unknown: Hey beautiful.! What’s Up

me: “I’m sorry who is this?” “I am not trying to be rude”

unknown: “You are beautiful -”

me: “Thank you… who are you?”

unknown: “I’m paul, steve, joe…[insert generic name here]”

We all have those days when an ex or a non-entity texts you and you have no clue in the world who they are. For me, this has happened more than once but last night was the strangest occurrence at all.

Last night, while in class I received a text from an unknown number. A boy claiming we met at a party, but his story didn’t add up.

Now, it was not too hard to make a select number of guesses before realizing that 1. I had met this boy online and not in person. 2. nothing he was trying to sell me was true and 3. it is because of people like this that I realize that I probably shouldn’t have access to a phone two – three out of seven days a week.

See when it comes to giving out my number I tend to say why not – and regret the rest later [ I mean why else would someone invent a block button other than to annul mistakes made? right? ] wrong.

And here are 5 reasons why

1. boy or girl – it doesn’t matter who is on the other end of the line, if you do not know who he or she is, they haven’t put the work in to be worth your time.
2. if they start with “hey beautiful” it’s a line – don’t let this society continue to allow it.
3. if they want a picture – wholesome or otherwise, they will ask for your social media… it’s verified – legitimate and the facts will add up.
4. if they want you, they will ask for a date
5. if they don’t want you-you will immediately be able to tell what they do want – then walk away.

Key Takeaways

Learn from my failures

Never give out your number while intoxicated because it truly never ends well.

And by this, I do not mean I have ever been in danger, but it is a general uncomfy feeling that could have been avoided in the first place had I had the ability to meet people the generic way rather than online.

Protect your personal info

and in general – avoid online dating because the longer you keep it online the less and less likely it is to become real – so if they don’t want a date within two weeks, they aren’t worth your time and walking away will be the best thing you can do.