You look nothing like your profile photos so…

We've all heard stories about friends meeting their dates only to find out that they looked nothing like their profile photos. This happened to me not so long ago and I thought I'd share my experience. It's taught me that anyone dating online should have very recent photos of themselves. It's only fair.

My nerves were starting to set in as I stood outside the bar waiting for him. I thought I knew what he looked like as he promised me all his profile photos were recent. I was a little bit early and he was running a little bit late. Standing there for what seemed like hours, eventually a taxi pulled up and I knew it was him. He stepped out of the taxi and my heart sunk. I could tell it was him because his face resembled his profile photos but he looked about twenty years older and several pounds heavier. There was little I could do but greet him and go for the drink we'd planned.

Sitting in the bar was awkward. I had an instant dislike to him as he didn't resemble what I expected physically, but I tried really hard to push that aside and focus on his personality. Unfortunately that was even more shocking. His language was foul and brash right from the start. Nothing like his text messages to me. Don't get me wrong, he was very friendly but how he conveyed that friendliness was more in a "meeting your closest friends in a bar" type way. He was far too forward and loud for me. Every moment I sat listening to him, I just wanted to shout out "you look nothing like your photos you liar". And shockingly, I eventually did. That's when he suddenly froze and gave me a stare that seemed to linger for minutes.

He retaliated by insulting me. And I don't mean small insults. His ego must have been very badly crushed with the phrase "you look nothing like your photos you liar" because what came out of his mouth was shocking. I was called an ugly retarded bi*ch, a fat sl*pper and was even told that if I was the last woman on earth, he wouldn't sleep with me. I hesitated for a moment then through my drink in his face and stormed out. I could hear him calling me all sorts of names after that but fortunately he didn't chase me and I made it out of the bar safely.

It didn't stop there however. As I walked to the train station, he sent me several texts expressing what he thought of me, the tamest being;

"Why don't you die you stupid bi*ch wasting my time"
"You smelt of fish"
"No wonder you got nobody in your life"

I could have responded but that would have only fueled him. Fortunately, after a string of repeated insulting texts, he stopped.

The next morning, I awoke to see three new messages from him in my inbox. Expecting them to be insulting, I opened them quickly so I could delete them. To my surprise, they were apologetic texts claiming he'd had too much to drink before he arrived and that he really like me.

To this day, I still have no idea how men think. I obviously didn't respond to him but to be honest, I just wanted to send him a text back that morning saying "Dear arrogant **hole. Thank you for showing your true colours so early on. Not only were you physically repulsive, but your persona was even worse. I'm glad I got out of that one quickly". I couldn't resist it. I did send that in the end and immediately blocked his number.

To this day, I have no idea how he would have responded.

Guys, there's no need for this sort of behavior. I hope I speak for most of the women out there in saying be honest right from the start with your appearance to save having a traumatic date like mine.