Story Submitted by Cody:
Roberta called me up on the day of our date to ask if she could be "about a half-hour" late. That was fine, and she followed it up with, "I have some errands that I just couldn't find time for anywhere else. You can come with me, if you want."
She and I had bonded online (to the extent to which one can truly "bond" online) and I liked any idea that included spending more time with her. She asked me to meet her at a Target.
We drove separately, met up at the front of the store and she led me to the women's section. She said, "I'm buying gifts. Shouldn't be long."
She surveyed the racks, grabbed a few things, and walked to the dressing room. I asked, "I thought these were gifts."
She said, "They are. For me. I won't be ten minutes."
She turned around, else she would've caught my face's reaction. After a minute, I called into the dressing room, "Hey Roberta, I'm heading over to them men's department. I might look for some stuff, too."
"Okay!"
Not much of a date so far, but I browsed the men's department for a few minutes before heading over to the electronics section. Twenty minutes passed before I returned to the women's section to look for Roberta. I called into the dressing room. No answer. I looked all over the store and couldn't find her. I called her.
"Hello?" she answered.
I replied, "Hi. Forget something?"
Long pause. Then, "No. Who is this?"
I said, "Cody. Are you still in the store?"
Long pause, then, "Oh shit. Can I call you right... I'll meet you back at the front of the store."
I waited for her in the front, and she pulled up with her car and rolled down the window. "Hey," she said, "I'm sorry. I completely forgot about you."
I replied, "That's really inconsiderate. I think that cancels our date."
She gave me a stunned look, said, "Okay, I thought that we could be two grown-ups about this, but whatever," and drove off into the parking lot.
Yeah fair enough. She sounds really annoying.
ReplyDeleteRoberta thought they both could be grownups about the whole thing... only she couldn't be one.
ReplyDeleteI love the sheer amount of stories we get here where someone does something incredibly self-centered and immature and then plays the "grown up" card against the other person when they're offended.
ReplyDeleteTarget is the perfect place for a first date. Cheap popcorn? Check! Nachos and an Icee™? Of course! Romantic lighting and decor? Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised "Roberta" wasn't swooning from the beauty of it all...
So she drove off without you... so what? She came back, didn't she? Didn't leave you there completely?
ReplyDeleteThis is something most people would have laughed at later but you had to be a little b*tch about it.
She even apologized up front.
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ReplyDeleteWell Mediator, she DID leave him there completely. That's why she was in her car when he called.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't think most would have laughed it off later, as the chick was obviously more interested in shopping than him.
Also, she didn't apologize up front. That would have been when he called her on the phone.
So you're one to argue semantics, aren't you Pinky?
ReplyDelete1) She came BACK. She didn't abandon him.
2) She apologized as soon as she saw him in person.
3) He immediately bitched.
4) I would have left him standing there too.
Yeah, so she wanted to get some shopping done before her date, then forgot that he was there. She was obviously focused and forgetful. Big woop. But she came back to get him and apologized, I don't know what more you want.
And if the shopping was such a big deal, then he should have left after he realized what was going on. Instead, he stuck around, validated what she was doing by "looking for stuff too", then whined when she drove out the parking lot without him.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound like she had gotten very far, and if she had planned on abandoning him she wouldn't have come back right away. On top of that, with the apology forthcoming, this is something that SHOULD have been laughed off and if the relationship had flourished from that point, then he would have had a good first date story to tell later.
The OP is just a whiny, sensitive jerk.
Buying gifts for yourself is not the same as running errands. She lied, and then forgot all about the date that she was so upset about getting canceled. Nothing wrong with OP's reaction; I'd be miffed too.
ReplyDeleteIf she planned on abandoning him she wouldn't have come back, but if she planned on actually respecting him and his time she wouldn't have forgotten that they were on a date in the first place.
ReplyDeleteMediator, you're right that the OP was probably a mite more patient than they really needed to be, but you're way out in the wrong here.
I'm just saying that he should have either left at the beginning, or sucked it up through the to the end.
ReplyDeletetheMediator, you are clearly in the wrong on this.
ReplyDeleteFirst, he did not whine/bitch, he simply canceled the date after she left him there and came back. And if you are so self-absorbed that you have to delay a date just because you have to buy some gifts, then proceed to leave and completely forget your date after you invite him to tag along, you certainly deserve more attitude than the OP showed.