I feel this in my soul. Same way, notice a cute girl a work don’t want to be the creepy guy at the office, see a cute girl working at the movie theatre, no this is her job, she doesn’t need that at work. This is why I’m single 😅
The annoying thing is that the annoying guys are more likely to get a date, while they just go about their day. Not because they are better, or because their methods are good, but purely because they approach more people.
I hate making people feel uncomfortable (no matter their gender), so I always struggled finding “spontaneous” dates, or even dancing with strangers at a club/party.
The only thing that really worked for me was using dating apps, where both parties have implicitly indicated that they are looking for dates in general (because they’re on the app) and explicitly indicated that they are interested in each other (by liking their profile, or whatever).
Although I’ve heard the apps have all gotten worse lately, I wouldn’t really know, as I found someone on Tinder years ago, and now we’re happily married.
I’ll be honest, as long as you don’t make it weird you can approach a lot of people be they’re on the job or not. If they’re on the job just ask them about the journey so far. Like, they’re also human you can treat them as such.
Ask once, be clean about it, look like a dork for a few minutes, if she says no, let it go and never mention it again.
The annoying creep is likely to do ask her out twice a week.
Theres no way to ask without looking weird, but the follow up is what distinguishes regular guys from creeps.
There’s no need to even ask them out right away. Just having a casual conversation and making them speak of their interests can warm them to you.
Are they your coworker? Sigh at how needy clients are, tell how you want to have a break, ask what they want to do when they have them. Discuss details.
A cinema worker is harder, but you can play a dummy and ask them if they see the movies screened there and can vouch for some of them or if they can suggest some snack from a bar, to break the ice.
People like talking about themselves. All have hilarious stories to tell. One needs to make them open up and react in a supportive way. Looking up interviewers on youtube can get one a better idea of how it’s done than these greesy pick-up artists. Genuinely enjoying a conversation rather than being hungry for a pussy\dick and making it all about yourself is a great start.
Great advice 10/10.
If you go in trying to bed them you’re likely going to crash and burn.
Just try to make them a friend it’s a win win win because if you hit it off then you get a friend, if the attraction is reciprocated you may get relationship, if they aren’t interested in you but see you as a good person they may try to set you up with a friend of theirs that is single.
Can’t lose with this method.
So you feign interest to pick up someone.
Not something I’m interested in doing.
What you describe is absolutely the way to do it without looking weird. Don’t be aggressive about it, accept a no or an awkward silence or similar as being a no, respond in a pleasant tone and not an aggressive one, and you should be pretty good to go without being seen as a creep, as long as you don’t repeat it later. Of course, don’t make a point of going around hitting on women in gyms or who are at work, but it can be done tactfully.
Seing some cute girl at the bar “nope, she’s probably here just to enjoy her drink”
Eh. It can kind of cause a lot of problems in the workplace, and not just for the people dating… Especially if somebody is the type to get jealous if you have to work with their partner on something, which is sadly not uncommon. If you’re mature and can deal with it… fine. But, frankly, there’s plenty of fish in the sea and it’s probably better to date outside of work (or at least your team) for everybody.
I’ve seen work relationships go very badly but I’ve also seen them go very well. I met my wife at work so it worked out great for me.
Best advice I can give is, if you want to date people you work with, make sure you’re ok with quitting your job. If things go south it might come to that. Use good judgement. Don’t date your boss or one of your subbordinates. That’s a great way to get fired out of a canon.
My brother-in-law dated a co-worker for a few weeks a couple of years ago but he went over-the-top like with most things in his life, so things went south fast and now it’s been difficult between them at work ever since. He is definitely not okay with quitting his job, and apparently neither is she, so now they’re stuck with each other, so I would say it’s a very tricky needle to thread.
Nope. Ask flat out, don’t be weird about it. You get one shot before there’s any potential harassment, take it… Then accept the result
That’s all there is to it
Okay so what if you’re from one of the many countries where asking people out on dates isn’t really a thing?
I assume the population in those countries is going down then because I don’t understand how else you’re supposed to do it?
You just hit them over the head with a rock
Now put yourself in the girl’s place and multiply that interaction for all the guys that tried to pick her up. Does that change your tune?
No, I’m often hit on by gay guys for some reason. When they take no for an answer (and they almost always have) it’s just flattering. Sometimes they’ll insist on buying me a drink anyways, and we’ll talk like two straight guys would, sometimes they even wingman for me.
A few times it seemed like they thought they might be able to turn a no into a yes - that’s not comfortable, and that’s exactly what you should never do in that kind of situation
But being asked out respectfully by people who genuinely accept the answer at face value? No, I don’t think that part gets old, everyone likes feeling desired.
You do have to genuinely and immediately drop it though - the fear you won’t is probably concerning to women, but women generally want relationships too.
Women dream of romcoms, not the over the top obsession part (that’d cross so many lines in reality) but the idea of a great partner dropping into their life… Most people don’t love cars
Ideally, you’d pick up on the receptiveness before you ask and give them a way to say no without actually saying no (like if they say they’re busy and don’t give an alternative day, you just say too bad and pretend like it never happened), but that’s not something everyone understands or can be communicated clearly
Late posting, but reminded me of this:
While people on reddit or Lemmy might talk about hitting on someone at work as the worst thing ever this isn’t the case for a lot of people.
Lemmy has a very distinct demographic that’s not really representative of the outside world.
Not talking about coworkers, but more about people you encounter while they are working.
I’ve had a couple of pleasant experiences. Same for girls in the gym tbh.
I sometimes think being an attractive girl must be both the best and the worst thing ever.
Now that I’m older I don’t get hit on nearly as much. It’s been amazing. I didn’t realize that I just had to wait it out a few decades.
I’ve known women who intentionally made themselves look less attractive so as not to get hit on. Sad really.
As much as I understand your opinion, I’m really struggling to understand how couples meet outside of apps now. I’ve been in a long-term monogamous relationship for more than 20 years, I’m completely out of the loop.
I’ve been single for five years now.
I got rid of social media and then COVID hit.
I honestly don’t even know how to socialize anymore let alone date.
Fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be, my relationship history has me so jaded, that I really don’t have any desire to date.
If I did desire such a thing, I have no idea how I would go about it. There aren’t any more physical community places unless you wanna go get shitfaced in a bar, and I’m long since past those days.
Bars/Pubs. The booze helps lubricate those social wheels. Or friends of friends being introduced to each other.
But honestly anywhere could be a place to meet someone if you’re not a creep about it and don’t try to force it.
Kinda sucks when you don’t drink though. Best advice I’ve heard was to take up a social hobby, but I haven’t a clue what that would be either.
Like you said, find an excuse to leave your house I guess.
Oh man, I know that feeling all too well! MySpace was a thing when I was last dating, so it’s like an entire world has passed by. A while back, I was at a bar with a friend, and he let me swipe through Tinder on his account while he got a round in, and having that kind of easy access to dating when I was younger would’ve been absolutely petrifying.
Have been in a monogamous relationship for a while as well. I think that the rreliance on apps is a false need, cultivated to make more money on said apps as their goal isn’t to lose customers by finding good matches but to keep extracting profits. There’s a significant conflict of interest that makes me think that they are little more than a scam that ocassionally helps people hook-up despite the companies’ best efforts.
Glad that I don’t have to deal with dating and dread the idea that I may have to in the future because I hate it but my suggestions would be:
If looking to cultivate something with long-term potential, put relationship goals on the backburner and participate in an interest that has a possible social component. If one is genuinely interested, they will find people who find them interesting.
If looking to get laid, probably bars in the US (unfortunately, not usually a great place to meet people just looking to socialize, unlike Ireland or the UK).
Alternatively, if one is into kinks or curious and able to be not creepy (can be extra challenging for single men), getting involved with a kink/fetish community that does non-play meet-ups might be a good option. As noted, it can be a bit of a challenge for single men to get accepted, but is not impossible. This is because such groups tend to be very zealous about protecting their community and single men have historically been higher-risk for abuse, assault, and not honoring kink contracts. (As a man, I don’t like the discrimination but do understand and agree with it as I’d rather some guy get hurt feelings than someone end up in the ICU or a dumpster).
Tell that to the women that go to my gym with their asses hanging out. I mean I’m honestly offended because I’m here to spend time with myself in self-reflection and conditioning but now it’s ruined because I’m asking myself all kinds of questions like “how much little validation does she get from life that she needs to do that? And she’s looking around, scanning for eyes. She knows wtf she’s doing. Women will complain about being sexualized as an object and then do shit like this! If she needs male attention that badly, why here, of all places? Does she not have parents? I’d hate to be this girls father. Then again, there probably isn’t a father in her life if she’s going out like this. I mean it’s not even an aesthetic body! If you have sculpted leg muscles, etc then fine. You’ve earned the right to show that off. But this chick doesn’t even have a noteworthy ass. The only thing noteworthy is that it’s outside of her shorts. Why the fuck would you do this to me? I’d still hit it though.”
Maybe they want to be comfortable at the gym and don’t care what you think of their ass.
On the contrary, I have two real life friend couples who met at the gym and are now married with children.
If consenting adults are meeting one another in a public space, they should be free to approach each other.
I think the biggest problem is that people go straight to trying to flirt or hit on someone… We’ve spent too much time on Tinder where it is sending as many one-liner pick-up style openers that people start to think that is a normal way for an interaction out in the world to go. Generally, the majority has forgotten how to talk to people face to face in real life in a normal and appropriate manner.
Also, if they are now married with children, I have to assume they met a few years ago and at least possibly, maybe even likely, it happened before the shit hit the fan like it has now. The dating world has been rapidly changing over the last few years.
If consenting adults are meeting one another in a public space
“Consent” is a problem when men try to hit on women using headphones, or when people don’t get the hint that you really don’t want to have a conversation with strangers.
It sounds like the way those people act would be a big problem anywhere, and they probably wouldn’t abide by any new etiquette rules unless the gym was ready to lose money by throwing them out. And even in that case, they could just follow their target to the parking lot which would probably be even more uncomfortable and scary.
People SHOULD be safe from harassment no matter where they are. But I think any place that brings people together is going to eventually create some relationships.
Sounds like what you propose is some common sense for the ones trying to hit on someone who’s not interested. And I would say that would make sense everywhere, not only in the gym
Ok, but how do I know if she ‘consents’ to being approached before talking to her?
That’s the thing, you never could know. Back in the old days you would ask things like “hey you wanna maybe go out sometime” but now since that itself is an affront for which you can be publicly shamed without needing to be pushy or make unwanted physical contact, the only places acceptable to meet people are the bars and apps. I think the only way to fix it is to either create new public spaces centered around dating that don’t center around alcohol, or to culturally shift back a little from “it isn’t ok to ask a woman out anywhere but the bar” to “asking people out is ok as long as you take no for an answer the first time and don’t push, and don’t touch 'em.”
Also you bring up an interesting point: consent to being talked to. If one needs to give consent to be talked to, and one cannot give consent under the influence of alcohol, then one cannot be spoken to while drinking, therefore I deduce the bar is the most inappropriate place to meet women and the gym is leagues more appropriate since everyone is mostly sober there. Watson! Get my gym shorts! (Yes this part was a joke, I hope the Sherlock Holmes reference was a clue to that.)
This is lemmy, there is no “downvote to oblivion”.
The default algorithm here basically sorts by new while the thread is fresh and downvoted comments aren’t hidden.
Besides, your opinion isn’t unpopular at all.
I think, the rule of not being bothered if you don’t want to communicate should be applied everywhere. Also, I find it healthier if people talk to each other at least a bit, but I mostly attended a gym with a stable population (and quite a long time ago, unfortunately) so that may have affected my opinion
I don’t think it’s an unpopular opinion so much as unrealistic one.
Cultivating your body at the gym means you will look attractive at the gym. This is just how the human body is, and the gym is a place for everyone. If you don’t like that it’s a place for everyone, go outside. There are plenty of things you can do with just your body weight to stay healthy. You can get your own weights, as well. You do not need to destroy your body systematically in order to maximize gains and aesthetic in order to stay healthy. If you decide to do so, you take what comes with it. “It” being gym bros hitting on you during your workout. Simply turn them down and move on.
I agree that it’s unrealistic, but for a different reason. So long as the gym is one of comparitively few acceptable public spaces for people to “socialise with intent of romance” people will flock to it for that reason. Any gym that enforced some kind of ‘no flirting’ rule is incurring a real financial risk.
Hitting on people is equivalent to racial segregation and centuries of hatred…? Besides that whole can of worms, how did your parents meet? My dad hit on my mom at a summer camp. I met my wife by hitting on her at a store. Hitting on people is the most traditional way people hook up. Weird to me that people are trying to demonize public flirting.
I couldn’t* care less what it reads like to you, in your world nobody talks to anyone and everything is black and white. I’m good, I won’t ever want to live in your world.
Edit: the video
D- Demonstrate value by suggesting that you can afford a hospital stay
She says “no” lol
And you know what? At least he has the answer and can die knowing that.
Nothing worse than a ‘what if’ haunting you forever.
Nothing worse than a ‘what if’ haunting you forever.
Sorry, there is something much worst: a continuous avalanche of incredulous and horrified rejections.
