Quick Rant: Date Downgraders

Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled when any guy wants to hang out with me in public. I'm even more thrilled when he agrees to classify it as a date. I'm downright ecstatic when he makes a point of saying how he's going to take me to a great restaurant and then for fancy cocktails. Yay for me.

However, I am not thrilled when he downgrades our date in record time. What initially started as a firm offer to grab dinner and drinks has tumbled into some loose-goose grab at makeshift plans. What happened? It's like watching the evolutionary chart in rewind; our date transformed from a civilized, modern day human to a slimy, pre-historic ameoba in break-neck speed. Why do guys do this?

Once, a guy suggested we grab dinner and a movie for our first date. "Aww! How wholesome," I thought. "Maybe we could split a vanilla milkshake and act like a Normal Rockwell painting." However, on the day of the date, he revised the plan and asked me to go with him to the Foo Fighters concert at the Waterfront in Camden. Apparently, he snapped up backstage passes through his work and wanted to take me. I didn't care for the band, but the idea of grabbing free beers in a backstage environment appealed to me. (Little known fact: backstages passes are like my catnip.) And, the novelty of the experience won me over. I agreed. About an hour later, he texted me saying that he was unable to secure a plus one afterall, so would I "be cool" with picking him up after the concert and driving him back to the city where we could grab a drink together.

To re-iterate, what started as an offer to buy me dinner and drinks had deteriorated into a request for me to drive by myself to Camden, NJ and pick him up from a goddamn Foo Fighters concert. What, am I a taxi service now? Am I his mom in a mini-van? Why on earth would I agree to do this as our first date? What the hell?

This type of date downgrade typically happens to me about once a year. It's like a teeth cleaning but even more unpleasant. Hey, date downgraders, drop dead.