I went on a date with a guy my friend set me up with. Honestly, I had low expectations — blind dates usually end in awkward small talk and forced politeness. But this one started differently from the moment he arrived. He showed up with flowers — real roses, not the cheap grocery-store kind. He smiled, handed them to me, and for the first time in a while, I felt genuinely surprised.
Dinner was perfect. He was charming in a calm, confident way. He opened every door, pulled out my chair, listened when I talked, and never once made the conversation about himself. I kept thinking, Finally, someone who actually gets it.
When the check came, I reached for my wallet out of habit. Big mistake. He immediately slid his card down and said, “Absolutely not. A man pays on the first date.” Normally I’d argue, but the way he said it — steady, self-assured, not controlling — actually made me smile. I walked away thinking this might have been one of the best first dates I’d ever had.
Then came the next morning.
I woke up to a long message from him. At first, I thought it was a cute “good morning,” maybe a follow-up to plan a second date. But when I opened it, my stomach dropped.
The message wasn’t sweet — it was an invoice.
He had broken down the entire cost of the date: the roses, the dinner, the drinks, the Uber he paid for. Line by line. With prices. And at the end, he wrote:
“Since you insisted on paying your share, here’s your half. Please send it by noon.”
At first, I thought it had to be a joke. No one could go from romantic gentleman to accountant-in-a-mental-crisis overnight. I replied, asking if he was being sarcastic.
He wasn’t.
He doubled down. Said it was “only fair,” and that he didn’t want to “start a relationship with someone who expects to be spoiled.” Spoiled. Me. The same me who literally tried to split the check the night before.
I didn’t send him anything, obviously. I blocked him and told my friend never to set me up on a date again unless she personally ran a psychological background check first.
The funniest part? She told me afterward that he’d bragged for years about how he was a “traditional man,” how he believed in paying for women, how he treated dates “right.” Turns out he only meant for the first twelve hours — until the bill processed on his card.
So yeah, best first date ever… followed by the most chaotic morning-after message I’ve ever received. And honestly, I’m still laughing about it.
