My best friend has been on probation since last September.
Her crime? A setup gone wrong.
In her defense, I admit it wasn’t her fault, he turned out to be a jerk. And to her credit, he was extremely attractive. A mitigating circumstance I considered during sentencing.
But she’s still on probation. I think she’ll be free to arrange future setups in August.
I promise I am not a terribly ungrateful person. I deeply appreciate my friends taking the time and effort to set me up with someone they think will like me and who I presumably also will like. But somewhere along the line, setups usually end awkwardly for all involved parties.
I know it’s not just me. I’d guess that at least 87 percent of the adult American population has been the victim of a set-up gone bad.
So why do our friends, who allegedly like us and have our best interests at heart, keep trying to set up us Singletons?
Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve never felt the need to set anyone up. But I do have a few theories…
Maybe people who are married or in committed relationships miss dating, and want to live vicariously through their single friends?
Or maybe the friend who is getting set up needs some new stories to tell at parties. And who doesn’t love a good bad-date story?
Of course, the most likely scenario is they are eternal optimists who believe in love, and want their friends to find love and be happy — regardless of the reality of how most set-ups end up.
And that’s really sweet.
Because I know my friends’ hearts are in the right place and that they think the next guy they set me up with will be “The One,” I continue to play along with their matchmaking.
I know some setups do have a happy ending. But until then, I’ll continue to collect good bad-date stories to tell at parties.
Gina Bever is a local public relations professional and woman-about-town. She’s known for providing her friends — male and female — with thousands of hours of free therapy and (asked for) relationship advice.
ASK GINA: Send questions about relationships to Gina at malecall@timesfreepress.com.