. Within these 5 minutes, you’re supposed to make up your mind about whether you’d like to go out with this woman and she with you.

At the end of the night, you create a little tally of the folks you’d like to see again and submit it online or with the person running the event. With that explained, I’ll explain how I met the anti-Semite alcy I have built up so much.

“Hey, why not?”

A lot of very bad ideas have started with this premise and my encounter with Ms. Alcy was no different.

You see, I had met Ms. Alcy once before at another speed dating event. When I tallied my matches, I had decided not to mark her as a “yes, I want to see her again.” Nothing visibly wrong. I just didn’t feel a chemistry.

After seeing the list of women who matched me but that I hadn’t matched, I saw her name. She clearly felt more strongly than I did.

The next speed dating event…

I arrived at the next speed dating event and lo and behold, she was there. The conversation was pleasant and I said to myself, “Hey, why not?”

I marked her as a “yes” and she did as well. We went for a quick lunch on a weekday in Old Town. I have to say, honestly it was pleasant. Nothing odd. Nothing unusual. But pleasant. We made plans to grab dinner at TGI Friday’s and then hang out in La Jolla Cove. I was looking forward to it. She seemed to be as well. Little did I know that…

…the second date would turn in a titanic-style disaster movie.

In the week following our first date and before our second date, she had called me and said, “Hey can we skip dinner and just do drinks. It’s been a tight week financially.” A very reasonable request.

The night of the second date. We arrived at TGI Fridays. We sat at the bar. I ordered a non-alcoholic beer because well, I like non-alcoholic beers. And I didn’t really want to drink too much. The moment the words slipped my lips about my choice of beverage, she said, “Boy you’re going to hate me now.”

My head spun a bit and before I can ask for clarification, she ordered a vodka martini. I asked her for clarification but she demurred and didn’t really answer the question. At this point, my oddness sensors were buzzing on vibrate.

But the conversation went on. I noticed that there’s constant references to alcohol. And there seemed to be some tension about it. I made a mental note about it and went on with the date.

Then the topic of her two younger sisters came up. She clearly disapproved very strongly of their choice of mate. It was with these two revelations where the date went from…

…boring date to complete fucking disaster.

It’s a bad date when….

There are several ways to tell if a date is not going lead to a 2nd date.  If any of the following things are happening while you are on a date, get out of there – fast.  If, like me, all of the following things happen during just one date, learn from this and RUN, run like it’s Kansas during twister season!!

The initial meeting

He was running late but he called to tell me he was running late, so that evens out.  However within 10 minutes of meeting this man, he informed me that he lied about his age on his profile.  He is several years older than he stated online.

To this I simply ask “why?”  because I still would have met him if I had known his real age.  And he gives me a long answer about keeping the older ladies away.   I remind him that when one is dating ONLINE there is no obligation to meet anyone in person that you are not interested in – even if they are too old.

This is a minor red flag.  But if the actual age is still age-appropriate for you, it’s forgivable.  For me the actual age was fine, so I ordered a beer.

He “thinks” he’s funny!

The conversation is going ok, we laugh and then he asks, absurdly, about other men I have met on this site.  I feel like this is irrelevant.  Why would he want to hear about my other dates, unless he wants to bond over miserable dating experiences – and I don’t want to do that.  I’m here to learn more about him.  But he asked and then he asks if any other meetings had been “successful”.

Before I answer the question, I think to myself  “Obviously not too successful seeing as how I’m on a date with someone else right now”.  But I decide to go with the more absurd answer.  I said “Well, the last guy I met told me that I was hotter than my picture, so I consider it a success”.

To which he replies “Did you pet his dog?”  And I don’t immediately get the incredibly funny joke he is telling.  So he explains that blind people have dogs.

PARDON?!?!?!?!?! This man (if we can still call him that) has just basically called me ugly within 1 hour of meeting me.

My mouth hangs agape as he laughs and says he’s joking and tells me I’m adorable.  Based on the fact that I had a full, ice-cold beer I stayed to finish it.  Which brings me to…

The drinking

By the time I am ready to leave, I have had 2 beers.  He has had 2 top shelf vodka on the rocks and 2 beers.  He goes up to the bar to pay the tab (which is 80% his own alcohol) and when he comes back, he announces “Next time, drinks are on you”.

To which I laugh and say “Oh, really?”  And he says “Or dinner or something”.  So he has basically told me that if I were to see him again (he obviously hadn’t realized that ship had sailed) I was to be the one paying for his heavy drinking habit.  To which I think to myself  “Exhale buddy – that ain’t gonna happen”

So we leave the bar

We get up to leave and I think he still thinks he might see me again.  But that doesn’t compel to be a gentleman in any way.  Which is evidenced by him opening the door, walking through and letting it go – leaving me inside standing in front of a closed door.  Soooo Classy!

Then he offers to walk me to my car.  And I accept.  I was parked 3 blocks from the bar – which is pretty close in La Jolla.  After one block he complained about how far it was.  I graciously relieved him of his duty and told him I would be fine walking the rest of the way myself.  He kept walking with me.

At two blocks, he asked how much farther.  I, again, assured him I could make it back to my car just fine without him.  He kept walking with me.  When we finally did get to my car I stopped walking.   (Sidebar – my car was a 1993 Chevy S-10 pickup and it was 15 years old at the time – so it looked a little rough but it ran well so I was still driving it)

He saw my truck and promptly replied “This piece of shit is your car?”  If he hadn’t won me over by then, I was completely smitten by that gem of tenderness!

Follow up

I was 100% certain that I would never see this guy again.  But he wasn’t.  I got an email from him the following week asking me how I was and how my week was going.  I suspect he was fishing for me to offer to take him out and buy him drinks (like a sugar daddy with a new, hot, young mistress).   So, I responded by telling him my week was going great and asked how his was going?

Funny, I never got a response to that email.

It’s crazy how both people can eventually tell when it’s not working out.