I hit the streets of Chicago with a friend last Friday night, two of us back into the singles scene, and ready to get out of dodge. We had only one condition on our final, unknown destination, post dinner: No meat markets. Gack, I hate that club-type, howYOUdoin' (wink, wink) atmosphere.
Superficial conversation with insincere compliments annoy hell out of me; say something of substance, or get out of my face.
We ended up meandering into a place called Dugans, in Greek town; a friendly bar, with a jukebox and casually-dressed folk from all walks of life. Although we *were* accosted by one space-invading fellow before we'd even had time to pull our chairs out, our social circle for the evening was soon established when we were saved by a circle of off-duty sheriffs. We'd found the evening we were looking for, full of laughter and banter, and a few slightly-off-color jokes.
Here was my surprise for the evening, making me realize just how far out of the dating loop I've become: When did it become acceptable to flip your cel phone open in someone's face, and ask for their phone number? Welcome to the 21st century, I guess, but wow, this takes the wind out of your flirting sails... or, at least mine. Each time this happened, I leaned towards an abrupt "I'm not giving you my phone number."
What did I do "before" this system, when I was single, 12 years ago? Hmmmm...probably mentioned something about finding a pen & paper later, which gave me enough stalling time to continue the conversation and decided whether I was handing out my phone number or not.
I'm not very smooth yet. I'll figure this out.
I like this woman. A little class is in order and manners are never out of style no matter how great the technology gets!
ReplyDeleteHmm, you must hang out with a better group since I wouldn't have a prayer of getting a number into my phone hot like that. Someone has to call my phone, and then I can casualy spend five minutes trying to remember how to get it into the phone.
ReplyDeleteOf course since I'm married, this was never a skill I found all that useful.
Well, it's a little early to say if that phone flip is the standard or the exception, but I am dying to hear more.
ReplyDeleteI was informed, the other night, about www.rejectionhotline.com.
ReplyDeleteA list of city-by-city "false" phone numbers you can give out in a pinch. The voice on the other line lets you down easy: This isn't who you were hoping for; you've reached the rejection hotline..."
Amusing. And handy in a pinch, I guess.
But sending someone off with a little hope seems shitty...the thought of someone summoning up the nerve to call me, and getting that message...makes me feel kind of bad.
I'll stick with the "sorry, I just met you, no dice today." It's the lesser of the two rejections, I think.