Sunday, March 1, 2009

Speed Dating #2

Given that my first experience with speed dating was 99.9% awful, I decided to give it another try with a different company this past Thursday. This company provides a different location (dark bar in SF over a bright community center in Albany), better age range (26-35 over 30-45), and an overall better atmosphere. 

Drank and I headed to the city, making it just.in.time. We didn't get there early enough to survey the guys or the competition. We picked a seat, and waited for the guys to come 'round. It started off awkwardly like this type of thing always does, but 7 minutes is enough time to calm down and just chat. As usual, most guys were in some sort of web job, there must be a law for that or something. Some seemed to like Second Life or World of Warcraft more than human interaction, but all in all they were super cool guys who had interesting lives and were easy to talk to. 

All except for one. 

They must have been short a few people because they let this 22 year old kid in. He saunters up to the stool and before he even sits down in front of me, he says, "So what's my competition like?" Weird question. I thought to myself 'we're only talking for 7 minutes, who cares what everyone else is like...?' but I all I said was, "they are really cool guys." and his reply was, "that wasn't the right answer, you were supposed to say that last guy was a jerk." 

All right, I see how this is going to go. He's not attractive, he is short, and arrogant as all get out. You all know how I feel about arrogant people... 

I just wanted this longest 7 minutes ever to be over with, so I let him talk. I asked him what he did for a living, he said, "I'm a director at a learning center. I have a JOB in this ECONOMY. I have a JOB in this ECONOMY." Yeah, I get that. I do too. Moving on... 

Him: "So I'm the youngest person in here. I'm 22."
Me: "Oh you're 22....."
Him: "Well how old are you?"
Me: "I'm 30 and you're 22......yeeaaahhhh."
Him: "Well you don't look 30 if that helps."
Me: "Oh wow, thanks."
Him: "I mean, I'm looking for a young professional because I have JOB in this ECONOMY." 
Me: I got nothing.

(Is 7 minutes over yet??)

Me: "So where did you grow up?"
Him: "Born and raised Bay Area." Stares at me.
Me: "Oh I grew up in the Bay Area too, San Rafael."
Him, with attitude: "That's not the Bay Area." 
Me, with attitude: "Are you kidding? It's 20 min from the city, that's closer than San Jose."
Him: "That's not Bay Area. That's the North Bay."
Me, thinking: I'm getting nowhere. That's enough fighting with a 22 year old for a day.

I met some interesting people, girls included, and had a really fun time. It's pretty expensive, so I'll probably only go every few months, but hey, even if I meet no one, these make for very, very good stories.

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