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I went out with some male friends last night, hit up several (PRICEY!) bars in our downtown area.
Saw some small groups of ladies out. A few times I watched a random guy approach and engage in conversation, but they usually disengaged and left after a couple minutes, with no apparent exchange of numbers or anything. So not an obvious or dramatic rejection, but not a success either.
Question: Is "buy those ladies a drink" even a viable tactic anymore?
And if drinks are super fucking expensive ($14+ for a cocktail these days, so buying 3 would run you $50) how could you possibly justify the cost unless you had a legitimately decent odds of success?
In my opinion as an alcoholic barfly who actually worked for the bar for a few years: maybe (in the right bar in the right location, but sure as shit not the bar I worked at), but no. For context, the bar I worked at catered (or at least aspired to cater) to grad students and professors in a college town, wound up being a hangout for retired/nearly retired professionals during happy hour and townie millennials during night shift (This demographic is rapidly aging out of the bar scene to an extent that the bar faces an existential crisis because Gen Z doesn't really drink that much.)
The odds are long, and worsened by the fact that bars are A. sausagefests and B. often skew old in their clientele. The drinks are cheaper at the place I worked at, $10-$12 cocktails, yes, but we also sell $2 PBR pints as long as the distributor doesn't screw up and run out of them, $4 domestics (including Miller Lite and Yuengling pint cans, Budweiser stuff comes in 12oz bottles), and $8 shifties (any domestic plus any well shot; my usual is a Budweiser with a shot of Jameson). You justify the cost because you like drinking and talking, and while getting laid probably isn't in the cards a good conversation probably is. As the millennials age out even the "interesting conversation" part is starting to become questionable.
In my experience young (and especially young and attractive) women rarely come to the bar alone, usually with a friend/spouse or in a group of friends who are having their own conversation and don't want an outsider butting in. There aren't dramatic rejections; you just pick up on the fact that you're not part of the group and that their conversation, game, or whatever was for them, not for you. The rare young woman who does show up alone (usually in-between relationships) will be subject to insane amounts of competition for attention from every single guy aged 21-80. The older guys have the money to buy her drinks and are sexually non-threatening, and thus will win most of her attention.
Very early millennial to Gen X and older women (and men) tend to be way less introverted and more willing to talk. It's hard to pry younger people away from their phones.
This has been my primary observation. Any woman who is out is always accompanied. Sometimes its by a less attractive friend who can police the men, other times its a gang of girlies who are just out to get some instagrammable moments.
Last night there was a squad of stereotypical 'bros' (zoomer edition) sitting at a table near us. And one (1) lone woman who I assume was one of the GFs.
There was a squadron of girlies wearing matching outfits that were all attractive but very inward facing, and you could read the signs of 'self policing' where none of them were 'allowed' to go talk to a guy even if they had the inkling.
And the one thing you NEVER see is a lone woman, at least not one who stays still for very long.
As a male, you begin to realize is that for the amount of money you'd spend on a night out swinging futilely for a date, you could subscribe to a handful of girls' onlyfans accounts and be GUARANTEED a positive interaction, you'll get to see boobs and cooch if you want, and she'll at least pretend to find you attractive.
I could do a whole screed on older (and I'm starting to count myself in that number) guys who can just burn wealth and leverage their experience to monopolize a woman's attention, even if he doesn't really want to take her home. The boomers who were raised on "keep women happy and safe" will sometime lavish their oodles of money on women just because she's there.
Which makes the young upstart, with his entry level job and studio apartment (if he's lucky) seem like a loser by default.
And Mr. Boomer will probably blame the guy for lacking confidence or failing to close the deal without noticing how his own presence has changed the very nature of the game.
This is your opportunity right there. Since 90% of guys will hit on the more attractive woman, the less attractive one is used to used to her getting all the attention and ends up playing sheriff out of resentment, if nothing else. If you hit on the less attractive one, she feels validated, and the more attractive one is both relieved that she's not the one getting hit on and feels good for her lovelorn friend finally getting some action. And if you start talking to a group of girls, always be prepared to hit on the least attractive one in the group. If this girl is a real dog, then don't necessarily throw in the towel, but have realistic expectations.
Used to be you could bring a reliable wingman for that purpose.
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I recently started to explore speed dating events. For those unfamiliar, the way they work is they arrange a number of pairs, and you go through a few ~10 minute conversations (strictly timed) over the next 1-2 hours. You get to mark down your like/dislike per person, sometimes with specific intentions (friends/romantic/hookup) depending on the event, and matches get each other's contact info.
The pros are that the conversations are opt out rather than opt in, and they're one-on-one by design, so the part about the woman's attention is solved. Since she paid her entry fee as well as you did, she's probably not the kind of person to stare into her phone for the entire duration of the time slot, either.
On the other hand, it's still up to you to leave an impression over 10 (usually less) minutes enough for her to reply, even if you end up matching. The women there are also probably not the same as those who go to bars, but that might be a pro for you rather than a con depending on who you're looking for.
Overall, I'd say it beats a dating app in terms of getting guaranteed talking/flirting practice for the same price of a few drinks you'd spend at a bar.
I did go to a speed dating event last year.
Bit of a dud.
Some of the women flaked, so they delayed the start time to call in some pinch hitters.
Even after that the ratio came out to (as I recall) 8 women to 11 men.
3 of the women were single mothers.
Although I can say that the locale was a good spot, I actually liked it enough that I invited a girl I met through the apps out to that spot later on. Date was also a dud, the apps suck.
I appreciate that speed dating events are 'trying' to create a space where it is appropriate to interact with ladies with very open intent, but I still lament the dearth of 'organic' meeting opportunities that are available.
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I second this. As long as you have done enough self development on your attractiveness and ability to hold a conversation, speed dating is great. Time wasters are weeded out because its a paid event. The girls are (almost) guaranteed to be single (some organisers give free tickets to their taken contacts to even out the gender ratio).
The time/cost investment stacks up very well compared to the apps. You don't need to spend an hour broken up over a week convincing an app match that you're safe/not boring enough to meet for a coffee.
Worth a try if you're looking for something serious.
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