*The words you are about to read are from a man who has not dated in 3 years*

Yesterday, a friend of mine (lets call her Tina) told me about a situation that troubled her deeply. A male friend of her aunt had expressed interest in Tina, and he made it known that he wanted her phone number. Tina is single and open to dating, so she obliged and gave this dude her number. That was a week ago, which is where I came into the picture.

Tina is irritated that this dude seemed to be determined to GET her phone number, but now a week has elapsed and no phone calls had been placed to her. Tina's aunt told her that she was overreacting, because one never knows how busy someone is with work, personal stuff, etc. Tina thinks that is horses**t, so she called me to get a second opinion, and I agree with her that it is indeed horses**t. Tina now feels validated with that situation, a little pissed that the guy didn't call, but its not the end of her world. She will survive.

But that conversation with Tina got me to thinking about how I handled such situations. When I was dating and requesting beautiful babies to give me their phone number, I would call them that night just to establish a line of communication. I wouldn't stay on the phone forever, I would say hello, say something funny, and then get the hell out of there before I said something stupid. Maybe a couple days later I'd call one more time just to see if the momentum I had laid down was still in play (although ideally they would call me before that). And then towards the end of that second phone call, I'd set up a date somewhere. The date would be in a place with LOTS of people around, so that if it sucked, I could get lost in the eye candy. If the date was good, we'd go somewhere quieter for dessert or something. But I would make this happen within a week, not a week after I had the number. I ran an efficient operation, and although I had little to no success in the dating world, it wasn't because I sat on a number for a week.

Now its possible that Tina's potential suitor had to go out of town, he's busy at work, or worst-case scenario, he's injured(i doubt that because the aunt would know). But still, a brief phone call, just to establish contact never hurt anyone. Plus, this guy is 31, so you figure he should be done with trying to run "game" right? Before you slam or praise the wonderful words I've written here today, and before you leave comments that totally refute the flimsy argument I have laid out, I'd ask that you re-read my 18 word mission statement that started this entry...