Results: This survey is about first dates, some are disasters and some are something to look back on fondly - and sometimes a first date can end up being both.
Published on 09/20/2025
The first date my wife and I had could have been a disaster. Certainly nothing much went as planned. This date however led to several much more successful dates and a 55 year marriage (and counting). Sometimes the circumstances are of lesser importance than how you react to them. I will tell TW members some of the "highlights" of our first date in 1969 and provide some other examples. Members are free to provide their own stories, either to amuse or as a catharsis.
QUESTIONS
GO to COMMENTS
Comments
1.
1.
In the late 1960s, I was a bank teller in Edinburgh, Scotland. A young female student came in one day and we had a brief conversation while she completed her banking business. There seemed to be a natural chemistry so I was very happy when she came in again 2 weeks later (around Christmas time) and we spoke some more. I decided to send her a letter asking her out. She was back home in Glasgow for the holidays so I did not hear back until college resumed in January. She phoned me, we set the time for our first date and then the following happened. Which of these would have been a deal breaker for you back in the day?
I was late leaving work, no way to reach her to tell her, she waited until I arrived 20 minutes late.
10%
189 votes
We had decided to go to a folk club and went by bus to get there. On the way there, to "break the ice," I tried to tell her some jokes. She didn't "get" or laugh at any of them. 55 years later she still doesn't get most of my jokes, but finds my trying to explain the punch lines to be hilarious.
12%
235 votes
At the folk club there were various acts with one "star attraction." An earlier act used an electric guitar. The "star" got up and marched out saying "I'm a musician not an electrician (the same happened a month before at a Bob Dylan gig). The star was never heard from again. We were most amused by it all.
7%
142 votes
Other (please specify)
2%
34 votes
Not Applicable
65%
1236 votes
Even though I worked in a bank, I forgot to take some money out for our date so the first thing we needed to do was find a cash machine (an early ATM). We found one, it didn't work. So we had to find another one. We discovered we enjoyed walking together.
12%
232 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 1.08% | 9 | |
| None | 0.24% | 2 |
| If a date tried to tell me risqu jokes on the first date or any date thereafter. | 0.12% | 1 |
| None of them would actually be a dealbreaker but your Survey is required way too much reading!!!!!!!! | 0.12% | 1 |
| None of these circumstances would be deal breakers for me. | 0.12% | 1 |
| She showed up drunk and with another guy. | 0.12% | 1 |
| Treating my company like a waste of time. Yeah I actually had a date like that who had the audacity to be upset when I got up to leave. | 0.12% | 1 |
| Not showing up | 0.12% | 1 |
| had no deal breaker | 0.12% | 1 |
| None of these would have been a deal breaker for me? Not my dating era though. :)) | 0.12% | 1 |
| none.all sound lovely | 0.12% | 1 |
| Not showing up at all | 0.12% | 1 |
| none of the above | 0.12% | 1 |
| My husband of 56 years and I went to see "The Graduate" on our 1st date. | 0.12% | 1 |
| None are really deal breakers | 0.12% | 1 |
| None of these. I think they are cute. | 0.12% | 1 |
| None of these sound like deal-breakers. | 0.12% | 1 |
| I don t work | 0.12% | 1 |
| Deal breakers? I would definately want to continue going out with this person, great first date. | 0.12% | 1 |
| Sounds like a great date. None of those would have been a deal-breaker for me. | 0.12% | 1 |
| Any decision could change the outcome of any life situation. | 0.12% | 1 |
| Other than profanity or violence, I cannot think of any absolute deal breakers. | 0.12% | 1 |
| if the date treated service people disrespectfully, none of the above would have bothered me too much | 0.12% | 1 |
| None of these would be a deal breaker for me. | 0.12% | 1 |
| None are deal breakers | 0.12% | 1 |
2.
2.
I am not the only person who has found some rough patches on the road to married bliss. Here are some examples where they didn't even get on that road. Which of them do you find amusing? Source for these examples is BuzzFeed.
I went on a first date to London Zoo. He asked if I wouldn't mind paying for my ticket. When I said I would pay, he took out a 2 for 1 coupon. I paid to get in and he got in for free.
23%
432 votes
I met a girl for a blind date once. She didn't say one word throughout dinner, finished her meal and walked out. I checked my phone before I left and there was a message from my actual date saying she couldn't make it tonight. So who did I just have a meal with?
33%
636 votes
My date let me out of the car to wait on the curb while she parallel parked. After three failed attempts she drove away. I walked home.
26%
490 votes
His family ran a funeral home. I didn't have a problem with that, but he spent most of the time through dinner telling me what kind of makeup he would use on me when I died.
23%
440 votes
Other (please specify)
0%
9 votes
Not Applicable
47%
895 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 0.30% | 6 | |
| These situations are ridiculous and made up. | 0.05% | 1 |
| All of these would be deal-breakers, except for the one who wasn't the actual date. That was no fault of the real date, so I'd just try to reschedule a new one with her. | 0.05% | 1 |
| Lolol | 0.05% | 1 |
COMMENTS