It was a good first date. He’d kissed me at the wine bar in Chelsea where we shared drinks and a cheese plate. “Thanks for buying me cheese,” I’d said. “I know how you can thank me,” he’d replied, and then kissed me. Which was cheesy, but as I’d just thanked him for cheese, cheesy was appropriate!
First kiss out of the way, we were safe from the all too familiar first date New York cliché: the Subway First Kiss. This is a staple of the NYC dating scene: he’s going down town, you’re going up town and you say goodbye before descending to your perspective platforms. It’s a shitty place for a first kiss.
People who are pissed they had to stay late at work give you the stink-eye for obstructing their path. Millennials giggle to their friends and try to guess which dating app you met on. I go out of my way to avoid the Subway First Kiss. I encourage all New Yorkers to do the same.
At the end of this first date, I said goodbye to my date before jumping on the C train. It was happily brief: a quick kiss, a “See you this weekend?” and I turned to go. Then he said,
“Text me when you get home.”
I flinched. This sweet request hit my ears and my face involuntarily contorted into a grimace.
A fleeting expression, but it was long and weird enough that I know my date saw it. I wear my heart not on my sleeve but on my face…especially after two drinks on a Tuesday night.
What the fuck is my problem? He just wants to make sure you get home safe, you ingrate! Wow, men just can’t do anything right, in your judgmental, watery blue eyes, now can they! No wonder you’re single!
I know! I know I’m ridiculous! I asked my friends on Twitter and Facebook how they feel about a simple “Text me when you get home,” and absolutely ALL of them were in favor! None of them mentioned anything even remotely in the realm of my flinching reaction.
When someone who was nothing but sweet to you all evening (he really was) says something nice, and your response is an involuntary grimace? Um…I have to start asking questions.
What is my problem with a good old, “Text me when you get home” request after a first date?
“How would you know you weren’t being a phony? The trouble
is, you wouldn’t.” – Catcher in the Rye
Maybe I’m such a New York Cliche that Holden Caulfield is my spirit animal. See, when I hear, “Text me when you get home,” I get all the urges to wear a red hunting hat and rail against phonies.
Because, dude I just met, if I don’t text you when I get home, would you actually do anything about it? No! Don’t even pretend you would! You’d assume I got home fine and that I’d ghosted. I guarantee it. Cross my heart. In this day and age, it would be ridiculous to think anything else. That’s just the truth.
“I ain’t no damsel in distress, and I don’t need to be rescued.” – Ani Difranco
I get home all by myself every single day. At all hours. Literally every day without ever texting anyone to tell them I’m safe. I guess I could draw toddler or teenage comparisons in my attitude here…I’M A BIG GIRL! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! But unlike a toddler, it’s the truth…I mean, I even chased down the mugger who stole my phone. I’m not only a big girl, I’ve got STREET CRED!
I couldn’t help but wonder, would I have flinched pre-November 8th? I’ve been so hyped up on girl power this past week and admittedly feeling a bit of resentment toward straight white cis males… I’ve been furious about men in power thinking they can tell me what to do with my body, was I taking this anxiety out on my straight-white-cis-male of a date?
“Text me when you get home.”
“DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”
“It’s the way they raised me. It’s the way I was raised.” – E-40
Hey! I could go with the ultimate cliché and blame this on my parents! I wasn’t raised in a “Call me to let me know you’re ok” home. I didn’t have a cell phone all through high school. I’d sit twiddling my thumbs, feeling smug, while all my friends had to call their folks to check in. My folks? They take 10 day long road trips across the entire country without cellphones to this day. Driving 8 hours a day, never once checking in to let me, or anyone else, know that they’re safe. I know that’s hella weird. I was raised by weirdos. This is their fault. (Hi mom! If you’re reading this, thanks for raising me a weirdo! I love you!)
When I said my date was really sweet all night, he really was. His response to my flinch was pretty perfect:
Maybe when “Text me when you get home” makes you flinch is the moment to realize you’ve been single too long…
Or the moment to realize you’ve become the ultimate New York Cliché: jaded.
I’ll work on that. And to stop flinching when people say nice things to me and show regard for my safety. Hopefully writing this will already have helped my face settle down.
At first I thought this was going to be a post making a case to stop sending these texts after first dates. But that’s not my conclusion. I think you should keep sending your texts. But only if you really mean them. Don’t be a creep. Don’t be a phony.
Yanno, I feel you on “text me when you get home” after a FIRST date. After a third, totally acceptable. First date has to end in mystery, IMHO. I usually haven’t decided whether or not I’m gonna text the guy AT ALL EVER AGAIN until more than halfway home on the subway. Asking me to commit to a text before the date is even OVER is presumptuous, pushy, and THIRSSSSTY.
Unless — caveat — you’ve already made solid and specific plans for a second date, and you’ve both entered it into your phone’s respective calendars. But even THEN, yeah, it’s still paternalistic and patronizing.
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Geez, I think you were a little sensitive! He was just being sweet! I love when men ask me to text or call when I get home. Actually it’s the norm for me, and I would feel odd if they didn’t. It is still New York, and you’re taking the subway, where on any given day someoone is using it as a public toilet, especially on the A/C lines. What’s left of chivalry is ok and you need to be cared for like you’re precious more often. Yes you’ve done it, and become a jaded New Yorker.
I always like it when a guy asks me to text when I get home, but even better is if he texts me to confirm that I am home safe. When my husband and I started dating, after our dates, he would send me long emails continuing our conversation from our date, so when I woke up there would be an email waiting for me. I loved it.
This guy sounds nice. I hope you guys have more (great) dates.
I think that’s a strange request to make on a first date. Like not a deal breaker or anything… but yeah. Something like that does feel a little phony. Like he’s only asking you to text him because someone told him that was the thing you’re supposed to do.
It’s funny… My New Yorker self would have totally been making the squicky face because, “Text me when you get home,” strikes me as a marker of intimacy not yet earned on a first date, plus depending on how early the date ended I might not be going straight home anyway so how dare you be so presumptuous that I don’t have plans after I leave you. I’d totally have interpreted as being invasive.
However, now that I’m back up here in New England where stuff closes earlier, I don’t have friends out and about at odd hours for after date drinks, and dates involve driving cars, “text me when you get home” on a first date is endearing rather than invasive.
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Jaded New Yorker here. Also raised by people who didn’t even call me on Sept 11, 2001 to see if I was alive. C’mon, “text me when u get home” is RIDICULOUS after a first date or even the 100th. Like u said, what’s he gonna do? Call the NYPD when he hasn’t heard from you by…when, 3am, 4am?!? Can u imagine the cop’s response when your dopey date reports you missing bc u didn’t text him? “Call us back when u have a dead body,” would be the response. It’s such a phoney way to show concern. Btw, it puts the onus on you. Now you have to remember to do something. He would prob. already be asleep and not even reply to your “I’m home now” text. Ok, I’ll stop my rant now. Think I’m sick of cis men too! Love your blog! Can u please text me when u get this? (Kidding)
I dunno, I’m with him on this. I was out in London with a girlfriend yesterday and we even said it to each other – just to make sure we got back OK and also to know when we can start texting the whole “thank you for today it was lovely!!!” kind of thing…
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