When my friend Mia set me up with her boyfriend’s friend Eric, she promised he was the kind of man every woman wanted.
On our first date, he arrived with roses, gifted me a keychain, and treated me like a gentleman—pulling
out my chair, making me laugh, and paying for dinner. I left thinking it was one of the most romantic nights ever.
The next morning, I expected a sweet message. Instead, I got an invoice. Line by line, Eric listed “charges” for dinner, flowers, even pulling
out my chair. At the bottom, in bold, it read: Payment expected in full. No refunds. His requested payment? A guaranteed second date.
Stunned, I sent it to Mia, who showed her boyfriend Chris. Rather than get angry, Chris made a parody invoice “charging”
Eric for the introduction and declaring payment as a permanent block. We sent it back. Eric panicked,
flooding my phone with excuses about “setting expectations.” I replied with a thumbs-up emoji and cut contact.
Looking back, the fiasco became a hilarious story. I learned that generosity in dating should never come with strings attached.
And the keychain? I kept it—as the strangest souvenir from a first date gone wrong.
