Karen Savoy / Sputnik Photography

The following anonymous submission has been modified for readability.

I once went on a date that went awfully. This was in February, after a particularly nasty snowstorm. He texted me to let me know he was waiting outside in his car for me. As I was walking out to his car, I slipped on a patch of ice in my high-heeled shoes and fell. Thank goodness he did not see me fall! Anyway, he was nice, we went to the restaurant, but then it started to go downhill. The entire three hours we were at this restaurant, he would only talk about himself. I don’t think he asked me one question about myself. Then, when the food came, it was as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. He did not look at me once while we ate and inhaled one pound of wings without saying a word. I had to pull the emergency card and ask my friend to call me and save me from that horrible date. The problem: the friend who called me and pretended there was an emergency was walking into the restaurant as we were leaving. It was so awkward, we all stood there and my date was so confused. I had to play it off and lie and say the emergency was still happening. He drove me home in silence and then he had the confidence to ask me when our next date was going to be. As if! 

Wow, this one seems brutal. So sorry you had to go through this, it just seems so awkward. I hate it when people spend an entire date only talking about themselves, it’s so not the point of a date. If you want to vent and talk about yourself, go out with your friends. Don’t do that on a date, there’s a time and place for it. I also think it’s quite bold of him to have ordered wings on a first date, then add the fact that he did not speak the entire time, this is just hard to read. Hopefully, you let him down easy though and did not just ghost him because as awful as that date sounded, he still deserves the respect of you telling him why it won’t work out. 

This article was originally published in print Volume 23, Issue 4 on Thursday, Dec. 7.