Our Worst Dates

I thought it may be worth taking a short survey of the worst dating experiences in the Top Dating Tips office. It is a jungle out there and along the dating path we have encountered some peculiar situations. While one or two could put us off dating for life, others are simply bizarre. There are few of us who don't have some strange dating story to tell who are over 25 and some of them can act as lessons too. Although I wouldn't like anyone else to go through these worst dating experiences, it's clear that it's is part of what happens when we try and spend time with complete strangers.

The worst dates in general seemed to be when dates failed to turn up completely, made disgraceful excuses, were caught out the same night with a different man or woman, or simply lied. One guy met up with a girl who stripped naked in his favorite restaurant to show the waiters her dragon tattoo, another was punched out cold by a father who didn't like his hair!

My worst dating experience was taking an arranged flight from Toronto via Pittsburgh to visit a girl who had just spent three months phoning me asking me to visit her in New York. On landing she phoned to say that she had booked me into the Grand Hyatt on 42nd Street and would call me when I got there. Once I had checked in she called me to say that she couldn't make it to meet this weekend and perhaps I could visit again next weekend instead! $1000 dollars later I had a weekend on my own in New York visiting the tourist attractions and shopping. Needless to say we never met up again.

Here are a few examples of bad times in no particular order.

On the Rack

One of the guys had been dating a quiet girl for a few weeks when she asked him back to her apartment. She was a shy girl but he was an honorable gent so he tells us, so he said yes. When he got to her apartment they settled in for a drink on the comfy sofa before moving to the bedroom. As things got heated she insisted on tying his hands to the bedpost with silk scarves and has he was game for a laugh he agreed. Before you could say anything she pulled out a portable rack (yes the mediaeval type) and said he could so with some stretching (!! editor). In wild panic he managed to loosen his restraint and ran screaming from the apartment semi clad with her chasing after him but managing to escape. He has been quite quiet on the dating front since then.

The Bad Photo

Our office marketing guy had decided to try some internet dating so joined one of the top professional sites and posted a comprehensive profile and a photo. Then waited. In fact he waited for about a year and got zero responses from any of the many women online. He started to chat with the girls and got nowhere fast either. After 18 months he had no idea what to suggest. The girls matched his profile exactly, they had the same backgrounds  and the few who spoke to him said that he was a lovely guy but never took it further. Eventually he performed a test. He simply replaced his photo with one of a male model. Within 2 days he had received 132 email replies, 17 unprompted conversations and 5 offers of a date. The moral of this disheartening story is don't believe that all women put personality before looks, sadly.

The Wrong Vehicle

One of the guys here was standing in a bar having a drink when two gorgeous girls approached him and one admitted that she thought he was lovely. They got chatting and were getting on really well when one of the two asked what car he drove. He had been driving the same car for years and admitted it was old. The girl said that that wouldn't do at all as she only dated men who drove BMWs  - and left. He is still single and driving an old car. The moral of this story is get your wheels sorted out guys.

The Preacher's Daughter

One of the guys in the office was dating a girl when at college. They had been sleeping together for sometime and the relationship had progressed but he had yet to be introduced to her father. Her father was in fact a preacher and minister and devoutly religious. One Saturday morning the preacher took it upon himself to visit his only daughter by driving the 100 miles to her apartment. Our hero and his girlfriend were in bed when the knock on the door came so quick as a flash he jumped naked into a wardrobe and  hid.

The father entered the room and was welcomed by his daughter who took it upon herself to chat with him about her studies for the next 4 hours in which time they ate both breakfast and lunch. Our hero meanwhile is no more than a few feet away, naked and cramped in the darkened wardrobe, having now lost all feeling to his body and freezing cold and dehydrated. Just as the father was leaving our friend fell from the closet and landed naked at the feet of the preacher with daughter looking on. The result was that within three weeks the daughter was removed from the college and the relationship was over.

The Car Door

I once took a girl I was very attracted to out on our first date and as we arrived in the city the girl in question got out of the passenger side of my car. As she closed the door, the window dropped out and landed on her foot breaking 4 bones. We spent the rest of the day in hospital but alas no further date was arranged as she spent the next 6 weeks with her leg in plaster.