Sounds to me like you just dodged a bullet, mate.
this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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Absolutely. Anyone willing to treat a stranger this way is unequivocally a shitbag.
She will die alone, whether she is married or not.
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No wonder she's single.
"Sorry, from across the bar I couldn't see how ugly your personality was. It all makes sense now."
I mean, considering there’s a 100% chance this is just a fantasy in anon’s head I’d say she dodged a bullet.
Guy's a creepo, gal puts people down unnecessarily. Both will unwillingly die alone.
Why is the guy a creep?
What he says boils down to "I was eavesdropping your conversation, and I assume you're desperate. You might as well lower your standards — date someone random you have no connections with, like me." It's bad; not bad enough to deserve that rude reply, but still bad.
A better approach would be to try to pick up a woman who's alone, offer her a drink*, chitchat a bit, and then ask her for a date. With no references to what she said to other people. Creating some connection between him and her, before he asks her out.
*always ask the bar workers to bring it. Don't bring it yourself.
Nah its not creepy. Its perfectly fine to ask her out like that she just didnt want it and rejected him in a bit of an over the top way. Whole thing is no issue. If you are gonna randomly strike up conversations you will get cooked sometimes.
Asking her out would be fine; the problem, as I already explained, is how. However I do agree with you that her answer was over the top, a simple "No." would be the best.
Whole thing is no issue.
It was clearly an issue to the Anon, check the last paragraph.
If you are gonna randomly strike up conversations you will get cooked sometimes.
He wasn't just striking up a conversation.
Additionally (and that's neither side's fault), mob mentality is a plague. She was in a group of four people; people typically behave worse in groups than alone.
"I've been listening to your conversation" is not a good way to start. There are some exceptions, but even then you're starting on thin ice and have to ease into it.
You shouldnt have to rehearse the perfect line that is impossible to be offended by just to talk to a stranger. We aren't robots. We dont always hit 100% of the time. We stumble and overextend. Expectations have gotten out of hand.
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"I couldn't help but hear your drunken rantings."
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A better approach would be to try to pick up a woman who’s alone, offer her a drink*,
A bit of a tangent, but I really hate this. Not meaning to call you out, this is a really common recommendation for an icebreaker and it's also reinforced by popular media and the like, but it always feels to me like the implication is that if a man wants to approach a woman, they must buy something for them as part of that process. Like it's a transaction fee to be given a chance.
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It’s not eavesdropping. They were having a public conversation at a fucking bar - a place where plenty of people go in attempts to meet new people... If it was a private convo (one that can be eavesdropped on) that’s different. If it was a private conversation, they shouldn’t have been at a location where it’s normal to try flirting with strangers.
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You don't go up to someone and say hey I was listening to you complain about wanting a guy, how about me? and expect a good response.
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Super rude on her part, but it's also extremely intrusive, rude, and weird to walk up to a total stranger you've never even talked to and ask her to dinner solely because you've been sitting alone at the bar for three hours overhearing her complain to her friends about being single. I'm not saying it can't work if you're physically like an 8–10/10, but that's effectively all she has to go on besides this obviously weird thing you're doing.
"I'm not desperate" could totally be referring to what he did rather than how he looks. This is George Costanza shit.
Um, this is the point of going on a date? To get to know someone new? She shouldn't need anything else to go on until after they've spent some time getting to know each other? A first date is not a lifetime commitment.
How else do you get a date with someone, if not by asking them?
The point of going on a date is getting to know somebody better because you're interested in them. Why on Earth would this woman be interested in this weirdo who she knows nothing about except, at most, that he sat alone at a bar for three hours straight, listened to her conversation, and interrupted her to ask her to dinner on the premise that she needs saving from being single specifically by him?
Haaaaa the new generations… ya know once upon a times this was standard procedure right? Not so long ago even. Sometimes you didn’t even talk before furiously kissing someone on the dance floor and discussions came waaaaaay later on if they ever came.
This still happens, but you also still need to be suave about it, which anon was not.
"Hey, I heard you talking about wanting to date. I've been feeling the same way and wanted to see if I could get us a couple drinks?"
That's still bad because this is still pretty weird, but just be a bit casual about it instead of: "M'lady most fine, I heard of your plight and wish to save you. Please allow me take you out to dinner next week." She's with her friends, sure, but it sounds like she's been bringing down their night by complaining, so they probably wouldn't mind if she (somehow) said "yes". And the suggestion itself involves way less commitment than planning a date.
I've been out of the game for a while, but I would assume a much better starting point would be buying her a drink. Ask the bartender what she's having, then offer to buy one for her. "Here's another drink ma'am, courtesy of that guy over there."
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You get the difference though, right? Like, it's one thing if you're going out to a place known for mingling and you hook up with someone. It is a completely different thing if you're at a place to hang out with friends and a complete stranger saunters up to say he's been eavesdropping on you.
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Stories like this are presented from the POV of the guy, even from that perspective it's not 'good', at best it's just not 'bad'
There's nothing wrong with asking but also like don't just drop it out of nowhere.
Even if the vibes are right, you can't just walk up to someone, say 'wanna date?' and get good results. That's especially true if you open by saying you were evesdropping.
Chat with someone for a bit, see if you click before asking them on a date. Even just buy them a drink and give them the option to approach you.
She was a massive dick, but that doesn't mean he handled the situation well.
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Talking to a stranger is extremely rude?
How are you supposed to find a partner if you're not allowed to talk to strangers?
No, walking up to and interrupting a group at a bar after listening to them for three hours, telling them you've been listening, then asking one of them to dinner next week like they need saving by you is extremely rude. No one's saying you aren't allowed to talk to strangers; you just shouldn't be this goddamn weird and intrusive about it.
"How are you supposed to find a partner?"
Get to know the strangers first in a capacity whose end goal isn't a date, then ask them out when you know them somewhat? Or ask a stranger out at a place and in a context where it's expected they might be open to it? Anyway, I'm going to go ask out random women on the street, because it's not rude; I mean fuck, man, how else can you find a partner in this economy?
He wasn't listening to the conversation for 3 hours. He was seated there for 3 hours, and then he overheard a part of a conversation.
Overhearing is not the same as actively listening. Talking in public is public. They are at a bar, which is an extremely social place, it is normal for strangers to join conversations.
And what place and context is more appropriate than a bar for asking someone out? It has been the de facto place exactly for that purpose for millenia.
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Nah.
Rude?
On the guy's part?
No, not at all.
Done pretty clumsily, awkwardly?
Sure.
But, assuming OP actually said what they said they said, that's not impolite, that's not rude.
Its not insulting.
It makes literally no difference at all that the guy was sitting in the bar listening to her talk to her friends for 3 hours before he worked up the nerve to attempt to ask her out.
What if he had... just walked in and did this?
Or... been at the table nearby for 30 minutes?
Or was playing Pool for an hour near the table?
None of those things factors in to how rude or not his actions toward her were.
Also... what world are you living in where talking to someone you haven't previously met, in a bar, is a social faux pas?
The... whole point of going to a place with a bunch of people drinking is to be at a place with a bunch of people drinking.
I met new people at bars all the time back in my college days, made a lot of friends that way, sometimes a bit more than friends.
This is like, how society worked for at least a hundred years, basically before the invention of TikTok/Instagram.
I am honestly baffled by your stance here.
This isn't a sit down restaurant.
Its a bar. A pub.
Like sure, barging into an ongoing conversation and inserting yourself into it does require some tact, skill, and ability to just bounce off if its clear your presence is not appreciated.
But her level of cruelty was far, far more rude than anything this socially anxious guy did.
I was the guy who apparently was in your 8 to 10 range, as I'd do basically this, though a bit more smoothly, and fairly often it would work.
Sometimes you get a soft, polite no, and that's totally fine.
Sometimes, you get a hard no, a vicious no, like this one.
And that stings.
This guy, OP? His entire world is hard nos, every time he tries.
He is literally despairing over this, and you call him rude.
This is the kind of mindset that you have, that led to the proliferation of the saying and concept 'Bros before Hoes'.
That doesn't mean all women are hoes.
It means guys with pretty privilege wingman for their bros without it, and help their bros recover from brutal rejections like this one.
Honestly, I've even wingmanned for socially awkward gals too, work them into a conversation I'm already having with some guy they've told me they very much fancy, but are too scared to even approach.
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Fake: anon approached a girl
Gay: anon was daydreaming for 3 hours about getting engaged
Thats why she cant find a man! Lesson here dont approach women that say “they cant find a man” there is a reason they cant find a man and you should believe her. What you did was courageous and this shouldn’t stop you from trying in the future.
Thats why she cant find a man!
I read about a guy on a website who just trolled bars for hours at a time, eavesdropping on every conversation between anyone he considered remotely attractive. At the slightest hint of desperation, he would run up to a table and announce "I am a single man! Please date me! I will feed you dinner and then we can be together!"
He is the most successful anon in history. Goes on dates every single day of his life. Little black book contains hundreds of phone numbers from women desperate for a second chance at him. But he doesn't stop. One Date Only, that's his policy. He's just too much of a hot commodity to deprive the rest of the Femoid Race of his charms.
This is the real reason OP's story is about a woman who is single.
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Seriously, you just learned why
Nah but for real if some random stranger at a bar overheard me saying I'm single and then came up to me and my friends like that I would be a little creeped out too.
I wouldn't be mean about it, but I definitely wouldn't say yes.
I can't imagine why no one would want her with that shining personality
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