I'm in Management

I saw a "help wanted" sign walking down the street last night that reminded me of when I lived in another city, and used another site (ahem, Match.com) to meet men. The options to describe yourself were pretty vague:

admin/clerical

teacher

leadership/management

sales/marketing

military/police

entrepreneur

restaurant/food service

retail

This vagueness landed me into a pretty awkward situation on a date once...

I agreed to meet a fairly attractive gentleman at a bar for drinks followed by a hockey game (ladies, always have sports tickets on hand).

Unfortunately, I was in for a rude awakening: My gentleman caller hadn't showered in days. He also was about 5 years older than he said he was. And his hair about 10 inches longer. To put a cherry on top, the leadership/management occupation was really Assistant Manager at Blockbuster video. I dig movies... Almost enough to let that slide, but when he tried to kiss me at the end of the date, it was all over.

Don't get me wrong - online dating is about playing to your strengths, and this guy was certainly playing to his when he selected "leadership/management" but the point of online dating is to present your true self - not a fabrication of what you could be... not a lie. No one wants to be surprised by the person they meet. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn't include any pictures of yourself that are more than 2 years old, or 20 lbs ago.

Here are some of my favorite bad online date stories, found on Reddit.

While you're at it, check out the biggest lies people tell while posting to online dating sites.