WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE TO FIND ROMANCE IN 2007?

As promised, I will be delivering a series of articles based on our new book FAST FOOD DATING YOUR 2 CENTS. Hey, I am a man of my word. Some ladies out there are probably mumbling to themselves, “Now there’s a first!”

For those of you who haven’t read or encountered our new book FAST FOOD DATING YOUR 2 CENTS I will briefly explain it in a nutshell. We spoke with hundreds of people, both men and women to find out what they were doing to meet people. We wanted to know what dating services/sources worked the best. We received many mixed reviews and insights. Some made us laugh and some made us cry. And some made us laugh even harder. What started out as a self-help project quickly became a self-help project laden with lots of humor. Once you chisel away the layer of humor with an ice pick things once again fulfilled the best laid plans, a very insightful self-help book about dating.

I will look at each of the dating venues in individual articles over the next week, but in the mean time I will give you an overview of what we looked at and how successful respondents were.

For our research we wanted to look at the most contemporary and fun ways to meet while at the same time including “old school” ways to find your soul mate, the love of your life or one heck of a hot time. Our venues included; professional dating services, singles clubs, singles dances, singles cruises, Speed dating, internet dating, classified ads, bars/nightclubs, arranged marriages, reality television dating and blind dating. In the end we found if you subscribe to the world of “fast food everything” wanting things when you want them rather than letting nature take it’s course, then the paid professional services provide the best bang for your buck. And no, we weren’t referring to the “banging” in a literal sense. Mind you we did find several of these services did have members who offered their very own “pay for play” services. Note, the playing part didn’t include scrabble, shuffleboard, play dough or hide and seek! We found the world’s oldest profession had adapted and latched onto many dating venues to meet potential clients.

Professional dating services where you paid “dating counselors” to match you up with someone just like you or to your specifications, just like ordering a new are were the best all around as reported by those we spoke with. Singles clubs ran a close second. Bars, classified ads and telephone dating services proved to be rated the worst for a whole host of reasons. We found a plethora of dissatisfied people we interviewed. Bars were too pretentious and also a place where many people with addictions frequented. In the end, after a few drinks and last call everyone started to look good, even those with puke drooling down their chins. Classified ads in newspapers and magazines had time delays as their greatest deterrent. Can you always trust the postal service to deliver to you the love of your life? Is your paper boy or girl your cupid?

Telephone dating services were voted one of the worst of the worst venues. Many of our respondents cited many “pay for play” types on line, as well as “players“. We denote “play” and “players” both in literal and figurative terms! I think you get what we mean.

Overall, dating in 2007 is more than alive and well. Many people plan their entire days “dating” on-line or grabbing the bull by the horns with the hopes of finding their soul mates. Here is a brief recap of how our respondents rated the overall dating venues:

The Professionally run

Introduction services

Best

Singles Clubs

Singles Dances

Good Singles Cruises

Speed Dating

Fair Internet Dating

Classified Ads

(Newspapers)

Classified Ads

(Magazines)

The Bars/Night Clubs

Worst Telephone Chatlines

If you are a “dater” or in the game, I hope this proved useful for you when it comes to endeavoring in your quest for romance. Stay tuned for my next article on Internet dating. I will fill you in on what we found and what we didn’t find. Maybe you will have better luck than some of our interviewees!

To learn more about FAST FOOD DATING YOUR 2 CENTS by Dr. Peter Andrew Sacco and Jennifer Schott, please visit www.amazon.com, www.booklocker.com or visit www.petersacco.com to view the Fast Food Dating movie trailer.