Our first date was perfectly pleasant. He was cordial, everything seemed fine, and when he said a few days later that he was going to book a nice restaurant for the following week, I agreed. At that point, dinner still sounded like dinner.
Between the first date and the planned second one, he decided we should have a surprise date. The surprise was that he wanted to come see me with about an hour’s notice, and I got to scramble to find somewhere for us to meet. Apparently, the surprise package included an unpaid local coordinator.
I had already told him I didn’t like surprises unless I knew the timeframe beforehand. That might reduce their theatrical impact, but it does allow me to have a day.
Then there were a couple of comments that didn’t match the person I’d met on our first date. I’m not going to turn them into a courtroom exhibit. They were enough for me to decide I no longer wanted to be around him.
I canceled the restaurant date 48 hours in advance. That seemed like reasonable notice, particularly compared with the one-hour scheduling system he had recently introduced.
What I hadn’t known was that the reservation was nonrefundable. The restaurant had warned him when he booked it. He hadn’t passed that detail along to me. I’d agreed to the booking without asking about the policy, which I now wish I’d checked.
He wanted me to reimburse him $40. From what I could see, the venue offered credits and rebooking options, so he might still be able to use it with a friend or someone else. The booking didn’t appear to require my specific presence to retain all earthly value.
We’re both in Canada, and the transfer option available to me would show him my full name. After deciding I didn’t want further contact, giving him more personal information over a canceled dinner felt like a particularly unappealing administrative task.
So that’s where it stands: a $40 request, a reservation he may still be able to use, and my full name attached to the easiest way to pay. Is there a way to settle this without handing over another piece of information?
