Dating has been around for ages. The earliest use of the noun “date” in terms of relationships was recorded in 1896, but humans have likely engaged in this activity long before. Over time, people have experimented with numerous ways of meeting their potential partners, but nowadays, the internet seems to have emerged as the go-to place for anyone seeking new romantic relationships.

Apps like Tinder can be perfect for meeting these new and interesting strangers. However, as one Reddit user recently discovered, their understanding of date etiquette can be extremely different. While some put in the effort to make the person in front of them their only focus, others prefer their phone screen so much that they don’t notice they’ve been ditched for 30 minutes.

More info: Reddit

When people come into a date with very different expectations of how it should go, things are usually doomed to go sideways

Image credits: charlesdeluvio (not the actual photo)

A man took it to the petty revenge community to share how he handled the situation where his online date’s only goal that evening was a free meal

Image credits: Mika Baumeister (not the actual photo)

With the girl’s eyes glued to her phone and all attempts to start a conversation failing miserably, the guy had enough

Image credits: enkoji

The poster dashed from the bar through the back door and left his date with the bill as revenge for her behavior

Our story begins with a scenario that many of us are familiar with: the original poster (OP) matched with a girl on one of the dating apps. When both of them expressed interest in one another, they decided to meet in real life for some chatting accompanied by a few drinks to see where this could lead. Or so he thought.

As the guy names it himself, he comes from the traditional school of dating. He assumes he is supposed to be a gentleman regardless of whether he feels the date is going anywhere. However, the girl had a completely different idea of how she should act. 

While the author was putting in the effort to start up the conversation time and time again, she was on her phone, paying barely any attention to him, only dashing out a few apologies and carrying on with her other activities. Not even some well-placed jokes could salvage the situation, making it, plainly put, awkward.

There seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel. When the OP suddenly realized that instead of being excited, interested, and maybe a little nervous, he felt nothing but misery, he downed his drink and excused himself to the restroom. 

On the way back, the little voice in his mind pitched the idea of cutting this meeting short. When the author returned and saw his date still on her phone, he stopped, looked around, and, without a second thought, dashed right through the open service door behind the kitchen. 

It was a good half an hour later when the girl realized he wasn’t coming back from the restroom. When she texted him, he was already enjoying the sweet sense of freedom and did not bother to reply to this or several other following messages.

In a later post-edit, the author further defended his position. He recognized that he probably should’ve paid for his half before leaving but argued that the purchases made at the bar should have been at his date’s expense because of her attitude. Although he has no information of whether she did actually pay for it, in his opinion, this wasn’t a theft, at least not from his side.

Most Redditors participating in this post’s comment section agreed that the situation was ridiculous and that the OP was right to “play” the UNO reverse card against his date, who came only for the free dinner. Everybody seemed to collectively find the fact that it took her 30 minutes to realize that he was gone quite funny, saying that she wouldn’t have noticed even if he left through the front door.

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Image credits: Eugene Chystiakov (not the actual photo)

The commenter who got the author’s attention to the possibility of this being a dine-and-dash case said that situations like this happen often and shared valuable advice on dealing with them in a way that doesn’t cause financial or moral loss for either of the parties. According to them, you only need to pull your server to the side, and they will gladly help you quickly process your way out of an unsuccessful date. 

This comment captured not only the OP’s but also Bored Panda’s attention. So, we decided to learn more about the dine-and-dash matter. According to Binwise, this occurrence happens more often than most people realize. Based on a study conducted in 2018, 1 in 20 people have left a restaurant without paying their bill at least once in their life. And that is if we’re only talking about food. It turns out that there’s a much more common trend known as drink-and-dash, where people are essentially stealing alcohol. 

According to the article, both actions are unfair to all: the owners, who lose their product, and the servers, who lose their tips, which make up a big part of their income. While there are laws in place that protect staff from being charged for dashers’ actions, their superiors might later perceive them as less responsible or inattentive at work, causing them further harm.

While, in theory, dine/drink-and-dash is a free meal or drink, the dasher might still have to pay. The article states that while in some states this is seen only as petty theft, in others, this kind of thievery is viewed as a felony and, depending on the size of the bill, might result in up to a few years in jail.

For example, The Cut tells us a story about Paul Guadalupe Gonzalez, aka serial dine-and-dasher, who, in 2018, was facing extortion and theft charges, resulting in up to 13 years in jail for this exact activity. According to the article, the man was running a scheme involving taking his dates to fancy restaurants, ordering unnecessary amounts of food, and dipping once his stomach was full, leaving the lady to pay.

But while these two stories have some striking similarities, according to the Reddit commentators, OP’s actions were mostly well justified. Nonetheless, dining and dashing is never a good way to approach this kind of situation and can cause harm to quite a few people, even if done unintentionally. Remember this on your next trip to the restaurant, especially if you want to end it early. 

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So! What did you think of the story? Have you had any similar experiences, whether on a date or while dining on any other occasion? Share your thoughts down below!

Redditors found the story and the girl’s cluelessness funny, but some also pointed out that this might’ve been a dine-and-dash case

Image credits: Artur Tumasjan (not the actual photo)

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