The date from Hell
(21 june 2007)
I got a call from a womens magazine, one of my ex colleagues had recommended me for a blind date project they were working on. I accepted the blind date, were a dinner with wine was paid for by the magazine and the day after we would individually be interviewed about how we think the date went. After all I dont meet alot of new people at nowadays.
After a couple of days I finally found out what kind of magazine it was by looking it up on the net, it was a womens lifestyle magazine for women over 40, and probably even more over 50. As I just turned 39 I started to get suspicious that the date would be really old, might even have kids half my age or close to it. So the next weeks before the date I got wuite nervous.
The day of the date approached and I got a call from the reporter, telling me that I would meet the date and the reporter outside a restaurant in my town. So I went in good time to arrive at the restaurant at 7.30 PM as decided. I would easily recognize them I was told cause they were both short and dark haired.
At 7.37 a car pulled up and a blonde short woman got out. I didnt take notice of this cause I was looking after two dark haired ones. The woman walked up to me and asked if I was waiting for a date, and I agreed that I was and she presented herself with a name quite different than the name I was given on the date the week before. The reporter was delayed she said, but we should look up the reservation for a table and start the date anyways.
We went inside and at app 7.45 the reporter came in and explainded the framework of the date. We got 500 SEK (app. 60 USD) to spend for the whole dinner and then the day after we would meet the reporter individually for an interview. As this was on a wednesday, she also explained that we were scheduled to get our pictures taken on monday for the article. The reporter left.
After looking at the menu, just the main courses was starting at 140 SEK and wine was 200 SEK a bottle. That meant that if you ordered the cheapest hot dish on the menu, you could get one dish and wine, but no coffee or dessert after the dinner within the budget. Not my idea of a dinner with wine, starter or dessert and coffee after the meal is madatory for me in such a dinner plan.
Well off into dinner things were going great, the woman before me, 44 years old looked a bit worn by life and not exactly my type but she was nice and easy to have conversation with. Getting to know her life situation she had divorced some years ago and had a son just turning adult and moving out and a girl in her early teens. Both kids she had full time after the divorce and the relation with the childrens dad I understood was not good, in fact they were ”at war” as she described it.
At 8.20 PM the course was eaten, very good food and I wanted a coffee. We were presented with the dessert menu, and the date decided that she wanted an Irish Coffee 4cl instead of an ordinary coffee. As I was having a good time, although with no romantic interest whatsoever followed the example. She was determining how the date went with asking me if there would be a possibility for me to be involved with her or not, saying at the same time that she didnt think we were any kind of match other than possible friends, a conception I very much agreed to.
At 8.40 the Irish Coffee was finished. The date wanted to order some more alcohol. I didnt think that to be unusual but I was reluctant because I was concerned that the Irish Coffees costed so much that we now had dinner for 800 SEK, 200 more than agreed on by the reporter, even though I was prepared to pay for the excess. And I wasnt really into drinking in a restaurant, besides I didnt want to get plastered with a person I just met for the first time.
I then suggested to go to a open air bar for a beer (and I made it perfectly clear that my intention was ONLY ONE beer) before going home each to theirs, what I thought was a more stylish approach to end the date, cause I am not into meeting someone and then spend all night, I like to play it slow and take one step at a time.
The date accepted so at 8.45 we were stepping out of the restaurant.
Outside she decided to knock on the window on the house on the opposite side of the street from the restaurant, explaining to me that a colleague of hers was living there and we definately should say hi. This was for me very awkward, I dont like getting introduced to the friends to someone I just met 2 hours earlier, especially by visiting their homes.
While walking to the bar, she told me that there was a blues band playing at another bar, asking me if I liked blues I said not at all and that its something I rather not listen to if I have a choice. When arriving at th eopen air bar, we sat down by a table and had one big beer each that I bought just for the gesture of it. After drinking half the beer she told me that this place was really a place for drinkers that wanted to get drunk, looking around I only saw people with very moderate intoxication, not at all the drunks she referred to, and as I knew the place I actually didnt understand why she was saying that. She rapidly sunk the whole beer in maybe 15 min and went to the toilet for the 4th time since the date started. When she got back she had another two beers with her.
I started having problems with the situation, it seemed as the woman could not end a date even though I repeatedly suggested that now is the time for us to break up and end it. Since she already had bought the beer with the excuse of having to pay me back for the beer I bought I said ok, but that after this i really had to be going home.
Swiftly she sunk the second beer, and it was time to leave, while escorting her to the street where the taxis are stopping, she suggested a quick stop at the blues band bar. I told her no I had to go home, but she was not possible to convie ad dragged me to the bar. Since I was trying not to cause a scene I then didnt put up any more resistance, but at this time my interest in keeping appearence by being a gentleman was dropping fast. The only thing I coud think of was how to end this rapidly getting out of hand date.
At the blues bar (somewhere at 10 pm) she rushed to the bar to buy something. I understood that if I didnt act fast, I would get stuck here for the rst of the evening with a person starting to reveal her worst sides. So I bought me a Guinness, thinking that if I bought my own beer, and a one that takes time to drink I could get myself out of this situation somehow. I got really concerned when I notied that she bought a pretty large Pear Cognac and a big beer for herself.
The Pear Cognac she sunk in 5 min, starting gulping her way into the beer, I tought this person is not on a date, she is on a bar round trying to get drunk.
Suddenly a girl in 12-13 years of age appeared behind the date, and I got itroduced to the girl as her neighbors kid. And then she pointed out the neighbor, and that we MUST go and see them. So this was person number two that I got showed off for. I got to know that the husband of the neighbor was playing in the band, so reminding myself of the fact that she talked about the blues band and the colleague that we had to see through her livingroom window I started to feel like I was on display.
The date then invited the neighbor and her daughter to the table were we were sitting, now I saw that the alcohol had her totally looking like a baglady with severe alcohol problems. When getting spoken to her whole upper body moved when turning her head around, the mouth was wideopen and she could hardly understand a word anyone was saying. Really embarrassing for me, and the neighbour who rapidly left the table just less than a minute from when they sat down.
Then the date suddely got a strange expression in her face and rushed to the restroom. This was somewhat the 5th or 6th time during the evening. After only 1-2 minutes she was back at the table drinking her beer, and it seemed almost impossible to make any conversation cause of the level of drunkedness she was in. I started to suspect she had thrown up when she rushed out. In this time I told her it was my turn to go to the restroom, wich actually was my first time for the whole evening.
When I got back after only 3 min, she was gone, her handbag was hanging at the backrest of the chair but no sign of her anywhere. I thought that if she had left, I was lucky cause then I could sneak out, and I didnt want to be seen with her handbag alone cause when she left it unattended someone could have stolen things and I didnt want to be blamed for that. So with this in mind I stood beside the table watching the band playing so I could have watch over the handbag in the case she reappeared.
After standing there the date appeares from the restroom once agai, going straight to the bar. Waiving at me to join her at the bar, I reluctlantly shook my head as a guy came up from behind with her handbag. So I had to take the handbag and give it to her. Sitting down by the bar I am telling her once again I considered the date was over when she started to get clingy at my legs and, I had to force her hands off me.
Then she took a beer glass off the counter and started to sink it down with large gulps. Then a guy behind her shouted ”Hey! Thats ot your beer! You shouldn´t do that!”. The date didnt care about the guy, just said that she didnt mind. So I had to go to the guy, pay him for the beer and say that I was really sorry and would try to get the woman out of the bar.
This conversation with the guy took me like 45 sec and when I turned back to the date I saw her gripping a large drink glass from the counter, once again someone elses glass. Before she had time to drink I took the glass put it back on the counter and told her that now is the time to leave, that she was too drunk to be in the bar, and should go home. After dragging her to the taxistreet, I finally found a taxi. The date didnt understand why she had to go home even if I explained that she was drinking other peoples glasses and was so drunk she ought to be home. The only reaction I got was her cursing at me telling me that now I showed my real self as a bad guy.
When the taxi came, she was almost falling backwards out of it so I had to catch her and put her on the seat. When I told her to give the adress to the driver, she asked if I wasnt going and I said no, you go home to your place and me to mine, she started cursing at me again. When I told her that I wouldnt leave until she had told the adress to the driver she smirked and said over and over ”20-0”, after a while she started taunting me saying I didnt know where she lived, as if that would make me have to stay or go with her. At that point my temper was too bad, so I hjust said ”Well, in that case you are on your own, goodbye!” and left.
When getting home at 11.30 pm I called the reporter and told what happened, asking her to make sure this drunk did get home. At 04.00 I get SMS messages from the date asking what I thought had gone wrong since I had called the reporter. The day after she sent an SMS asking for forgiveness, my only reply was ”I hope you know what went wrong yourself and please erase my number.”
I told the reporter I didnt want to have my picture taken and be in the same article with my photo as this awful person, and now it has gone a week and it seems it didnt get to be an article at all.
Well, beat that as a bad date if you can. I am really scared for blind dates after this.
