I’m still getting the hang of FDS and want to hear about your experiences!

I was texting with someone from OLD who wanted to meet up right away. I said that I’d feel more comfortable chatting on the phone first. He said that would be great, and said we could FaceTime the next afternoon.

Three days pass and I don’t hear anything. (Yes, I should’ve blocked him, but hindsight is 20-20.) He then randomly popped back up and asked again when I’d be ready to see him in person.

I ignored him and continued speaking to other people, but he kept messaging me playful things to get my attention. I finally said. “Hi, you seem really cool, but we talked about a FaceTime date last week and it never happened! Consistency and follow-through are important to me. I don’t feel like we’re looking for the same things and I wish you the best.”

He then got super defensive and accused me of being “harsh,” and blamed his work schedule for being flaky. He then pushed to reschedule our phone call. I repeated my standard and blocked him. You only have one chance to make a good first impression.

Takeaway: Don’t explain yourself. They won’t “get it” no matter how nicely you word things. Flakiness may be normalized in the OLD world, but that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate it.