Straight up I went on a drinks to check how we vibe date last week, super simple, 5 beers total, two orders of wings as apps(so 12 wings), $80 before tipping $20. Not to mention the haircut I could’ve put off had I not had a date which was $60, and the gas I used getting there $5. Even if I tipped my personal minimum for a server at 20% that’s over $100. I don’t mind paying for a first date because it’s every woman is potentially putting their life on the line by meeting a man they don’t know alone for however long it lasts, but I used to could plan 2-3 first dates over a week, spend less, and get more food and drink.

I'm gonna say this.. and I'm a married hen, but if that's the mentality of women today, christ, no wonder so many end up desperate cougars.

You habve no idea the number of women I see in their late 30's still trying to catch a guy.

Not all, by any means, but a shockingly high enough number that I do notice..

No, that's why I'm single. I cannot find a lady who doesn't have these very expensive expectations for dating her. I haven't met anyone like that since 2015, over a decade ago. The world has changed and so have people's expectations.

in 2015 rent in my city was about 1600 for a one bedroom apartment. Now it's 3200. in 2015 women I met were happy to go get ice cream and you could go out for a beer with them for $10. a dinner date cost maybe $50. nobody i met ten years ago demanded that ou take them on international vacations as part of dating, that was for a long term anniversary or something.. now it's an expectation for 3-4 months of dating.

it's not 2015 anymore. it's 2026. prices have doubled or tripled for everything since then. people's expectations for life and dating have changed. social media barely existed in 2015, now it's everywhere and inescapable.

It is widespread in reality. I'm meeting these women in the real world and this is what they demand of me. It's what women I meet, even friends of friends, demand of men. and they all complain we are broke losers, because we can't meet their expectations.

The women I meet who don't demand this from men are already married, and their husbands are paying most of the bills...

also my 17 year old newphew, has the same issues. his girlfriends who are his own age, dump him for not taking them out to expensive dates and dinners, w/ his 15/hr part time job... he had two girlfriends and both of them demanded expensive dinner dates, and he said 'i can't afford that' and now he has decided to give up on dating entirely because he doesn't see the point in wasting his money on it and he knows he can't date without spending lots of money he doesn't have.

when I was his age I was taking my gfs out to movies and chili's for $10-15. I used to take my girlfriends to a 'fancy' dinner and it was like $30-40. now teenage girls demand think they deserve $200-500 dates. he was talking them on 50-100 dollar dates and they thought he was cheap and 'low effort' I was making 10 bucks an hour, he is making 15... for me two hours of work paid for a date, for him it would be 20 hours.

the issue is the math more than anything else. in the 2000s life was cheap and dating was easy. now life is expensive and dating is super hard