How Do You Help a Friend If You Stumble Across Them While They’re on a Date?

It was a scene out of a sitcom:

On Sunday, 6 friends and I made our way to a local restaurant for dinner. While we were en route, one person mentioned that his roommate–another friend of ours–was on a date at that exact restaurant.

We didn’t want to disturb our friend (I’ll call him “Justin”), so I tried to get the waiter to sit us elsewhere. Unfortunately, the only table that could seat 7 people was literally one table away from Justin. We were directly in his line of sight.

Of course, antics ensued. Someone texted the photo shown here to Justin. Pretty much all of us eavesdropped on the conversation and considered sending him some tips. Several friends made prolonged attempts at direct eye contact. One deviously clever person suggested that he drop by the date and ask Justin how his rash was healing.

But the overall tone was that we wanted our friend to have a good date, and we tried to figure out if we could do anything to help. My favorite idea was to order a milkshake with two straws for him and his date.

We didn’t end up doing anything, but I’m wondering if you have any good ideas. Have you ever had this happen?

6 thoughts on “How Do You Help a Friend If You Stumble Across Them While They’re on a Date?”

  1. Depending on the restaurant, call the waiter over, order them a bottle of wine or desert, and have the waiter tell them it was on the house, and/or give the waiter $5-10 and tell them to make the night extra special.

    That way its someone whose already interacting with the table, not interrupting or being intrusive, and it makes the night more special.

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  2. ‘Justin’s’ name changes at one point in this. You might want to fix that. 🙂

    I’d say it really depends on the level of the relationship of the date. If it’s a first date, probably the best thing you can do is give some space since he’s going to be nervous enough as it is.

    Other than that I like the idea of going through the waiter. Anything with a phone is going to encourage him to be distracted by it, breaking any connection that might be present in the date.

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  3. I wouldn’t go to the same restaurant that my roommate/friend was on a 1st date at. This was knowledge someone had prior and then everyone had before arriving so you should do him a favor and go somewhere else.

    Reply

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