First Date or an Interview?

It was a summer Saturday afternoon, unbearably hot, and I’d just spent the entirety of my morning and afternoon working. I rush home to get ready for the date that I could possibly end up being late for, and begin getting ready for yet another first date.

I jump out from the steamy shower that I ended up spending way too long in. Rushing into my room, I try to get ready as fast as possible without ending up looking like I’m going through my 5th quarter-life crisis. I looked (and most definitely felt) like a nervous wreck. I spent what felt like an insane amount of time going through the entirety of my closet to try to find something suitable. What actually ended up happening was that every single piece of clothing that I owned, I was unsatisfied with and somehow found itself thrown somewhere into the corner of my room out of pure frustration. It’s a girl's worst nightmare—there is nothing to wear. It’s too late to go shopping for something, so I begin trying on countless outfit after outfit that looked amazing in my head but it somehow didn’t transfer that way onto my body… So strange how that works. At some point, my mom walks in and says the cheesiest phrase ever, “Just put on anything that makes you comfortable. He will like you for your personality, not if your outfit is in season”.

I may not know everything there is out there, but one thing I have come to realize is that first dates are the exact equivalent to interviews. First dates, just like interviews, all begin with our appearance. Let’s face it—everyone wants to make a good first impression. I may not know how it is for the male population, but for women, we spend hours fussing over our hair, makeup, and outfits to try and get you to like us. The same thing goes for interviews, we also spend a lot of time preparing to look presentable so that you would potentially hire us. The job being that you could potentially become their significant other—if they find you fit for the job.

Now here comes the actual date itself. The person you’re about to see has probably been fussing to prepare for this event as well. The minute you get to your wonderful first date location, you sit down to begin the interview process. As the date progresses you get hit with the checklist of small talk: “So…..what do you do for a living?”, “ Where are you from?”, “Are you in school?”, “What is your major?”, “Is that your natural hair or did you dye it?”, or “Oh my god, your eyes are so blue! Are they contacts?”.

Being the average human being I typically answer these questions with as much respect as possible,

doing my best to avoid the tone of annoyance in my voice. All jokes aside, “Where are you from?” is, in fact, my favorite question. I love to answer it in a quirky way, with “I’m from the Bay Area”. They usually respond with a confused look on their face, and go “No…I meant…Where are you from from?”—99% of the time what they are trying to figure out is my ethnic background, to see if I qualify to be in their company.

What makes the entire process so fascinating is that just like a job interview, you may or may not get a call back asking for a follow-up interview (or date, however you look at it). We fuss over irrelevant things in hopes that we can find that perfect someone. But in the end, the ideal person for us won’t pay attention to things such as clothes, hair color, ethnicity, etc; they will only care about what you have in your head, your heart, and your soul.

Yours Truly,

Veronika