People Share Why They Decided To Skip A Second Date, Here Are The 64 Best Answers

Before the pettiness takes over, it helps to know that the official reasons people skip a second date are already pretty small. A Dating.com survey found that 76% of respondents would not pursue another date with someone who kept checking their phone, and 60% said showing up late was enough to end things.

Another 47% crossed people off after seeing them treat a waiter badly, while 53% were put off by a date who asked right away whether they were ready to commit. In other words, the fastest route to a second date is to look up from the screen, arrive on time and hold off on the relationship talk until at least the dessert menu.

Talking too much about yourself also takes a toll. In that same survey, 34% said a first date was spoiled because the other person talked about themselves too much. A date is meant to be a conversation, not a one person show with a captive audience and a side of garlic bread. Phones cause trouble in other ways too.

An EliteSingles survey of Canadian singles reported that posting photos of your meal on social media ranked as a bigger offense than being a bad kisser, so the pasta should probably stay unphotographed. One in five said they would be scared off by a friend request landing right after the date, and 63% named loud, wacky shirts as the worst thing to wear. If you were planning to debut the pineapple print shirt, maybe save it for date number five.

Money creates its own brand of awkward. One writer in a Marie Claire roundup of first date dealbreakers described a date who counted out her portion of the bill to the penny on a phone calculator, which is a level of precision most people save for tax season. Bad breath made the same roundup, proving that a great first kiss should never come with a warning label.

Habits and conversation can sink a date as well. A Plenty of Fish survey of more than 2,000 US singles found that 15% were not interested in a smoker and 10% said a long recap of a previous relationship wrecked the evening. Politics, a topic people love to warn about, landed below 5%, which makes a hot take on the news statistically safer than a monologue about your ex.