The E Files--Part 6: An Interesting Turn of Events

Previously on E Files, Agent Mattie was feeling a bit down after receiving many rejections from her matches. She was ready to call her experiment quits. She had gotten a good laugh or two, had gained some new experience in the alien world of online dating, and had learned what she could about the species. The free communication weekend had ended, and she figured it was time to shut down the experiment. Little did she know what was about to happen next:

I'll be honest, I had fun reading all the profiles. Yeah, it was kind of disappointing to be rejected, but it was an interesting experience. With the free communication weekend being over, I figured I'd close out my account because I sure as heck wasn't going to pay money for an actual subscription. But then I thought, maybe I'll just keep it open and see if I get any more funny matches.

Then, the day after the free communication weekend ended, I get an email from eHarmony saying that one of my matches wanted to communicate with me and that he had sent me questions.

At first I got really excited, and then immediately after I thought, "Well great. I can't answer him back." I still didn't think it was worth it for me to pay the money to answer his questions, so I was sort of at a loss for what to do. After reading his profile again, he seemed like a nice enough guy, and I didn't want to leave him hanging. I didn't know what to do.

But then, I noticed that he had creatively left his email address in his profile (you can't put your actual email address or else eHarmony will delete it for you; it's for your protection). So I decided I would email him the answers to his questions and just explain that I wasn't a paying member so I couldn't respond through eHarmony. Here's what I said (and you can see what questions he asked):
"I'm sorry, I don't have a paid subscription, and the free communication weekend just ended. But, I didn't want to leave you hanging wondering why I never answered the questions. I hope it's okay that I'm emailing you with the address you had on your profile. Here's those questions:
1. What best describes your parents' relationship towards each other:
* married and loving
* married but distant
* divorced and civil
* divorced and abusive
* Other:
2. How trusting are you?
* sometimes I'm too naive
* I trust people and am able to forgive them when wronged
* I trust people until they prove me wrong, then it is hard to trust again
* people are dishonest by nature, you need to be careful
* Other: I think it's more of a mix of the 2nd and 3rd options. I am a very trusting person and can forgive someone when they've wronged me. But, it's always hard to build that trust again, and especially if it's happened multiple times, it makes it that much harder to trust them.
3. Which sort of date sounds like the most fun to you?
* attend a lecture on a topic that appeals to both of you
* go bargain hunting at a local flea market or antique shop
* go bowling (Although I will say all of them sound pretty fun, it just depends on what I'm in the mood for. But, bowling would have to be the most fun.)
* visit a local comedy club
* Other
4. How often do you exercise?
*Never
*Once a week
*Two or three times a week (More like 4 times a week)
*Every Day
*Other:
5. What's your philosophy on travel?
* When are we leaving? My bags are packed.
* I like to take a couple big trips each year.
* I generally plan one trip each year to a domestic destination.
* I'm not a big fan of travel. I like to stay close to home.
* Other: I'd love to travel all of the time, but my monetary funds have suggested otherwise. I usually try to go on at least 1 out of state trip a year (and then take a few mini "stay-cations" if I can, too).
Anyway, I hope this helps. You won't hurt my feelings if you never answer me, I just felt bad about leaving you hanging without any answers to these questions! I'm open to any others if you have more. If I don't hear from you, it was nice to sort of kind of meet you at least by reading your profile and for sort of kind of chatting through 5 close-ended questions, and good luck with your search.
~Mattie from Texas"

Now for the most part, the questions were understandable. The exercise one was a bit odd, and I kind of knew what he was getting at. But, I figured he had seen my profile and still wanted to know me more, right? Well, surprisingly enough, he answered me back: "Mattie, Thank you for the email! I really appreciate it. I don't have much time, as I'm heading to bed so I can get up early and catch the train to the Vancouver Olympics tomorrow. So, if you'd like, text me at [his number] and I can reply there since I'll be out of town for a few days. Sleep tight!"

I didn't want to text him as soon as I read the email, so I waited a day until I did (I didn't want to seem desperate). Then I texted him and basically said I didn't want to interrupt his trip at the Olympics, but I just wanted to know if he was at least going to a hockey game. He responded that yes he was, and I texted back that that was a relief because it was just not worth it if he didn't. He texted back with a "Hahaha" and that was the end.

I decided I wouldn't text him back because if I were at the Olympics, I wouldn't want some random guy I didn't really know to be texting me the whole time. So I figured, when and if he wanted to text/call me back, he would. Until then, I'd go about my normal life and see what happened.

He did text me back, but that's a story for the next post. :)