SHARED interests can make for great connections. Similar backgrounds? Awesome. Similar professions? Great. Similar ways to unwind? That could be fun. Sonia, 35, a small business owner, and Anand, 26, a hedge fund manager, met at the romantic Italian restaurant, Angolo Soho, to discover they had all these things in common. But were the similarities only skin deep?
He said:
I was a bit tired from drinking profusely the night before, but I was excited about meeting Sonia, and getting some carbs from the pasta at Angolo Soho.
When I first saw her, she was a bit bigger than I expected her to be. Usually that’s a turn off for me, but I was physically attracted to her.
Conversation between Sonia and me was slow at first. She was tired too, having just come off a flight back from India. But things picked up when we talked about our jobs, and our similar backgrounds growing up in Boston and being Indian.
Angolo Soho was very cool, and as it turns out, Sonia and I have similar tastes. We almost ordered the same items, but I didn’t want to be that guy, so we shared the octopus for an appetizer and I went with the pasta and sausage. The staff made sure we enjoyed our experience.
At the end of the night, we actually had a drink at a bar close by where I met some of her friends. We exchanged numbers as well. There could be potential and I plan to see her again.
She said:
Anand and I both arrived at Angolo Soho five minutes earlier. In his questionnaire he said he was going bald, and I thought, he is bald. He also said he was 5-foot-4 and I towered over him. I’m 5-foot-2.
Luckily, he was warm and outgoing from the start. We had a lot in common: Lived in Boston, worked in finance, enjoy tennis. Angolo Soho was intimate but the date felt like an interrogation while also sharing too much information. He bragged about his finances but came to the date unprepared to tip, and he double-dipped the bread.
We had a lot in common, and exchanged numbers, but he was sloppy, arrogant, and a gentleman should never let a woman pay on the first date. I don’t think we will see each other again.