To pay or not to pay- that is the question

Had another lunch date yesterday with a guy from the internet. The date was meh. He just isn't the personality type I want to spend much time around. By the time an hour had passed, I was really for it to end, which is pretty unusual for me.

The date did bring up one question, though. We met at Panera Bread. I say this so you know that we ordered our food with a cashier, then sat down. Well, he ordered ahead of me. When the cashier asked if we were together or separate, he quickly affirmed- a little too strongly- "Separate!"

Now, let me state my position on this before I tell you how I reacted. Although I am a good southern woman who believes men should be chivalrous, I also am an independent woman. I never go into a date expecting a man should pay. I don't feel entitled to it. Especially when it is meeting for the first time. On every date I go on, I always offer to pay my portion.

BUT. Here's the but. I've never had a guy not offer to pay, so I was kind of caught off guard! Haha, teaches me to be a little southern belle, hmm? I don't know, I just feel like it would have been a nice sign for him to at least offer, especially considering he ordered first.

The truth is, it wouldn't have changed the fact that I wasn't just that into him, so nothing gained, nothing lost, I guess.

What do you think, ladies? Do you expect/want men to pay? Do any fellas read the blog? Do you want women to offer to pay? Would you let her?

My new mantra

Since I last updated you all, some things have happened. I told one fella I felt uncomfortable with the amount of correspondence he wanted before we even met, and he got upset and never contacted me again. Not a big loss.

I have gotten the big blow off from the Twitter fella.

I went to brunch with a nice guy. No sparks flew, but he seemed nice and I wouldn't be surprised if we hung out again. Dropped the F-bomb though. I don't understand on what universe that's appropriate.

Was asked out by another guy via the interwebs, but I think there is a chance that he is a foot fetisher. Not sure what I think about that. Definitely a first!

All this to say, I have been a bit discouraged, but the other day I found myself telling me something over and over that is obvious, but clearly I needed to be reminded.

I am more than who I date!

One of the major downfalls of this little experiment and blog is that I feel like I'm trying too hard, and thoughts of relationships are taking up more than my normal mind-share. But life is good, and I'll keep repeating my mantra as needed. Lather, rinse, repeat.