SPEED DATING: FROM LONELINESS TO LOVE IN 60 SECONDS OR LESS

In my last article, we took off the glasses and looked at Blind Dating to “see” how good it works. For those of you still looking to find your blind date (A.K.A. the one you were set up with) at the mall or club, perhaps you might want to shift gears and speed things up a little. How does moving things into 5th gear sound? How about trying some Speed Dating? Fasten your seat belts because you’re in for the ride of your life. Beware, as bumpy roads may lie ahead!

When we started our research for our new book Fast Food Dating Your 2 Cents, Speed Dating was a very exciting and novel idea. It was the best thing since bubble gum and Internet dating to come along. Everyone and their brothers and sisters who were single and looking to date were looking to try it. Sure it was a gimmick, but it was a heck of a fun gimmick!

We received so much great feedback on Speed Dating as well as some not so great feedback. We found that for entertainment reasons at the very least, Speed Dating was a great dating venue to try. We even featured Speed Dating in our book as it’s owners were wonderfully accommodating to enlightening us about it. As is our goal in each chapter devoted to a type of dating service, we created a Top 10 list for the good and the bad for trying it. I am going to tease you and give you our Top 10 list for good reasons to try Speed Dating if you haven’t yet tried it or if you want to try it again.

Here were our Top 10 reasons for trying Speed Dating events:

1) It’s lots of fun! Even if the night is a complete bomb, you still had a chance to play. Most times, a friend or friends will come out with you so you always have someone to leave with. You don’t feel like a loser.

2) You get to sample and sample until your hearts content. You get a little teaser before deciding if you want to dive in fork and all into the main course.

3) You don’t have to give out your phone number. The organizers of the event are like your “date doctor agent” and if you like what you see, you can set up contacts through the service. This keeps things safe. This is kind of like ordering a pizza for take-out instead of delivery. You don’t have to worry about getting stalked by the pizza delivery dude!

4) You know and hope the people at the event will have some degree of verbal and social skills. You know right from the get go if they are a talker or a grunter. You can screen out Neanderthal man from the get go.

5) Listening to people talk about themselves is like listening to a talking classified. It’s like going to a car lot and seeing a car you like. The salesperson tells you all about it. You wish the car could talk for itself and give you it‘s true history. At least you can get a relative short history albeit a short talking classified!

6) You actually get to talk about yourself and people have to listen. Well, at least they will pretend to listen and this will make you feel pretty darn good!

7) There is a time limit and you automatically get cut off at a certain point. Ever met someone and you wished you had a remote with a mute button? Folks, this service comes with a mute button, or better yet a ringing dinner bell. If meeting people makes you salivate, the ringing bell will stimulate the senses in ways Pavlov predicted!

8) It’s only 2-5 minutes in most cases! If I don’t like who I am with, there is the old “chicken door”. The sad part is, the 2-5 minutes is longer than the life of some celebrity marriages!

9) This is every guy’s dream! Well, some women’s as well. To have “dated” so many different people in one night! Well, that’s at least what you can tell others. If this isn’t an ego booster/fertilizer, then I don’t know what is!

10) Since the events are usually fee per service, you would expect a working/professional clientele. At least you know when someone tells you they have a job they are likely telling you the truth. If they are really a chef at a fine dining establishment which is only taking reservations a year in advance, then it is up to you to investigate their claim on the “second” date.

In 2007, it seems like everything is moving faster in our lives. Fast food is even faster and sometimes not fast enough for people who are living their lives in the fast lane. Speed Dating is definitely the ultimate compliment for people looking for love who love their meals served in less than 5 minutes and who like to drive their cars going from 0-60 in under 6 seconds. There are no guarantees you will find the love of your life or soul mate at a Speed Dating event. The one great thing it does offer is that it is very fast and you will not have to waste too much time. Just watch out for the whiplash!

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