Dating Disasters: ‘Thank god, I thought. I can finally get out of here’

In Dating Disasters anonymous readers share their most embarrassing, cringeworthy, and dramatic dates. This week: stingy Victor.

‘Can someone please tell me where all the normal men have hidden? I can tell you that they are definitely no longer to be found on Tinder. The number of bad dates I've picked up from there is unfortunately no longer countable on one hand, but my date with Victor really took the cake.

I am a seasoned Tinder user, so I don't chat much before a date anymore. I prefer to quickly set something up to see if there's a spark. If not, we move on to the next. Luckily, Victor felt the same way. He was a brand new match, and I wasn't sure if I would find him attractive in real life, but from experience, I know that men are just not very good at taking photos and that they often look much better in person than on their profile.

That was also the case with Victor. He was already waiting for me when I arrived at the restaurant (that he had chosen) where we had agreed to meet. He looked good, was taller than I expected, and smelled amazing. We quickly took a seat and ordered a drink. I felt like having a glass of wine, but he asked for a glass of tap water. Okay, I thought naively, some people just really love water. The moment we ordered our food, the situation started to get a bit strange. I unsuspectingly ordered a starter and a main course, while he asked the waitress if he could have a starter as a main course, but for the same price as the starter. Okay, I thought. Maybe he isn't that hungry or doesn't have much money, or both.

I tried to make the best of the date, but while I was enjoying my meal and he had long finished his tiny dish and was sipping on his water, I felt the atmosphere becoming uncomfortable. I offered him several times to share from my plate, but he absolutely refused. His grumpy and adamant attitude didn't help the atmosphere either. I sighed with relief when he asked for the bill. I had my wallet ready to pay. I still didn't know if he just had little money or little hunger, but if there's one thing I really dislike, it's fussing over money. He, on his part, didn't want to know anything about it and called the waitress back to tell her that there was a mistake on the bill and that we were definitely not going to pay that amount. When I wanted to peek to see what exactly had gone wrong, he refused to show the receipt.

Eventually, the waitress returned with the news that nothing more was charged than what we had ordered, prompting him in a last-ditch effort to try to round the amount down. I could have sunk through the floor. We weren't at the market, for crying out loud! The waitress handled it better than I did, laughing that this wasn't how things worked in their restaurant and asking him if he wanted to pay by card or cash. Tense, I watched as he finally admitted defeat and placed his card on the reader. Thank god, I thought, I can finally get out of here. The moment the reader beeped that the transaction was approved, I jumped up and sprinted out the door after giving him an awkward kiss on the cheek. I'm not proud of it, but I blocked him that night; I really had zero interest in seeing this man again. I still wonder why he acted so strangely that night, but maybe I should just be glad that I will never get an answer to that.’

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