This also brings to mind the interesting concept of honesty in dating. Just as a disturbing example of socio-sexual interaction I will tell you of a little exchange between my friend Tony and an attractive girl named Elli whom I met on my vacation to Utah this week past.

Elli is a prime example of an annoyingly outspoken and insecure young lady. A big mouth to cover up for her lack of self confidence along with an almost intolerable and contrived in-your-face attitude made me want to strangle the crap out of her. For the sake of our mutual friend (Dan) I was polite and even accommodating.

Tony however, was not so nice. 30 minutes after meeting up with Dan, Elli and her friend Wendy, everyone wanted to go do something else besides hang out in front of a coffee shop. When asked what he wanted to do next, Tony replied with a straight face:

"I really don't want to hang out with you anymore".

Just like that, completely out of nowhere. I have never seen a girl's ego deflate so quickly. They spoke quietly with Dan and then left only to return and ask us to go to a restaurant called the Atlantic with them.

Tony had no intention of flirting with this girl (despite all her attempts to engage him as such) let alone calling her or dating her, yet I found it refreshing (if a tad bit harsh) that he let her know it right off the bat that she would get absolutely nothing from him.

Sadly, it only served to make things worse. While she quieted down considerably in our presence, her quest for acceptance became obvious and at times even frantic over the following week.

I believe in honesty in these situations because it forces everyone involved to deal with their own issues. If while I am single I tell a girl I will call her tomorrow; I will call her tomorrow. If she thinks less of me because of socially improper timing, it is just as well as the very last thing I would want to do is date someone with such a shitty attitude. I feel that person's actions in such situations speak true of their character more often than not.

To look at it from a stoic point of view, these attitudes (or lack thereof) toward all of these unspoken social rules and regulations can only serve humanity as a sort of quasi-Darwinian force. All of the self important and neurotic women will end up dating substandard, forgetful men and their offspring will eventually climb back up into the trees leaving us in peace.

Amen.