For singles seeking love online, is it OK to be running late when you two are meeting for that great First Date? Sophisticate singles are used to arriving “whenever” for potluck parties and cocktail parties at their friends’ houses. Is it the same social etiquette for the First Date? Why it’s not cool to be fashionably late for your date and how to avoid it. Read on to discover more.
First Date Dating Success Tip: Do Show Up On Time
With so many singles living in metropolitan areas, there is always the traffic and commute traffic variables. It is a running joke in Southern California in Los Angeles and Orange County that there is always an accident on the 405 freeway. Do be sure to know the route you will take to your date and leave plenty of time to get there. It is even better still to plan to arrive a few minutes early. You show the greatest respect, consideration, and honor to your date and yourself when you arrive early and are on-time for your date.
If you live in a metro area like New York or Los Angeles where evening parking can be a challenge, you know there will be valet parking. Yes, it will cost something. Phone the restaurant where you two will be meeting and find out what it costs. Do plan for that cost as part of the cost of the date. If you live in such an area, do use valet parking. Do not keep your date waiting 45 minutes searching for free parking thinking she will wait for you. When you do that, you are telling her, “I value your precious time less than the cost of a valet.” Yes, you will create a lasting first impression. It just won’t be the one you want.
It is the 21st century. Things happen. If worse comes to worse and there is a major traffic accident, you got each other’s cell phone numbers exchanged when you agreed and accepted this First Date, right? Well then phone your date. This is not the time to text. That looks wimpy to both men and women. Provide them some kind of an adjusted ETA.
It will then be your date’s decision to stay and meet you or to cancel that date. 99% of the time, if you are more than 15 minutes late for your date, your date will leave if you don’t phone and check with them. You will show up and he or she will be gone. If you phone now and ask your date to come back, you have totally disrupted the evening. This is not how to begin a romantic relationship. Avoid all that turmoil by simply planning ahead and giving yourself plenty of time. Better to arrive early and sit at the bar and have a drink of sparkling water for 20 minutes than to show up late.
When you show consideration, thoughtfulness and respect for yourself and your date by showing up a few minutes early and meet your date on time, you are guaranteed to enjoy a great first date! And so will your date, with you!
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Online Dating Advice for the First Date: Dating Success Means Don’t Be Fashionably Late for the Date
