Dating is hard, and if you're out there actively participating in the world of dating and romance, it's safe to say you can have some strange and cringy experiences for sure. Sure, there are some great guys and gals out there, but finding them can be difficult and more often than not things can easily go south on a date really quickly. I asked a handful of people to tell me about the worst and downright cringiest dates they'd ever been on, and you will not even believe what they said.
1. He tried to decide what I would eat.
"One time I went on a date with my now ex, and I'm not much for eating out but he insisted he 'wanted to take me out.' Now, I'm not a big girl. I'm 5'4 and 135 lbs, but I can put away some food! I like to eat! Well, we go to this nice restaurant and sit down and he starts talking about how much his mom likes salad and how little she and his sisters eat. THEN he tries to get me to order a SALAD with CHICKEN on it, 'because I know you like meat.' I ordered the cheapest burger on the menu and I ate the whole thing. He only ate half of his and then sat there staring at me eat mine. I offered to pay for my half of the bill but he wouldn't let me, and then he complained about the bill the whole way home. Hands down the worst date I have ever been on."
2. Her parents sat 4 tables away from us on the first date.
"I went on a date once with this girl and halfway through noticed that her mom and dad were watching us from 4 TABLES AWAY. Talk about cringe-fest."
3. He proposed after 2 weeks.
"I had been dating this guy for about 2 weeks and he was really nice and good looking, but we had only been out on a handful of dates and didn't know each other well. He was from another country and was only here for a few months for his job, so I didn't really expect it to go very far. WELL, one night TWO WEEKS into the relationship he took me out to eat at this nice restaurant. The food and conversation were great and it all went well, until the end of the meal when he GOT DOWN ON ONE KNEE AND PROPOSED TO ME WITH A DIAMOND RING IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT. I didn't even know what to say, so I just blurted out "Don't you think this is moving a little too fast? I don't know your middle name." He took me home, ringless, and I never heard from him again."
4. He had multiple identities.
"I met this guy on an online dating website named Jake and we hit it off pretty quickly. The conversation was great and he seemed to like some of the same things I did, so he suggested we go out to dinner. The date went great and I went home thinking that we would go out again soon. He didn't text for a few days so I decided I would check on him. I tried texting him a few times and he didn't answer. He had straight-up ghosted me. A few weeks later I was talking to one of my friends and she was telling me about this guy she had matched with, had been talking to, and was thinking of meeting in person named Thomas. She showed me a picture of him and IT WAS THE SAME GUY. I told her and she blocked his number. Scary stuff."
5. She told me she slept with my close friend.
"I went on a date with a really nice girl, but about 45 minutes in she told me that she had slept with a good friend of mine once. After that it was kind of awkward."
6. He texted me *once* every year.
"One of my friends set me up with this guy who was really nice and we hit it off instantly. We went out once and had a great time. I expected him to call me later and set up another date. He never did. I tried texting, calling, looking up his Facebook. Nothing. I got super worried and called his house but his family kept saying he was 'unavailable.' He basically dropped off the face of the Earth. It was so weird. Then, out of nowhere a YEAR LATER he calls me randomly and asks me out as if nothing ever happened. I'm weirded out, but I go anyway and we have a great time once again. I get home, SAME THING. It's like the guy doesn't exist. THEN ANOTHER YEAR LATER he calls me AGAIN and asks me out. This time I'm seeing someone else already and tell him no. But STILL. That is TOO LONG TO WAIT. WHY??"
7. He didn't say a word the whole time.
"I went to the movies with this one guy I met on Tinder and he literally didn't say anything the entire time. Every time I would laugh or something at it he would just look at me and be like 'oh that's funny huh?' And not even in a flirty way. In a rude way. So after the movie, literally NO WORDS. We walked alone to our cars just to find out we were parked across from each other. So I sat in my car for a second trying to turn on my music and update my roommate on how bad the date was and I look up and he was just STARING DEAD AT ME. So immediately I pull the heck out and never spoke to him again. I blocked his number to be sure."
8. He ditched mid-date.
"One of my close friends set me up with this guy on his soccer team because he thought we would get along well, and we did! We went to eat Italian food at this really nice restaurant and had a great conversation and seemed to have a lot in common. After dinner, we went to see this movie he claimed he had been DYING to see, and I was pretty excited about it too. Well, nearly halfway through he leaned over and whispers to me that he has to run to the restroom and I asked if on his way back he could pick me up some cookie dough bites because they're amazing and I was craving them. He said sure and left. Ten minutes go by and he still isn't back yet. I'm thinking, 'That pasta hurt my stomach, too. Poor guy.' Twenty minutes... Still no man, still no cookie dough bites. I WATCHED THE REST OF THE MOVIE WITHOUT HIM (which was like an hour and 15 minutes). He never came back. The worst part of it all was that I never got my cookie dough bites."
9. She ordered bacon by accident and she's a vegetarian.
"I had breakfast with a guy I had a BIG crush on one time. I am a vegetarian so I had planned on getting the egg and cheese biscuit, but I was so nervous that I accidentally ordered the egg and bacon biscuit. I was too embarrassed to change it so when it got to the table I just took the bacon out. He just looked at me like I was absolutely CRAZY."
10. He made up stories about meeting famous people the entire time.
"I went on a coffee date with a guy I went to school with this once. The WHOLE TIME he just sat there talking about how he knew all these famous people, and it was obviously a LIE. I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH HIM AND I HAD FOR SEVERAL YEARS. It was really cringy. For him."
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