Coffee, anyone?

I think I have this dating thing down to a science now...LOL. Or at least my friend, Rosemary, thinks so. :-)
A first-time meeting is for coffee or drinks...ONLY! Cause if we don't like each other or the chemistry isn't there (mostly if I don't like the guy...lol), no need to prolong the agony by waiting for a meal to end. And no need to ruin a good meal either!

A week ago today, I had a coffee date. He'd made several attempts and pleas to meet for dinner, thinking that saying things like "you're too cute to eat alone" would change my mind. Not happening, buddy! Little did he know just how stubborn and persistent I can be. :-) He left the meeting spot up to me...decided on Panera in Pearland, which was a halfway point for us. And it was a nice public place. Need to add this little note: I wasn't overly impressed by this guy's profile on match.com, but I'd decided that I needed to be more open-minded (to a certain extent!) and at least meet in person. Some people may not present themselves well in writing. So we met for coffee...

And I was not incorrect in my initial assessment from the online profile!!! I wasn't physically attracted to him and things went south from there. I have this obsession (OK, so maybe obsession is too strong of a word...fixation, perhaps??) with teeth. I don't have perfect teeth, nor am I looking for perfect teeth. I do, however, want to see that you've been taking care of your teeth...you know, stuff like, brushing, cleaning, regular dental visits. This guy's teeth were...how shall I put this....JACKED UP! No wonder he needed the big-ass mustache. He was definitely not my speed -- I'm at 90 mph, and he was in the school zone. (My friend, Kristen, usually likes to ask, can he keep up with you? When I'm describing a new person I've encountered...she knows me well. LOL) He was quite content in his homebody world and described himself as "too lazy" to go anywhere. Really??? That's supposed to impress me?? Guess he overlooked the part in my profile that states I love to try new things, whether it's a new place to eat/see or a new activity. I have lazy days, but that is not the norm for me.

I consider myself to have a strong work ethic...I work hard whether it benefits me solely or my team, or the company. It's just the right thing to do. Asked this guy about his work and he proceeds to tell me how he & his co-workers don't really like it when they are called upon to help each other. If another person goes to do work on one of his accounts, that person does a half-assed job...and he'd do the same with someone else's client. Wow. I forget that there are people out there who do the minimum, no more, no less.

And for the finale, I asked if he had any children, because he'd been married previously. His answer? Not really. ?????  I was confused at first and thought perhaps, he'd not heard my question correctly. So, I asked again, do you have any children? The answer again was, "Not really." The explanation? He has one child, a son, with whom he isn't close, nor does he know where his son is. What????  He outright said, well, he doesn't care about me and I don't care about him. Again, wow. This all stemmed from a prolonged and ugly custody battle when his son was a young child. He only knew that his son was over 18, because the child support had stopped being deducted from his paycheck. I don't care how ugly or nasty your divorce is, your child or children should never be the victims and should never have to wonder if their parents love them. This spoke volumes to me about his character and I was ready to RUN out of there.

Needless to say, it wasn't too long after that bit of conversation, when I ended the "interview." Said I was ready to go, shook hands, and said see ya.

And that, my friends, is why I insist on coffee or drinks first.