Yes, I met him online. One of the major sites, where you take a personality test, get labeled, then pay a premium to meet your ideal match-label.
My label = Builder/Negotiator.
My online endeavor did not begin on this site, however. I started where everyone starts, The Onion. Well, that was years ago, when I was a snarky 35-year old. I thought for sure I would find a like-minded snark on this site, but it was not meant to be. Actually, it was a bit boring and after a weird “invasion” from some (supposed) University of Michigan student, I deleted my profile and returned to cruising the softball fields I knew. (On a side note, who meets date material at a bar? Or the market? Or cycling? Or a cooking class? Dog park and church, I get, but as I had a cat and kinda lost my religion…well, what else did I have?)
At 40, I joined the mass market of Match. And it was fun! Blonde/blue with a good pic, I had many winkers (ew!) and e-mailers (better). I thrived on the email-me-first introductions and met some interesting men. I had no bf expectations, I just wanted to get out and meet guys, so I was never really let down. I also did not have any scary or married encounters, so my online experience was pretty tame. After a few months of coffees, lunches, dinners, second dates, fifth dates, and two-way rejections, I was getting a bit weary. This was work.
Then, as if Match knew of my growing blahdom, I got a teaser from Match’s eHarmony wannabe. Take the personality test, meet your ideal match! Curious as to how I would fair on the test, I dove in. It was great! It had many interesting questions (like, which of your fingers is the longest?) and I was very pleased with the label they gave me. Builder/Negotiator, Yes! That’s just who I am. In my dreams.
After a few more clicks, I learned I would have to pay $100 for three months to have (newly) labeled me out there. A penny pincher already under contract with Match, I declined. Of course, this new site had a way to suck me in – labeled me, plus my Match-linked profile, was viewable to others on this advanced site. Within a day, “Max” contacted me, interested.
His pic was very cute. The only other info I had of him was “Explorer/Negotiator.” Coincidence, expert vetting or sucker-sell? Geez…Was “Max” worth $100? When he reached out again two weeks later, I thought, “Sure, what’s a hundred bucks?”
Well, as it turned out, it was money well spent. Not that “Max” became my fiance. No, he was not the Explorer/Negotiator of my dreams, he was just the first of many nice guys I met on this site.
But, of all the nice guys, only two were E/N. While “Max” did not pan out, “Kiwi B” did.
So, maybe there is something to this kind of matchmaking.
