[_Jim]

I have become way too choosy when it comes to blind dates.

MAY I make a suggestion - get into a church-sponsored singles group ...

[Semper Paratus]

She'd feel the same if he paid her cab but admired Sharon for kicking Pali ass.

[Prime Choice]

Dear Bridget,

He did it just to annoy you. God knows guys are *never* absent-minded!

*rolling eyes*

[Moonman62]

Because he had done one tiny thing that annoyed me.

A female Jerry Seinfeld.

[William McKinley]

Some day her prince will come...

...and if he has any brains at all he will run like hell.

[Ashamed Canadian]

lonely women in their 30s who think no one is good enough

Sounds like an exact description of women in Toronto. I suppose some things are universal. You hold the door for them and act gentlemanly, and they get upset, you treat them as an equal and don't act too gentlemanly and they get upset....blah blah blah blah.

[Monti Cello]

Was he that desperate to get away?

Apparently so. A picture along with the article would probably settle it.

Or perhaps a recitation of the answers she gave to his questions!

[At _War_With_Liberals]

What a jerk.

[Alouette]

How bothered should I have been?

Dear Bridey,

You set yourself up when YOU OFFERED TO PAY for the dinner.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

Young liberal women are the most intolerant people I know. They're tolerant of just about anything...until you disagree with them. Then, watch out! I had a date with a woman in late 2001. Had I known she was a liberal, I wouldn't have gone out with her. We met for coffee, and things were going OK until she called President Bush an idiot. I politely asked her why she voted for Clinton. Confidently, she said, "Women's issues." I challenged her, "Do those include the right to be raped and cheated on (referring of course to Clinton's own stellar personal record with women)?"

Things went downhill FAST from there. Just before getting up and walking out on me, she said "You live in your own little world..." Truth hurts, I guess. Miss 'party of tolerance' passed judgment on me based on a couple of comments.

I know it sounds crazy, but I was musing that if I start dating again, I ought to ask right off the bat: "What party do you belong to, and who did you vote for in the 1996 and 2000 elections?" It would save so much time. Maybe that sounds intolerant of ME, but it would definitely say a lot about her values that might take several dates otherwise.

[goodnesswins]

Sounds like she's heading for the bottom of the barrel....since none of the previous ones were ever "good enough" to not "make me feel great." Her mistake was not insisting the guy pay at least for half of the evening.....whe became a doormat after that.

[CatoRenasci]

This one is funny. I suppose you have to be a little sympathetic for the chiclet, after all, she bought dinner, wasn't she entitled at least to a good night kiss? Or more?

Looks to me like her thinking he was OK wasn't reciprocated, he did a sunk cost analysis, and decided that since he hadn't laid out a dime (well, his first drink maybe) on this loser, not picking up the cab would (1) not be throwing good money after bad and (2) send a clear message that while it might have been real, and it might have been good, it sure wasn't real good.

Been there, shoulda done that.

[duckman]

Dear Brig,
Find yourself a nice Italian guy, that can make gravy and pasta.
DM

[thepainster]

Don't worry aobut it Bridget, someday you will be able to tell this cute story to all your cats......

[sauropod]

*ahem* ping!

[The_Media_never_lie]

This princess has just a few years left before she loses her looks and then is lonely without dates. She is playing out some impossible script and clueless.

Prognosis: not promising.

[k2blader]

Probably not the first stupid thing she did... but she was stupid to pay the $100 tab...

[KellyAdmirer]

I actually know some Manhattan women just like this, same age and everything, which is kind of scary.... No man is good enough, and nothing ever lasts long for them, dinner is an exercise in seeing how many times she can trip him up or he can't make her laugh on cue or whatever.

Almost always there is some guy in their past who was so perfect and did everything just right and is so much better than you and just UNDERSTOOD her by just looking at her and she didn't have to tell him to do this and that (like with you) and then she just got bored and left him or then he left her and ran off with a stripper or with her (now former) girlfriend or someone he worked with and she can't believe it took her so long to figure out he was such a rat and her mother is so controlling and criticizes her housekeeping and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah....

[PrincessB]

She mentioned that the "dinner" was being charged for research. If it was only dinner she should have been more specific. To give the guy the benefit of the doubt, he may have assumed that the cab ride was being charged to research too.
No relationship is perfect. If the conversation's great, you like the guy, what's a little cab fare every once in a while? The woman seems to be looking for an excuse to stay single.

[AlguyA]

"Was he that desperate to get away?"

Heck, I was desperate to get away two paragraphs into the article.