When a coworker’s fragile ego turns a dream date into a bid for internet clout, how are you supposed to deal with the resulting silent standoff in the office?
This 26-year-old woman just went out on a first date with her 28-year-old male coworker. Their night out was abbreviated following a fight they had.
She’s left feeling distraught about it, as this is a guy she really liked and had feelings for. So, to give you the backstory, she spent months crushing on her coworker, and he finally asked her out on a date.
She jumped at the chance, and he made reservations at an upscale restaurant for a Sunday night. Their date started off amazing. He kindly picked her up, they arrived at the restaurant, and they ordered an appetizer, which was drool-worthy.
But after their entrees hit the table, it was all downhill from there. As soon as her meal was placed in front of her, her date asked her to hold off on taking a bite.
He then pulled out his phone to snap photos of their food. She thought he was just the kind of guy who enjoyed taking photos of all his meals, so she wasn’t too bothered by it.
However, he started treating it like a photoshoot and told her to act like she was cutting into her dinner. He then said she should pretend to shake salt over it.
He was going on and on like he was directing her, and she was not happy about it. Their food was growing cold, and she said they were there to eat.
He said sorry and put the phone down, but remained on it and mentioned he was trying to find pictures to put on his Instagram story.
She was astonished and warned him that it made her uneasy being featured in his story like that. He promised to crop her identifying features out and only have her hands pictured.
He then said he would not tag her in the photo if that was what she wanted, but he needed to prove that he was indeed out on a date that night.
“To be honest, this sounded a bit pathetic to me, but I bit my tongue and asked him to at least wait until after the meal to start posting photos? He said that it had to be in real time or his followers wouldn’t believe him,” she explained.
“This is where I may have [messed] up a bit. I pointed out to him that he wasn’t an influencer, he had like forty followers, and it was a bit pathetic if him being on a date was so monumental that he had to ‘document it.’ Then he just got up and stormed off, leaving me with two unpaid meals and starters.”
“He didn’t come back, but I wasn’t going to waste the food that I’d have to pay for anyway, so I just sat there by myself and finished my meal. I can’t lie, I was pretty upset about it, considering I’ve literally been crushing on this guy for so long, but that childish behavior just [angered me] so much.”
She paid the bill for her food and his, then got up and left the restaurant, only to realize her date had blocked her on Instagram. She has since seen him at work, and he has ignored her.
She’s left wondering if she was a jerk for stating that she didn’t want him documenting their date on the internet.
Ok, yes, it was totally rude of her date to ignore her like that and spend his time on his phone, but I do think she was just as mean to him. Undoubtedly, he was being ridiculous, but she is the one who ultimately turned this into a fight when that could have been avoided.
She should have asked him nicely to put the phone down so they could spend time together, rather than insulting him. Calling anyone pathetic is sure to hurt their ego, especially someone you’re out on a date with.
They both come across as childish, and like they’re not acting their ages. Also, it is never, ever a good idea to date your coworker because that’s just asking for an awkward office environment if the romance doesn’t work out.
And since we spend so much of our lives at work, who wants to have to deal with that?
What do you think?
You can read the original post below.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
