Online Dating

Offline: The Ever-Shrinking Field of Dating

You are a single, heterosexual male. You just landed your dream job at one of the most reputable firms in the land. Your next ideal fantasy is to walk into the office on your first day and make eye-contact with the woman who completes you. That first day comes quickly. You wear your best suit and after consulting Gentleman’s Quarterly for color tips, you don your best-colored tie because you read that women like nice ties. You spike the front of your hair just a bit because women like their men a little rough around the edges, or so that’s what they said on a cable television show you saw over the weekend. You’ve got an extra pep in your step that morning, not from the coffee or the newness of the job, but because you are ready to impress. You step off the elevator on the high floor, open the glass doors, and you meet your first female colleague, who, after being given a tour around the office, becomes your only female colleague. She is the sixty-seven year old office manager. Yup….your partners are all guys. But what a position you’ve got!

You are a single, heterosexual female. You too just landed your dream job. Congratulations! Here’s a toast to you! Your first day of work is spectacular. You are the talk of the office. All eyes are on you, including those belonging to every available male co-worker. You instantly get excited over the prospect of meeting Mr. Right. It would be so perfect. Work the same hours. Sip your morning coffee in concerted harmony. Eat lunch together. Go home together. Be professional, but in love. Life couldn’t be better. Until your manager says, “By the way, just so you’ll know, it is company policy not to fraternize with your co-workers. Interoffice relationships are discouraged at all times.”

Whether you are heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual, meeting people outside of the cozy confines of the internet is increasingly difficult. Sexual harassment lawsuits are rampant, and as a result, companies now protect themselves from having any connection with interoffice romance. Additionally, playing where you work can often have hazardous results, especially if there is a break-up. Working together while wanting to dump horse dung on your ex-mate’s head or put laxatives in their brownies will not prove to be a very productive work environment.

One of the best places to meet people today? Online; where you also have the added benefit of pre-screening! The manner in which our world society is presently behaving, i.e. terrorism, hate crimes, crimes of passion, abductions, etc. further justifies and qualifies the online dating process. Fewer and fewer people are meeting the same way our mothers and fathers met. While this fact may, in many ways, be a sad commentary on our human civilization, it is also an indicator that a new age is upon us, one that is more resource and digital orientated, rather than interpersonal, hand-to-hand or labor-intensive.

Personally, I still love meeting people in bookstores and cafés. It is my perception that these two locales still attract only a certain type of individual. But that’s me! Do you like old books and a good cup of coffee?