The Olive Garden or Denny’s on dates.
The Olive Garden and Denny's are not acceptable date options if a man wants to ensure the early stage interaction continues. There are no larger chain restaurants good for pre-sex, early stage dates.
he’s a victim of sneating, a common problem.
Agree that sneating (women dating for free meals) is a common problem. The best way around this is to not do dinner dates in restaurants prior to sex. However, men are often on the hook for the costs of early stage dates no matter the activity. If a man doesn't do dinner dates in a restaurant, he's picking up the costs of drinks in a bar or some other activity date, such as going to a museum or ice skating.
Men picking up costs of dates is outdated. This is a cultural idea that made sense in the 1800s-1970, before women were entering the workforce in large numbers. We're talking about an idea now ~50 years outdated. Women have such abundance now that if one man refuses to pick up the cost of early stage dates, every woman knows that there are plenty of other men who are willing to do so. Not paying for any sort of date means that a man in most cases won't end up seeing that woman again.
In the late 2000s - early 2010s, I remember picking up the cost of early stage dates (often not even meals) for women who had a higher annual salary than I had at that time. I remember thinking that it was quite unfair to me to do that. In more recent years, I have more commonly been the higher earner on my dates but I've still been picking up date costs for women who could easily afford to pay their own ways on these dates.
The average cost for dinner in a larger metro area is from $100-$200 for two people.
The cost of a dinner in a non-chain restaurant that will have a decent ambiance for an early stage date is ridiculous. In Dallas (a large metro area), I could get a first date dinner cost below $100, but I'd be challenged to get it below $50. Even a first date with 4 drinks (2 per person) at a bar/lounge with good date ambiance is going to be pricy and getting near $50 after a tip in many cases.
These high costs should force more men to be more selective with who they take on dates. I'm not seeing that happening in the broader market but it is affecting me personally. With these costs for dates, I want to ensure I'm picking up the costs of a first date for someone I'm going to see at least a 2nd time. I don't want to waste my time on a woman who is going to flake on me after a first date or I'm going to want to get rid of after a first date.
The best way for me to do this is to screen women through some real life approaching method. It is difficult to determine the probability of a good first date from text messages and phone calls. Video calling/conferencing is the best remote way to determine the probability of a good first date. Setting up a video call takes some effort. I'd rather meet women in-person than be on a dating app and setting up video calls. That's not even taking into account that dating apps have really bad ratios.
Dude has invested circa $1000 on dates. Let’s cut him some slack, he’s made a bad financial decision. (Speculative).
We've all made bad financial decisions on dating. I think it's possible to waste $1,000 on dates over a months long period of time spread across multiple women. I think it is more difficult for more a man to waste $1,000 on the same woman in the early stages.