My Date Paid for Dinner, Then Everything Took a Turn!

• Dinner: $120, covered in full.
• Flowers: “In-kind gesture — requires reciprocation (one hug).”
• Keychain: “Personalized gift — repayable via coffee date.”
• Emotional labor: “Holding hands next time to express appreciation.”

Then, at the very bottom, written in bold, unsettling text, was the true threat: “Failure to comply may result in Chris hearing about it.”

Chris. That was the name of Mia’s long-term boyfriend. Eric’s friend.

I sat there, staring at the computer screen, completely stunned. My first reaction was utter disbelief. How could someone so charming act this way? My second, stronger feeling was one of disgust. This went far beyond quirky humor. Eric had clearly itemized affection and basic human courtesy as if they were business transactions, and then leveraged a shared social contact—my friend’s boyfriend—to coerce me into seeing him again.

I immediately sent a message to Mia: You’re not going to believe this.

Within minutes, I forwarded the bizarre ‘invoice’ to her. Her reply was instant and definitive: Oh my god. He’s insane. Don’t answer him. Mia, being the fiercely loyal friend she is, didn’t stop there. She shared the shocking email with Chris, who, thankfully, was both mortified by his friend’s behavior and fully willing to mess with his so-called friend. Together, they quickly put together a clever strategy to give Eric a dose of his own medicine.

💥 The Taste of His Own Medicine

A Counter-Invoice and the Final Response

That very afternoon, Chris executed their plan by sending Eric his own official-looking “invoice.” This document was also designed to look official, featuring mock legal terms and a fictional company logo that boldly stated “Karma & Co.”

The list of satirical charges was aimed directly at Eric’s behavior:

• Emotional disturbance fee: For causing significant discomfort to a woman.
• Public embarrassment surcharge: For his failure to act like a mature adult on a first date.
• Service charge: “For sitting at the same table as someone out of your league.”

At the very bottom, in a powerful reversal of the original threat, Chris’s mock invoice read: “Failure to comply will result in permanent reputation damage. No refunds.”

Eric immediately became furious and lost it. He sent me a rapid-fire string of text messages, alternating between outright anger and pathetic self-pity.

“You’re overreacting.” “It was supposed to be funny.” “You just can’t take a joke.”

Then, in a final attempt to salvage his ego, he sent a last message: “You missed out on a great guy.”

I chose not to engage further. I simply replied with a thumbs-up emoji—a quiet, powerful dismissal—and then permanently blocked him.

Later that night, Mia called me, still laughing hysterically from the absurdity of the situation. “I’m so sorry,” she managed to say between gasps. “I swear, I had no idea he was that unhinged.”

I realized I wasn’t even angry anymore. Mostly, I felt an enormous sense of relief. It is truly rare for a person to reveal their deeply flawed character so openly on the very first date.

What Eric believed to be a clever or witty move was actually profoundly creepy. It offered a perfect, early preview of the controlling and entitled behavior he was likely trying to hide beneath his thin layer of fake charm. If that ridiculous “invoice” had never shown up in my inbox, it’s impossible to know how much time it would have taken for me to realize his true nature.

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