Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Case of a Mistaken Text

For people living outside of Manhattan, the end of a date presents three options:
1)Play by the rules and pony up for a $40 cab back to your borough.
2)Spend the night at your date's Manhattan apartment because the thought of a cab ride thru a dimly lit tunnel makes you more nauseous than the sipping tequila you downed at dinner. Let them know you are only staying because "you can't make it home" and therefore will only permit a limited amount of shenanigans.
3)Go for it and proudly wipe the black eyeliner from under your eyes as you walk to the Path train the next morning.

Late last summer after a fun Tuesday night with the guy I was seeing, I hopped a cab from the Fat Black Pussy Cat to 128 Adams Street, my old Hoboken address. Within about 10 minutes of the ride I heard the da-ding of my text which elicited a Pavlovian-like stomach flip. I opened my phone expecting a sweet message of the "had fun...get home safe" variety. You'll understand my surprise when I saw:

"F that, she went back to Hoboken. Be home soon"


If its possible, I felt flattered, objectified and entertained all at the same time. I texted back:

"Clearly that message was about me but not meant for me....HA! Think you meant your roomate"

He responded "Woops, I'm really sorry about that. Let's hang this weekend."

Interestingly I didn't hold his techno-pas against him. He turned what could have been a deal-breaker into one of the more honest conversations I had ever experienced via text. I thought that if in one night I could realize that a guy liked me enough to be disappointed that I left and still man enough to ask me out after he clearly made an ass out of himself, maybe I should have stayed with him that night afterall. Then again if I did, I would have never realized he really liked me. Yes, I recongnize the irony there.

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7 comments:

  1. Hilarious! Though I can't say your post didn't give me a chill.

    I once inadvertently sent a faux lovey-dovey text to a guy friend of mine... to my fiance. Try explaining that one.

    Anyway, found your blog by accident, but it's great. You're an awesome writer.

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  2. I have been on both ends of the "mistaken text" myself and I'd rather be the receiver than the sender. I once sent an old boyfriend a very dirty sextext like message and was quickly reminded of how gross these messages can be to others...unfortunately, this did not deter me from sending many more of the same variety in the later weeks. I think an oops, yikes or :( are all fine when you F-up.

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  3. Everytime I send a chick a text asking "how did your day go" it's the wrong text...what I meant to say was "I don't care what the fuck is going on in your life, will you sleep with me based on this apathy?"

    here's a true story...I was texting a guy friend at work during our companies weekly meeting...I was busting his chops because he was winning an award and to celebrate, the company was throwing him a party...I typed out this text:

    "In your honor, the company will be hosting the CUNT of the Month party in your name!"

    Problem is, when I went to send it to him, I accidentally sent it to the name in my phone next to him, which happend to be a chick in our company...

    Did I apologize? No way, the bitch deserved it.

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  4. best story ever. Thank you for making my day before the rainy weekend hits.

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  5. About 6 months ago in a half drunken stupor I sent a late night text to an old girlfriend. I asked her if she would be interested in a late night rendezvous at a bar that we both frequent. Now I have to preface the remainder of this story by telling you that I have in my life attracted an inordinate number of girls with the name Christine... or some mild variation... Christie, Kristen, etc... A very generic name in today's society I know... Much to my surprise the text I sent did not reach the person I intended it for. A completely different girl showed up. This left me with a bit or a moral dilemma... Did I A)pretend that the right girl had shown up, or B) apologize profusely and explain the situation... I went with option C). I didn't think it was fair to lead anyone on so I made up some lame excuse to leave abruptly... not sure if it was the right thing to do, but it definitely seemed like the best way to spare her feelings and I wanted to be a gentleman.

    FYI. I stumbled across your blog by chance. Whether it's for a class or not, I hope you keep it up. I plan on being a loyal reader.

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  6. totally awesome. remember the "embarrassing moments" column of YM magazine? I think they should change it to the mistaken text column... though would be better placed in Cosmo so the stories could be a bit racy.

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  7. At some point, once I've processed this effectively, I'll tell my SMS story.

    Until then, my only advice is that if you send an SMS in error and he/she calls you on it, own the error and work through it. Don't deny the unintended nature of the message, even if you think there is a way to mitigate its impact through doing so.

    Such idiocy on my part cost me in a matter of seconds the trust I'd worked hard to develop over many months.

    I would still have been "in trouble" for having sent the message to begin with, but by having admitted it was not intended for her, we might still be together.

    Life lesson learned. Ouch.

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