A friend of mine the other day reminded me of this date that i had went on a few years ago. Everytime we talk about it it makes us laugh until we cry. But on the day of the date i wanted to cry. I was so disappointed.
Some of you that have followed my AOL journal may remember that a few years back i was taking the bus to and from work. I had a vehicle that was too expensive to fix so until i saved enough money for a down payment for another car i decided i would carpool with a friend or take the bus. Sometimes when i needed a vehicle for certain occasions i would rent one for the weekend. Otherwise, i took the bus.
This is where i met this guy.
First mistake.
I was sitting on the bus stop bench waiting for my connecting bus when this guy got off a bus to wait for the same connection. It was late September and I was wearing my Cardinal baseball jersey. We had a Cardinal type rally potluck at work to support the Cards and their working towards the playoffs so it was a casual day and i was wearing my Cardinal garb. This guy saw me and struck up a conversation. I usually dont talk much to people on the bus or at the bus stop because i usually have my MP3 player in my ears but he was kind of attractive and i was in a good mood so we sat there and talked about the Cardinals. Then he asked me for my number. I thought, what the heck. I'd give him my cell phone number and i could get to know him better on the phone. So we talked on the phone a few times. He seemed like a nice guy. He worked a full time job but he didnt have a vehicle. I dont even remember if i asked him why he didnt have a car. A lot of pretty decent people ride the bus for one reason or another so it wasnt a big deal. We met for coffee on a few occasions and then one weekend i rented a car. He asked that when i rented a car if he could take me out somewhere nice. I told him that would be fine. He said he wanted to take me out to dinner and to a movie. So for a week i kept asking him what movie he wanted to see but he couldnt make up his mind. He finally told me that it didnt really matter what movie we went to see because he would just fall asleep during it anyway. I told him then that we really shouldnt go to the movies but instead that maybe out to eat and then bowling. He liked that idea. Then the day of the date came and he called me and said he wanted to take me to this Italian neighborhood hang out (bar) where a lot of his friends went. He was the type of guy that didnt know a stranger. He was friendly to everyone and everyone seemed to like him. I told him that i really didnt get into the bar scene and would really rather go out to eat somewhere by ourselves. He said that was fine.
Ok. So here it is. Our first actual date. I have the car so i go to pick him up at the bus stop. He gets in the car and i'm all excited about going out and i ask him which restaraunt we were going to. I'm thinking TGI Fridays or Applebees. Heck i would even take Ponderosa at this point. See...im sort of an old fashioned girl. If i'm asked out on a date i'm hoping that my date has made all the plans and arrangements and knows what we are going to do. So i ask him where we are going to go for dinner thinking that we are going to go somewhere nice. He tells me it didn't really matter. He wasnt all that hungry anyway because he had just had some Burger King.
Huh?
Yeah.
I looked at him and said..."You ate already? I thought we were going out to eat." I then told him that if he already ate then i didnt really want to go out anywhere and eat by myself. He then told me that he had this great idea. The grocery store up the street had a little dining area where we could order food from the deli and eat right there. Besides...he tells me....he has a $10.00 gift certificate he can use.
Oh Boy.
So we headed up the street. I told him that i didnt remember there being any little dining area in that store but i was willing to check it out. When we got there and went up to the deli the dining area consisted of two small square gray cafeteria tables. One table had two chairs. The other was missing chairs all together. At this point i'm starting to get upset. I'm not showing it but but its there. So we go up to the deli counter. Yes. The deli counter and we pick out two roast beef sandwiches wrapped in clear wrap and order a couple sodas. Then he goes to pay the lady and he can't find his gift certificate.
So i pay.
At this point i want to go home. We sit down and unwrap our cold sandwiches. He tells me there is a microwave somewhere if i wanted to heat it up. I pass on that because i want to finish this sandwich and go home. As we are sitting there in this "dining area" other grocery store customers are maneuvering thier carts around us doing their shopping. I think to myself that if i was with someone that i really wanted to be with then this little dining experience wouldn't bother me. But it was. It was bothering me BIG TIME. So we finish there and we get back into the car. He had no plans or any suggestions as to what we could do but all i could think of was that i wanted to take him home and go to Taco Bell or something. But instead we decided to go bowling. I was just hoping he had enough money to pay for that because i wasnt about to pay again!
I really can't remember much of what happened the rest of the evening. We went bowling and he paid and then i told him i needed to go home. It seemed as if it was one sitcom antic after another all night long and i was the character with the pie in my face. He was a really nice guy but i was disappointed at how the evening went.
The next day i called my friend Devin and told him about it. It was then that i laughed. And we both laughed. And we laughed and we laughed! And we still laugh about it today even though some of the events aren't all that clear anymore, i'll never forget sitting there eating while other customers shopped! Turns out he was a habitual gambler. He told me so. Told me he rarely has any money left out of his paycheck because he gambles it all away. Figures.
I'm usually pretty picky about the guys i like. My guy now has a pretty decent job, his own car and can take me to a nice place to eat. Cuz ya all know i'm all about the food!
I'm really not a high mainenenced girl but if you take me out on a first date you better be there to impress. I want flowers and unlimited dining and a nice movie where you might sneak a kiss.
Dont EVER take me some where where people are bumping into me with thier shopping carts while im trying to eat!
Until Later....
