Another Hazard of Texting

Last night, I encountered an entirely new hazard of dating in the text-message age. Well, not really a hazard, per se--maybe a quirk? It's pretty funny, actually--you'll like this.

I got home from my work happy hour around 7:00, fed my little ones (the dog and cats, that is), and took the dog for a long walk. About five minutes after I got back, I got a text message. The exchange went like this, word for word, with some explanatory comments:

Texter: Its john; want 2 come down 2 german village?
[Older Young Guy's name is John.]
Me: Where are you?
John: House sitting across from barcelona [a restaurant]
Me: Want to just meet out somewhere around there?
John: Sure; where r u now?
Me: Home. Just got back from happy hour.
John: U should head down here
Me: Where exactly?
John: Want to just meet me here, then we can head out?
Me: K. Directions?

He then gave me directions and said he would meet me at my car when I got there and we could just walk to a nearby bar. I headed on down, found the place easily, parked my car, and called him. He said he'd be right out. I thought his voice sounded really odd. So the door to this house opens, and out walks . . . a totally different guy than the one I thought I was meeting.

I can only imagine what my face looked like as he approached my car; luckily, it was dark out. I had to recover pretty quickly. This guy was another guy named John, and he's a friend of a friend. I met him last summer and have run into him a few times at parties and such, and he came to a party I threw for a friend a few weeks ago. Well, apparently, he'd gotten ahold of my number--presumably from said "friend." Keep in mind that I'm piecing all of this together in my head as we're greeting each other and exchanging pleasantries and walking to the bar. It occurred to me that it was a bit presumptuous of him to just text me out of the blue like that as if we were good friends, and on a Friday night, no less. This is not someone I would have gone on a date with if I actually knew it was him I was meeting. He's a nice enough guy, but I'm just not attracted to him. But I was kind of stuck now, wasn't I?

In the end, it wasn't a total loss. We had a couple of drinks and talked, and he's actually a very nice guy, and one of those rare ones who actually listen and ask a lot of questions and seem genuinely interested in the responses. In fact, I found myself wishing I was attracted to him . . . but that just wasn't happening. (He's not bad looking at all--just not my type.) And here's a kicker--I wound up telling him the whole thing, all about the mistaken identity, and he got a big kick out of it. More points in his favor. But I'm not going to date him. The evening ended with the understanding that we'd just be friends.

Be careful with the texting, people. It's been an issue with me more than once this week.

*In retrospect, I should have known. Older Young Guy would never use semicolons.