Lunch Date

What's wrong with dinner? Either he's married, or just not that into you. Brown-bag-it instead, and avoid the drama. 
 
E-Males

If you've ever tried online dating, chances are you've encountered at least one (virtually) living and breathing e-male. These guys are fabulously witty, flirty, charming, and emotionally available (in text) - what's the catch? This too-good-to-be-true dream man exists only within the binary borders of cyberspace. In reality this dodgy guy is completely unavailable, untrustworthy and uninteresting.

E-Males are notorious for snagging and stringing women along (often many simultaneously) via IM. As a means of boosting his ego he beguiles with suggestive language, outrageous compliments, and oodles of promises. All of this is tempered with the fact that he wishes he could see you, but darn-it he's just soooo busy.

When push comes to shove and it's time to ante up, E-Males always fold. The truth is, he's so insecure and insensitive that he relies on the veil of vague chat and emoticons to avoid the fact that he knows he's just not good enough for you face to face. Talk is cheap; so is chat. Move on. 

A nasty little magic trick where someone disappears for a month (or more) and then reappears, miraculously remembering your phone number, playing dumb or claiming amnesia. He may come back gingerly and with lame excuses, but the bottom line is that there is no excuse. If nothing else, you deserve the respect of a goodbye.

The truth is, he was out hunting around to see if he could find a better deal. After an interlude of prowling, he realized you were worth more than he initially thought.

Boo-hoo! Too bad, the Fade-Out has demonstrated blatant disrespect twice: first by vanishing so cowardly, and again by assuming you're enough of a doormat to take him back. Fade-Outs are chronic: you never know when they'll freak out and morph from Mr. Right into Mr. Invisible.

Note: E-males are especially prone to this shameful misbehavior. Also, once you've learned to ID them, it's quite satisfying to put the kai-bosh on Fade-Outs by dumping them before they can work their magic - it aggravates them to no end.

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