How Not To Break Up
Eeeuw! Did you know that restauranteurs prepare for nasty scenes that occur when couples break up over dinner? So common is the phenomenon that some places have code phrases like “Code Red” or “Code White” to signal when the wine has gotten tossed in the face of the bearer of the bad news.
While it is standard advice to Internet daters to meet—and stay—in a public place on the first date for safety’s sake, picking a meal at a restaurant to say you want to break up seems particularly nasty.
Likely, safety (or protection from bad behavior) is again the reason. But what a mean trick, to deliver such a potentially devasting blow in a fully public place, where the receiver (probably surprised) has to struggle to maintain some emotional control. Or relinquish control and face the embarrassment of a horrid scene.
Please, if you are going to say “No” to anyone you have seen more than a couple of times, do it in a place where you will be safe, but where they can express their distress without public embarrassment. Picking an venue as public as a restaurant seems cowardly and mean.
From Your Romance Coach, Kathryn Lord
