Dating is always a kind of blind game, and any person you go on a first date with will be a pig in a poke. They may have a peculiar sense of humor, they may have several cats at home while you're severely allergic... or your date may also have a completely weird sense of punctuality.
For example, this happened to Jenny Nguyen-Don, a London-based blogger who told the story of her bad date in this TikTok video that went absolutely viral with over 5.3M views. However, perhaps it’s even better that the guy exposed himself in this way right on the first date, who knows?
The author of the video was going on a first date with a guy, but faced some weird behavior on his part
Image credits: Charlotte May
Image credits: jennynguyendon
"Apparently the dude messages me twice while I'm on the tube. I didn't receive them"
"I had a date tonight and the plan was to go and meet at Leicester Square at 6:15 because I wanted to go to Chinatown and get some chicken. So I messaged the guy at 5:30 being like, 'leaving now, I should be there on time.' And I do the Northern line, and the Northern line, if you know, in London, it's like, the worst one of the worst lines because you don't get reception, right? So I'm just like, patiently waiting, like dilly dallying, getting ready for my stop. I arrived at Leicester Square at 6:17. So I'm 2 minutes late.
I pull out my phone. I'm like, gonna message the guy and then all my notifications pop up, all my messages come up because my data starts working again. And apparently the dude messages me twice while I'm on the tube. I didn't receive them. He messaged me at 5:47 being like, 'Okay, cool. I just need to drop by my gym and drop off my bag as I don't want to lug it around.'"
Image credits: @jennyisthegreatest
"This man has blocked me because he thought I was ghosting him since I didn't respond to messages"
"I didn't respond because I was on the tube, I didn't receive it. And then at 6:09 he says 'you pranking me, Jenny?' He's obviously concerned that I didn't respond. And then at 6:17 when I had arrived, I messaged him, 'I'm here.' However, I noticed his WhatsApp photo is no longer there and then when I messaged him 'I'm here' it only gets sent with one checkmark.
So my first thought was like, oh my god, this man has blocked me because he thought I was ghosting him since I didn't respond to messages. So I wait like 5 minutes and my message still doesn't get sent. And then I message him with like, again, 'WTH?!' And then I said 'I'm at Good Friend Chicken' because I still wanted chicken. Those still only get delivered with one checkmark, so he doesn't receive it, right? His photo's still not there."
Image credits: @jennyisthegreatest
"And then a minute later he messages me on WhatsApp. His photo reappears"
"So I'm like, Oh my God, this man blocked me just because he thought I was ghosting him. And also, he didn't even wait like 2 minutes, I arrived at 6:17. But anyways, I'm waiting in line for chicken cause I still want chicken. And then I go on Hinge to see if he still has me as a match. And I see the conversation still there, so I messaged him on there being like, 'Oh, hey, I just got off the tube, I didn't have reception, I'm here.'
And then a minute later he messages me on WhatsApp. His photo reappears. He says, 'Hey, I'm at Tottenham Court Road, ping me your location.' And then I give him my location. And then we meet up at a random place like, outside of the chicken place, because I was waiting in line and he didn't wanna come inside."
Image credits: @jennyisthegreatest
"He completely ignored what had happened"
"So I go outside, I give him a hug. I like, chuckle, I'm just like, 'you're such a baby.' And he's just like, 'what?' and he completely ignored what had happened. I'm like 'yeah, for blocking me,' he's like 'I didn't block you.'
I'm like 'Yes you did, your photo disappeared and my messages didn't send or didn't deliver' and he's just like, 'oh, oh' and he's stuttering, all nervous, because I know he knows that he blocked me and then he's just like, 'Oh no, my WhatsApp is really glitchy, all my friends say that. Sometimes they say that they can't see my photo for some reason. I just don't know why.' But not after that. I was just like, 'What a loser.' And he was 36 years old!"
This excessive suspicion literally cost the man a probable relationship as Jenny decided to not meet him any more
So, Jenny was going to date a guy after texting on a dating app, and the woman went to the restaurant where the meeting was scheduled, on the subway, having previously warned the date-to-be that she planned to arrive at 6:15pm. What came to the original poster's surprise was when, being only two minutes late, she saw two unread texts from the guy.
Apparently, both texts came to WhatsApp when Jenny was on the subway, and there was no mobile connection. In the first, the man said he planned to run to the gym before the date to leave his things there, and in the second, sent just a few minutes later, he indignantly questioned: "Are you pranking me?" evidently mad over her not responding to the first one.
Trying to reply, the woman was even more surprised to see that her date had apparently blocked her on WhatsApp. At least his user pic disappeared and wouldn't show up again. After thinking for a while, Jenny decided that the guy suspected her of trying to ghost him, and texted again via the dating app where they met. The match was still saved there, and lo and behold - a few minutes later the guy's image appeared again in WhatsApp, and he replied that he would come very soon.
When they finally met, the man tried awkwardly to justify that WhatsApp was not working for him and that his friends also often faced the same issue. But the impression was already irrevocably ruined - and parting with him that evening, Jenny already knew that they would not meet again...
Well, the situation is quite familiar to our time - after all, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2020, 30% of U.S. adults say they have used a dating site or app. Moreover, due to the results of the same research, for about 12% respondents, online dating resulted in a committed relationship and/or marriage. Interestingly, the percentage of women in both cases is lower than that of men - 28 compared to 32 per cent and, respectively, 11 and 12 per cent.
However, like any social phenomenon, online dating is not without flaws. According to American psychologist Mark Travers, the main ones are anonymity, choice overload and conflict of interest. And just the first of these flaws perfectly illustrates our story. "Less-than-ideal methods of ending relationships such as ghosting, fading, and orbiting are also on the rise," Travers notes in his Forbes column.
And this, accordingly, is fraught with further mental problems. For example, last year California Polytechnic State University published a study whose author, Katherine Anne Holmes, concluded that ghostees become more indecisive over time about starting new romantic relationships. It's about taking on a higher level of self-protection that gets in the way of forming a special connection with someone new, the author of the study concludes.
Returning to Jenny's story of her bad date, people in the comments note that in this case, it is quite good that the guy exposed himself as that immature right before their first meeting. "So perfect, you only wasted 45 mins and not 45 years," one of the commenters aptly remarks. And anyway, according to some folks in the comments, judging by the date's behavior, the original poster has happily avoided lots of gaslighting in her future. So what do you think about this?
People in the comments mostly thanked the guy for exposing himself as being so immature that early
