What you are about to read are horrifying tales of love gone wrong just in time for Valentine's Day. Welcome to Dating Horror Story Week on The Stir ...
We met on the bike path while I was roller blading and he was biking. He smiled at me and he was cute, so I stopped for a while and chatted. I was 19 at the time and somewhat new to "dating" and he went to Cornell! What could go wrong?
It turns out: A lot. I forget his name, so for our current purposes, I will call him Tom. He was 10 years older than me, which I thought gave me street cred and didn't make him creepy at all. Ah, how dumb we are when we are young, no?
Anyway, he asked me to dinner a couple days later, and since he seemed nice enough, I accepted, handed him my number, and agreed to meet him at a local Mexican place. Little did I know, this date was about to go very wrong.
When I arrived at the appointed time (on time, I might add), he had already ordered three margaritas (for himself) and one for me (I wasn't 21). Was he expecting two more people? No. "I just like to get a head start," he told me. He had also biked to the date (he biked everywhere because he had "lost his license to a mistaken DUI") and had sweat rings under his arms and hands that were dripping wetness that was either from the long, hot bike ride or the condensation from the frozen drinks.
Five minutes later, I was listening to Tom's tirade against Democrats, liberals, feminists, and sexual harassment lawsuits. At 29, he was still living at home -- "I've got a tricked out basement pad, though, so I can totally still bone."
Yes, he was LITERALLY the guy at 30 who still lives in his parents' basement. Um, where was the sweet, sexy guy I met on the bike path? Was I on the wrong date? It got worse. He was unemployed.
When I inquired as to why an Ivy League educated 29-year-old was living in his parents' basement with no job prospects, I got quite the story: "Damn feminists," he explained.
Come again?
It turns out, the feminists at his job hadn't taken kindly to his jokes about putting pubic hair in their pizza and wanting to rub their boobs.
With 13 years of experience, I now know this was the point in the date when I should have stood up and walked out. But at 19, I was naive and willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "I mean, since when is a little JOKE sexual harassment?" he asked.
Since when, indeed.
I knew I was never going on a second date with this guy, but I wasn't yet aware of how to exit a horrible date, so I sat there listening to him. Then the check came. He grabbed it. I brought my wallet out because it's always polite to offer. He said that he had it and then he pulled my hands toward him. "But you will have to kiss me," he said.
Assuming he was joking, I laughed. He offered to walk me to the subway.
At the subway, he proceeded to pull me into a bear hug and try to plant a kiss on my lips. I wriggled away. "Hey!" he said. "I paid for your food!" I finally escaped him without making too much of a scene and jumped on the subway. I was relieved to get away from him and pretty clear on why the "feminists" had wanted him fired.
Two days later he called me to ask me out again. I told him I got back together with my boyfriend and he was big. And mean. And strong. "He's the really jealous kind," I explained.
Luckily I never heard from him again, but I imagine he is still out there somewhere, living in a basement, pedaling on the bike path, and assuming $29.99 meals buy you sex. Terrifying.
More Dating Horror Stories:
My Date With the Violent Blue-Eyed Boy
My Valentine's Brunch Date With a Potential 'Serial Killer'
My Gut-Wrenching Date With a Gold-Digging Guy
What was your worst date?
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Comments 11
wow, that was scary.
I met Vinnie at a club. We danced, he was sweating profusely (think he may have been turned on). He asked for my number. He called and asked me for a date. We would go to the movies.
He came to my job to pick me up. on our way out the door we hitched a ride with a woman he hasn't seen in years. Then got to his house and waited for a "ride" that never showed up to go to the movies. He never mentioned he didnt have a car. Looking back I know what he wanted. We went no where and watched TV as he tried to get it. I finallly got tired of waiting for the "ride' to the movies so i called a cab and went outside to wait for it. It was 11pm and he didn't even bother waiting with me or watching me. I ended up walking home.
my worst date ever was when I was about 15, and this boy (16ish) I was with ended up having me watch him get his hair cut, then we rode the bus all over a college town because he didn't have a license. I had to pay for the bus rides and for the majority of supper. :]
I don't have anything scary or perverted. Just some very akward moments.
I was dating a man I met that worked close to where I was working at the time. He was CUTE!! Omg, drop dead hunka burin love cute. I was 18, he was 24. He had a good job. His own place. Own car. Had great manners.
One night I called and asked if he'd like to watch a movie I rented. He seemed all for it, happy to hear from me, and said I could come over NOW if I wanted! I was all flattered.
I get to his place, he opens the door. There on his couch are 2 women, and a baby. Aparently he'd had a 1 night stand about 18 months before, that ended with a pregnancy. The mother, his dauhter and HIS mother were all there. Why? TO MEET ME! They were so friendly, nice, excited, heard so much about me.
Id never even known he had a kid. I had no idea what to say. I was just completely dumbfounded. Id never even seen a baby up close, and the mother put her in my lap.
I felt horrible holding that 6mo old and looking at her like "wtf is this drooly ugly thing doing sitting on me?"
They left shortly after to not interrupt our evening further. I stayed to watch the movie... and never called him again. To this day I feel bad for never calling again, but at 18, I was blindsided and confused. It freaked me out
So I met this guy on line (red flag 1) drove 5 hours to go out with him (red flag 2) and ended up paying for everything (red flag 3). He spent the evening telling me all the right things. I left the next morning (after staying at a hotel...alone...thank the Lord) and went on my merry way. I get a text later that night from him asking for money...his mom is sick. Uhm no, I'm a single mom of two, you can't have any money, I don't have any. After listening to that little voice in my head and spending hours looking him up online...come to find out he was on his local Counties top ten most wanted list. For you guessed it...theft and extortion oh and throw in a little witness tampering too. I quit looking on line after that.
WOW. What a nightmare!
I've always had a little regret that I never dated - but these stories are making me feel much better about it! Yikes!
I went there and found a table near the stage and saw several guys onstage, none of them looking like the picture I saw. I texted to see if he was there and the guy who looked at his phone was sooooo lying about himself. I said I was just leaving not realizing that there was a door to the exit from the stage and so he stopped me before I left and he must of liked what he saw because then he kept texting me about meeting him. I kept saying no and he tried mind games on me and got really pissed when I finally said look, you lied about yourself and I am not interested and leave me alone! He kept texting back and finally I just ignored him until he gave up.