No one wants to come off looking bad on a first date. Nerves may get the better of a person, and it's hard to get out of your own head, but at the end both parties should reasonably assume it's hard to open up to someone. Usually, they can give the other party a little slack if they mispronounced a word funny or knocked over their drink on the table.
...Then there's these nightmare tales.
Reddit user, u/turtlelevelslow, wanted people to dish on their dates when they asked:
What was the weirdest date you've ever been on?
But The Voice In My Head Says...
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Dated a woman who didn't tell me she needed meds because she was psychotic. In the middle of dinner (at a restaurant) she got quiet and distracted. I asked if she was feeling okay. Apparently one of the voices told her I was a horrible person and she pulled a steak knife on me.
A customer was able to talk to her, and got her to put the knife down. The police were called, and she was arrested. I didn't press charges, and about a week later, she sent me a letter with proof that she's been in counseling for a long time, takes medication, and included a heart felt apology.
Not Weird Enough To Say "No"
Went to a clothes shop with this guy to pick up something for my baby sister before heading to a coffee shop. This was the first time I had ever met him face-to-face as we had met online, despite living in the same student accommodation.
We head down the escalators to the second floor to the pyjamas, lingerie and kid section and he runs over to the selection of bras, picks one up, puts it on over his shirt and jacket and asks me if I think it fits/suits him.
I'm still with him a year and a half later.
Going All In On The Opening Hand
This one was honestly crazy. Met this guy through tinder, seemed cute just had a weird face. Not my type because brown hair and brown eyes? FaceTimed a few times and he seemed super sweet. This was out of the ordinary because I usually am not attracted to over emotional guys unless they're extremely attractive. He was just normal but I was lonely after a recent breakup, went to the movies with him and swerved his kiss and he laughed sounding somewhat hurt? Like dude I just met you??? Then..... I noticed he's squeezing my hand a little, which I ignore but then he squeezes the SH-T out of my hand and I'm just trying not to freak out or trigger him, I laugh a little and he lets go. That was like the first red flag.
Then I kissed him and he was a shitty kisser. No tingle no jazz nuthin. Then later on we head home and he seems sad and I keep asking if he's okay. He insists he's fine, then he calls me right after he drops me off and starts sobbing to me about how he's so scared to be hurt.
First date. And this? I just said "yeah I'm gonna hurt your feelings if you date me, we're better off not talking"
Dude still tries to hit me up to this day knowing I'm dating - my bestfriend of all people - like yeah no way buddy.... no waaaaay.
You Need To Start Making Better Choices
Two come to mind.
1. Dude picks me up, we go to the grocery-store, I pick up pickles, because I love pickles. Go to his place, I eat my pickles, he's just standing there, offers to watch a movie. I'm down. He has a projector in his bedroom and puts on damn machete movie and disappears 5 min in for about 30-45 minutes. I'm like "this dude is definitely somewhere sharpening his machetes and planning to kill me". I leave his place. We meet in the hallway and he's confused by me leaving, didn't hold a machete thankfully. Never met again.
2. Date. Go to a coffee-shop. We sit down, I order a salad and a coffee, he orders a drink. I tried to hold a conversation, but he was just not interested. It was awkward as hell, so I was just silently sitting there with my damn salad. We leave, he offers to go watch a movie. Okay? He brings me to his place and just turns on a tv to a random channel. It was boring as hell. "Right dude, I'm outta here." He literally picked my up and carries me to a bedroom onto a bed. There are woman stuff everywhere around the room - clothes, makeup, parfume. I freak out, jump up, demanded to be dropped home. He then got the hint and drove me home.
At this point I'm surprised I haven't beed kidnapped, raped and killed.
Wait For The End...
A baseball player that sat next to me in one of my classes my freshman year of college was adamant about taking me out so I reluctantly said yes.
He picked me up from my apartment, we drove in silence to a restaurant, despite me asking him questions that he didn't answer. Not one peep. Ate at the restaurant and yet he still didn't say one word the entire time, again despite me talking to him and him just giving me blank stares back. Drove in silence back to my apartment and he asked if he could use my bathroom so I said "sure".
Guy comes out of my bathroom about 20 min later and sits on my couch. I tried to get him to leave for about 2 hours saying "I have to be up really early in the morning so I need to go to sleep". Finally he got up to leave and laid the sloppiest kiss on me in the doorway. Took all of my makeup off of the lower half of my face. He said goodbye and left.
Here's the kicker: I walked into my bathroom to wash my face and THIS DUDE took a massive sh-t in my toilet and didn't even attempt to flush. Not clogged or anything, he just didn't flush. Needless to say he switched seats in class after that night and we never spoke again.
How Do You Say No?
Went to my boyfriend's family reunion.
It was a oyster buffet.
I'm allergic to oysters.
An Expert Player
Tinder date- the guy turned up and looked completely different to his picture. He had a mullet because he cut his own hair. Divulged within 5 mins that he was circumcised and that he could "play the vagina" quite well.... #nsfw #catfish
Don't Shame The Claw!
Went to the movies with a boy from school. We saw a horror movie, and he did NOT know how to act. Firstly, when my mom dropped me off, he griped to her about how he was "emo" and how his entire family hated him. Should've been a red flag, but I was already there. Afterwards, in the arcade, he spent all of the $40 in his wallet on game credits then insulted me when I asked to play the claw machines. More awkward than weird, but still, thought it belonged.
...How Do You Even Get Anything Done?
I went on a date with a girl to a bar and grill.
The girl just got set free from a bad relationship. The bartender was her uncle, the server was her sister, and her fresh ex-boyfriend was there on a date with another guy.
Maybe We Can Talk About Me? Unselfishly?
Another one: I went on a date with this girl from tinder. She "super liked" me and messaged first, so I was really happy to have someone interested. I asked if she'd like to go for a walk some time and she said she'd love to.
So we get to walking and like 5 minutes in, she asks if I have roommates. I said yes, I live with 5 people and tell her about a few of them. "Theres Max, Matt, Mark,..." "Wait, Mark Smith? I know him! What's he been up to..."
So we start chatting about my roommate and she knows a lot about him. His family, the sports he plays, his girlfriend. Every time I try to move the conversation somewhere else, she brings it back to Mark. She's not even pretending to be into me anymore, she's just fangirling out over my roommate. "I just love him, his hair is always so shiny and he smells so nice!". She spends the full 2 hours talking about him and asking all sorts of questions. I didn't really know what to do, so I just boredly keep answering.
When we get back to our cars, she shifts gears again. "Hey, so I had a really great time. Want to go back to your place to have some fun?". She's really creeping me out at this point, so I tell her I have homework to do and maybe later.
I get back and tell Mark about the date and he knows exactly who she is. He picks up his phone and immediately calls the police. They show up at the house find the girl outside in the back yard and arrest her for violating a restraining order or something.
It turned our she was super unstable and had stalked my roommate since they went on one date almost a year prior. She recognized from photos she had of him and used me to find out where he lived.
Perhaps The Whole Boat Thing Should've Been A Red Flag?
Third date with a guy from hinge. Started of completely normal- went to a pub for a few drinks. Pub closes. Guy invites me back to his.
We get back to his and have a few more drinks, he then asks if I'd like to smoke a joint. Hadn't smoked for a few years but thought "hey it'll be fine". End up feeling very sick and unable to move. Guy doesn't have a bucket or bowl so brings over the entire kitchen bin and places it next to me. He then suggests we watch a movie.
Guy puts on American Psycho and I sit there for the next two hours paralysed and paranoid completely convinced he's going to murder me.
Also he lived on a boat.
So...Horses?
I went on a 4 hour date with a woman who rides horses for a living.
The entire 4 hours she told me everything I could possibly want to know about horses and then some.
I learned so much about horses that I done forgot most the sh-t she told me.
And She Was Never Seen Nor Heard From Again
Was going to go to a bar with a girl I met on tinder. She showed up 15 minutes late, which wasn't that big of a deal. Got out of her car, crossed the street, and then awkwardly shook my hand. Told me she forgot her ID at home, apologized, and then left. :/
Polan-splaining?
Dated a man who corrected my Polish, because his grandmother was Polish and she told him how to pronounce some words.
Mind you, I was brought up in Poland, went to school and college there, read a zillion books, saw a zillion Polish movies etc. But this guy was very condescending about my pronunciation of the few words he learnt from his grandma.
Actually Sounds Fun
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This chick suggested we go to this experimental art exhibit thing. It had a giant ball pit for adults (among other things). Pretty interesting to have two 30-somethings in a ball pit for a date.
Fun time
Wow...
My first dating app date. Starts off pretty good, we barely put in our dinner order and her phone starts blowing up. Her ex was drunk and causing a scene outside her apt. Her ex kept calling, then her roommate started and then the landlord calls threatening to call the police. We get our food to go and I take her back to her apt. Long story short, both her and her ex are crying messes, she goes inside, leaves me outside with crying drunk ex who starts telling me all about how he messed their relationship. Dude is way too drunk to drive, I end up driving him to his apt, Uber back to my car, realize my date took all the food with her. The joys of dating!
Try not to follow the bad advice given here, because you don't want to get the results that these guys did.
U/Duckerton375 asked: What's the worst advice someone ever gave you, but you still followed?
The workplace can bring a cornucopia of terrible advice. Don’t follow these unless you want to get fired.
​Bad jobs are usually not worth it.
Stick with a job no matter how bad it is. I stayed with a terrible job working retail, dealing with horrible customers and sexual harassment. I was told I wouldn't find anything better.
"No, no, you misunderstand. I said you wouldn't find anything better at making you feel like complete garbage."
This gets really creepy really fast.
frustrated workplace GIFGiphy"After you put in a job application, you need to call them at least once a day every day until they hire you."
Note: this did not get me hired. It got me called out by the HR person I was calling and forbidden to ever contact their facility again.
I work for a law firm that employees over 1500 people in the home office alone. Once I received a call from the building security saying, "Insert Name is here to speak with the owner." Well we are run by a committee so that's odd. Found out they just applied for a job and wanted to talk directly to the person that would potentially hire them. Told him the firm will contact them to schedule an interview. They refused to leave without "talking to the owner." Had security escort them out of the building.
​This is absolutely not true.
"Sleep is for people who do not want success" great words from my uncle, it almost killed me.
Now I may be oversleeping.
​Interpersonal relationships are also a big breeding ground for terrible advice. Don’t listen to any of these.
Heartbreaking.
My father always tought me and my brother that "having friends is bad and in the end they will never be there for you" so everytime I told my father about my friends he would get kinda mad and give me the advice to stop talking to them.
Now I am afraid of people and have several trust issues, thanks dad.
​This won’t end well.
A Christmas Story GIF by filmeditorGiphyIn the fifth grade my teacher was talking about bullying, then she said "if anyone tries to bully you just agree with them." So the next time I got bullied I agreed with the bully and they bullied me more.
Dude one time I saw an anti bullying video that told the victims to just BE NICE TO THE BULLY. Like the bully was hurling insults and the victim was smiling and complimenting him. My first thought was about how much I hated the mere thought that this would work. My second thought was of how the people who came up with that method had clearly never been bullied.
​Oof.
When I met my now wife at the age of 19, one of my coworkers said that it's very important to start at the bottom with presents and work your way up, she still has the socks I gave her on our first anniversary on the wall over our bed as a reminder...
I'm still trying to teach my boyfriend about good presents and bad presents. Biscuits from the supermarket = bad present. Cheap unbranded laptop battery from China as my only present = bad present (and only lasted 2 months). Anything off my 7-page wishlist = good present. It's literally a list of things I want to receive as presents.
​Can tell you from experience that this is a bad idea.
Had a falling out with some friends. My husband recommended I reach out to an old friend who ghosted me suddenly in a manner that induced some pretty severe abandonment trauma. Went for it anyways because "it's been so long, surely they changed". Am now experiencing the same things as last time.
When you follow bad advice, it can lead to mistakes that you just can’t come back from.​
Buying a house is tricky.
for sale dancing GIF by Lisa VertudachesGiphy"Buy a home now before the prices go up!" -my FIL in 2006.
We bought in 2007 and paid $259,500 for our 1,300 sq ft house (we really couldn't afford it and had an 80/20 so we had 8% interest for one loan and 6% on the other) and in 2008 it was worth $97,000 so refinancing wasn't even an option. We watched all of our neighbors walk away or get foreclosed on but we kept paying our bills and as of this very moment our house is worth $462,000. I'm so happy we stuck it out, we both worked our @sses off and the house will be paid off in 2 years.
It worked out for us, it's a horrible idea. Especially since 1300 sq ft houses are $460+k
My heartbreaks for future generations, I honestly don't know how people are going to afford housing in the future.
It’s there for a reason.
"Never apply for any government assistance."
Cue years of suffering trying to work full-time with a painful disability. Quit a particularly terrible job, and wanted to apply for food aid until I could find another gig; a friend with lots of DHS experience recommended I apply for Social Security "just to get in the system." Turns out my disability was bad enough to get accepted the first time, which I wasn't expecting. Really could've used that support, oh, the 30+ previous years of my life.
Credit is important to have.
I was told to not get a credit card until after college. I was super fortunate to have my college paid for so I had no loans, car paid in cash, no credit card or anything to start building credit. Found myself out in the world at 22 years old with a credit score of 0.
So while a lot of this bad advice came from trusted people, oftentimes they were too misinformed to give that advice in the first place. Don't trust the word of one person--do your research, and make decisions for yourself.
It'll be way better in the long run