Thrift Store Flirting
It’s worth noting that I am fully aware that I am not the only one who seems to lack any social skills. It’s not just online but also in my locality. This particular event that I witnessed occurred back when I was still going to college. I think I was a Freshman at the time because my outlook on life wasn’t as negative as it would be later on despite having a lackluster social life. As a little background, I had started checking out thrift stores at the time because they usually had some pretty cool stuff for sale at bargain prices. Thrift stores were also the only place other than flea markets where you could find old games, cds, and vhs tapes for cheap. I found a lot of great shit at these thrift stores although these days, they barely have anything anymore. They don’t even sell used computers like they used to which is a damn shame. But this story isn’t about my own thrift store hunting experiences but rather some epic failure in terms of socialization from a some random person I saw while on one of these hunts.
I was checking out this thrift store which was a couple of blocks away from my University. Unlike the small thrift shops in my hometown, the ones in the big cities tend to have more interesting loot for sale. During this trip, I was looking for a cassette deck but didn’t have any luck finding one. I didn’t go empty handed though as I found some vintage doc martin boater shoes that were made in Portugal. They were really nice looking footwear and I still wear them from time to time. However, while I was picking up these particular shoes, I saw something that wouldn’t be out of place of some indie romantic comedy movie. Not in a good way either.
There was this one Caucasian looking guy, seemed to be more or less around my age. I don’t remember the details exactly but he wasn’t exactly a bad looking guy either (at least compared to some of those mutants I had to deal with in High School Band). Occasionally, while the majority of the shoppers at these thrift stores are old farts looking to hoard crap, there are the occasional young adults that do come here to look for bargains in the same manner that I do. There was also this girl there in the same area, looking for shoes. Some ethnic Mexican looking girl. Not bad looking either. You’d think these two rather normal looking college students wouldn’t be to much of an eye sore until the guy approached her and tried to start a conversation. Then it all goes downhill from there. The following is my own transcript of how the conversation proceeded:
Guy: “Those are some nice looking shoes? Are you buying those?”
Girl: “Yeah, I am.”
Guy: “They really do fit your look.”
Girl: “Uh...yeah I guess.”
Guy: “So do you have any free time off?”
Girl: “What?”
Guy: “Do you think we we can hang out sometime.
Girl: “Look, I’m sorry but I really don’t want to hang out.
Guy: “It’s not a date or anything, I just want to hang out. You seem really cool.”
Girl: “I’m hanging out with my boyfriend later. Can you please just go away.”
Guy: “Oh, I’m sorry. Well. Anyways, nice talking to you.
Girl: “Yeah, sorry. I’m not interested.
She then heads for the register and leaves him behind.
That had to be one of the most painful pick up gigs I’d ever seen. That was worse than many of those scam socializing techniques from those “how to pick up girls” guides by far. Just everything about that conversation ended on such a brutal note. But not only that, just the half assed and nervous delivery of the guy’s lines didn’t instill any kind of confidence. This guy did not give off any vibes of being anything but cringe. If you are familiar with the conversation style of Shenmue, it was sort of something like that but in real life. There was no recovery from that at all.
Now to his credit, at least he tried unlike what I would have done (or not done at all). But that doesn’t excuse the bad delivery and improper method for approaching women. Do people honestly expect someone to fall for that kind of approach as a proper means for asking a girl on a date? It just shows the extent of this guy’s lack of social experience. Still, I would had expected that kind of conversation skill from some neck-beard looking mother fucker and not by some failed normalfag. On the other hand though, I guess the girl’s response was a little to harsh to say the least. At least her tone seemed harsh and annoyed. Just something about seeing this play out seemed unreal. You don’t go to goodwill to ask girls out. The shops are usually dusty with old shit and it’s usually populated with old people. I have a feeling this guy was probably looking up methods to pick up girls online that don’t usually work unless you are in some club setting or anywhere where socializing is a priority. See that’s the thing that bugs me with that kind of advice. Having to approach random girls in for the slight chance that they might accept your date invitation just seems illogical. If you are shopping for shit at a store or going to your classes or whatever, you’re not going to be a mood to have a conversation with some random loser. It’s like trying to pull over someone during rush hour to try to have a conversation on the road side. That just doesn’t happen.
At the very least, the one thing I got from witnessing this train wreck is I now have a clue in regards to how to approach women I might actually like. Well to be honest, I don’t even approach people at all. Why should I? They probably want nothing to do with me and I probably wouldn’t get along with them in the first place. I am better off just looking after myself in those kind of situations. I am not going to bother someone who’s just trying to shop and go back to their home/dorm afterwards. I had shared this story with some people online and jokingly had debates on who was in the wrong here. I think observing someone else’s fuck ups is a very valuable asset to growing as an individual. It’s the reason why watching degenerates like Chris-Chan, Hidinginmyroom, or Nikocado Avocado do some deranged or fucked up shit to themselves is so popular these days. Bad examples provide good intensives to not fall for the same rabbit holes towards embarrassing degeneration. It’s also why I created this website. So that others in a similar position don’t make the same stupid mistakes that I did.
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