Dating can be fun. Dating can be thrilling. Dating can be exhausting. It can also be, well, sort of interesting. I’m sure you’ve experienced at least one odd date. The type of odd like Carrie experienced in “Sex and the City” with the man who had a stye in his eye and then a bird landed on his head – one of those. I figured I’d share a few interesting date stories I’ve heard about and give you my take on how to handle them. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Oh, The Weather Outside Is Weather

You’re on your date, and it starts out quite well. He picked a good restaurant, you get seated at the table, you order your drinks and then … he brings up the weather. At first you don’t think twice as it’s a common small talk topic to bring up, and it is raining outside, so whatever – you go with it.

However, he continued to talk about weather for the rest of your date. No, like actually continued to talk about the weather the entire time. He explained how he was once in a hurricane when he lived in Florida, and then talked about the time it flooded where he lived so he was stuck inside for a day, and then how it was pouring rain the weekend he was supposed to play in an outdoor tennis tournament, and so forth and so on. In a word: snoozefest.

My advice: If this happens to you, you’ve simply got to either just go with it, smile, nod and have a few more cocktails. Or, you can politely say “Look, Justin, I love the weather, but can we talk about something else?” and just laugh and attempt to make a joke of it. 

Like A Whoopee Cushion 

He picks you up for your date, you get in his car and you feel like you could literally vomit. It smells rancid. And not like stale food or gym socks, but like he definitely just expelled gas 0.4 seconds before picking you up. But it’s so bad, you really can’t talk because you’re gagging. However, the smell eventually goes away, so you try to ignore it and move on because the poor guy might have had a stomach ache.

You get to the restaurant and you’re waiting for your table talking, and the same smell from the car arises. Again, you almost gagged. However, you decided to just ignore it. You now sit at your table, which is a rounded booth so you’re sitting fairly cozied up to each other. Once again, that rancid smell returns. Now, you’re kind of losing it. You understand if he has a stomach ache and needs to relieve himself, but then why doesn’t he just go to the restroom to do so?

My advice: The first time or two, I’d let it go and move on with the date. If it continues, and you really can’t stand it anymore, don’t bring it up to him, as it’ll just embarrass him and make him feel awkward. You can always excuse yourself and then come back to the table and just say that unfortunately, you have to leave. However, if you think you might really like this guy, stick it out and deal with it, and then laugh at it later on. 

Such A Flirt

You’re midway through your first date together and you noticed your date has wandering eyes. Every few minutes, he looks around. When a girl walks by, he does a double take. Okay, fine, whatever; maybe he’s distracted tonight, but you’ll give him a chance to make a good impression nonetheless.

However, when your waitress comes over, he starts full-on flirting with her. And I’m not talking “friendly banter.” I’m talking borderline “Can I get your number?” status. Look, it has nothing to do with being territorial because you just met the guy, but it is totally disrespectful and wrong to do while on a date.

My advice: You really just need to suck it up and deal with it; do not say anything about it to him. Personally, I’d do my best to ignore it and then bolt out of there faster than the speed of light as soon as the date is over. However, if you really can’t handle it, go ahead and let him know that you’re not interested anymore based on his behavior and you’ll have to cut the date short.

There are, of course, countless other examples of interesting dates, but I wanted to give you a taste of a few particularly memorable ones I’ve heard. If you have been on an odd date, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Happy dating, friends!

You may also be interested in 6 Lies We Tell Ourselves When Dating Lets Us Down