Rat pics and weird gifts: People share their biggest first date red flags

Sometimes, they’re immediately identifiable on the first date – or even before if you’re engaged in heavy conversation on the apps – but it can also take a few encounters before those infamous icks pop up.

These red flags aren’t always just little icks, either. Some experiences can be a full-on display of outdated, hateful views, proving that sadly, modern-day misogyny is alive and kicking.

Now, one Reddit post has debated the biggest, most unhinged red flags users have seen. They started with a bang.

‘He told me I should wear a skirt when we meet in person (talked via dating app). When I said no – he told me that was the reason I was divorced, because I don’t listen to men’, the user detailed.

The thread was inundated with discussion, mostly of users detailing their experiences dating men.

‘On the fourth date, I went to his apartment which was absolutely disgusting. Clothes and empty delivery containers everywhere. No sheets on his bed. What looked like black mould on the shower wall,’ one person wrote.

In fairness, we’ve no idea whether the mould was just an issue the landlord was behind on sorting, but this datee seemed pretty put off.

‘This man was 35 and had a roommate. Two of them lived there like that.’

To this, one account expressed they were ‘amazed any man lives like this.’

‘The bar is so low for men and yet so many fail all the time’, they added.

Another’s date took things too far. ‘I said rats were cute and the next day he sent me a video of a cat eating a rat,’ they shared.

‘He told me that the devil controlled the internet and that’s why he couldn’t find proof that Noah’s Ark was real,’ another recalled.

‘He was such a lovely guy otherwise, but I just could not get past the whole extremely religious thing.’

Another date turned up eager to a ‘casual first-meet up’, accompanied by a ‘gift bag full of cheap lingerie and fetish toys that he must have bought in some hole-in-the-wall porn shop.’

The pair were only supposed to be meeting for coffee.

The response? ‘We never discussed fetishes or even sex in general before he sprung this very public surprise. I handed him back the bag and walked out without a word.’ Fair enough.

‘He suggested I raise a finger for permission to talk because he didn’t like being interrupted’, another shared. The words staggering and unhinged come to mind.

‘I laughed and said I wasn’t doing that, honestly thinking he would be a reasonable human.

‘Nope, he would scream at me ARE YOU F*CKING FINISHED TALKING YET or LET ME SPEAK, cutting me off mid sentence. Basically it wasn’t “interrupting him”, it was speaking at all that was his issue.’

So, there you have it. A few of the most colourful dating red flag experiences – and there are plenty more. Stay safe out there.

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