One Guy Lets TSD in on His Secret Strategy for Picking Up Dates

Every now and then I think it’s a good idea to get a guy’s perspective on dating. We know they may be crazy but the more we learn about them the better chance we have of understanding why they do the things they do.

I reached out to a male friend of mind and posed the question, “Where do you usually pick up girls?” I have to admit, his response surprised me.

Photo Courtesy of Glamour

A Guys’ Confession as Told to Jen

Ask any guy what the hardest part of dating is, and I bet you’ll get some form of the same answer: It’s the introduction, breaking the ice and getting the “in.” Any guy who is good at it will tell you that perfecting this move is part science, part art. For me, it’s all about strategy.

What I have learned is that success happens when you approach a girl in a non-confrontational situation, someplace where she doesn’t expect to get hit on. This obviously rules out picking up girls at bars. Yes, that may be great if you’re looking for a casual hook up, but if you’re going after more than that… buyer beware.

My perfect pick-up situation, and one that I have found to be a home-run move time and again, is going after the girl in the grocery store. Yes, you may have heard that from some cheesy dating advice columnist but I swear to you it works. Here’s why:

1. Said girl is relaxed, she’s not expected to get hit on and, thus, has her guard down, making it easy for you to infiltrate her train of thoughts.

2. Check out what’s in her cart and you have an obvious and easy conversation starter. “Oh, you’ve got TJ’s frozen chocolate mochi? I love that stuff. Have you tried the green tea kind?”

3. The cart checking not only serves as an ice breaker but also as a quick in-person eHarmony profile. All veggies? Must be a health nut and might be into outdoor activities. Nothing but chips and cookies? You probably aren’t going hiking soon, but she may really dig movies. Get where I’m going with this? You can tell a lot about a girl from what’s in her cart.

4. Given that you are shopping at the same store, chances are you don’t live far from each other and know plenty of the same spots. This makes for a perfect opportunity to ask her out. Ask what she’s doing tonight, and see if she’d prefer to save her groceries for another night to grab dinner with you somewhere she loves.

5. If you prefer to keep the flirting up a little longer before going in for the date request, you know where and approximately when you can find her next.

Now I’m not going to say this plan is flawless. After all if you go out with the grocery store chick and things go sour, chances are you’ll have to keep bumping into her or switch stores. What I can say though is that I have gotten many of my dates this way, and grocery store aisles make for easy hiding spots in the future if and when you need to make a quick escape.

What do you think? Agree, disagree?  Think you can turn the tables and apply the same tactics?

We  would love to hear your thoughts on our guy confession!

-Jen, part-time male decoder, part-time blogger