Mortified In Monterey

Dear Miss Lisa:
I talked with a guy online a couple of days and we agreed to meet for drinks. I walked into the restaurant on time, stood around looking for my date and heard my name called. I turned towards the voice and was shocked to see my date had aged 20 years! According to the face in front of me, his pictures on his profile were ancient, like prehistoric. He was not the nice looking man I had agreed to meet, in fact, he wasn't even attractive anymore. What went wrong?
signed,
Mortified in Monterey

Dear Morti-Honey,
Why are you surprised? Do you have images on your profile that were taken this year? Really? Are they full-body shots or just head shots? It works both ways, honey. Honesty is as honesty does, my Uncle on my Dad's side twice removed used to say..

Google is your friend and many times that extra 5 minutes will help. Before you agree to drinks with a stranger, google his full name. Yes, you have to ask his full name, don't be timid, it's for your own protection, remember? If there's nothing online about him, be blunt and ask him questions about his age and his photos. If he wonders why, be honest and tell him, then request he take a selfie right then and there. I do it all the time, it's a nice precaution against a miserable date.

Also, put on your profile that you will only talk to guys that have current photos on their profile. I have the request on mine, and have found it saves a lot of time weeding through the yes vs. no piles of messages. I learned my lesson the first time it happened to me. I admit... it scared the heebeejeebee's out of me! Whoa, dude!

Has this happened to anyone else?