7 Ways to Get Out of a Bad Date

Farrah Gray

It happens. That great-looking guy with the new BMW turns out to be a real jerk. He showed up late and is obnoxious. Here are some ways to gracefully and safely get out of a bad date.

First of all, on just about any first date, don’t let the man pick you up. Meet at the restaurant or movie theater. That way you will always have an escape option if he is intoxicated or you just don’t want him to know where you live by the end of the date.

Set a time limit. If it looks like he’s not going to appeal to you and be annoying or rude, say something like, “I’m sorry. I can only stay until 9 p.m., as I am expecting an important call from overseas,” or something like that.

Everyone knows this one: set up a phone call that will come in from a friend or relative about 30 minutes into the date. If the date is going badly, you can pretend there is an emergency and you have to leave.
Get sick. Fake sick. Cough orlookdown and excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. Stay about five minutes and when you come back say that you don’t feel so good and want to go home.
Tell him that you are not interested but have a friend that he might be interested. This one can be tricky because you don’t want to set up any of your girls with a bad date. However, if it’s just you that don’t like him for whatever reason, you canplaymatchmaker and ease out of the date that way.
Have a friend crash the date. Set it up ahead of time that your BFF is going to stop by unexpectedly, and you give her a code word to stay or everything is OK.
Use the “F” word… “You’re a nice guy, but I don’t think we can be more than FRIENDS.”
Use the “K” word. Kids. They are fool proof! Here ya go: “I’m sorry. My kid wasn’t feeling well today and I feel I need to get home and take care of him.”

Don’t cut and run. It’s mean and it’s rude. Just use one of these methods to gracefully exit the date.