Years ago, someone did make a cross over comment as I walked down the street hugging the fair skinned Latino that I was seeing at the time. He tried to shake the naysayer’s hand, but he didn’t want to be touched. People did stare, but that was the only time that I recall being openly insulted.

I don’t mean to draw fire with stereotypes, but I was living further south when that happened. I have been living in the Northeast for a decade and I noticed that people don’t seem to care as much up here–again, no one has ever said anything directly to us. I also noticed that we received more looks when we traveled south.

I really think it depends on how well the couple communicates though and what they’re looking for.

So far I’m having a good run with it. I’m not having the time of my life or anything – but it’s good for me and where I’m at right now.

To your point, I can remember being the single guy who listened and feeling a similar sense of entrapment in those situations. I try not to do the same to my single friends (and in all honesty – I don’t do anything like that to my other friends in relationships either).

I hope folks learn from your commentary on this one, and thanks for sharing

I know a lot of single people now, so the tables have turned. To be honest, sometimes it can be draining to listen to dating woes. I try to understand that I have been there in the past, but the thing is, I didn’t know too many single people in those days back when I was single. Nearly everyone I knew was married or in a relationship, so I felt the need to move on to find other people to socialize with as I got tired of feeling like a third wheel. I am not saying that married and single people can’t be friends, but you don’t always have the same interests. I think the question as to why someone is still single is important, too. I know some women who are offended if the man doesn’t pay for everything, but I told them that the way things are today, women tend to make just as much, if not more money than the man, so it is unrealistic to expect him to pay for everything. I think that could be a huge factor as to why some of them may still be single. I also think it is possible to try too hard to meet someone, too.

I learned from this to distinguish when someone may be venting about a bad day in their relationship as opposed to someone complaining constantly and not being willing to take any steps to change the situation. When it is apparent that it is the latter, I distance myself from the person as I already learned my lesson with this sort of the thing the hard way several years ago. Also, it is not really fair to keep pulling someone into marital or relationship issues as that can place a strain on that person and could be confusing. You can’t really say anything negative about the person’s partner, but if they keep coming to you with problems, it makes you wonder why–best not to get pulled into any of that in the first place.

That’s all I have to say.

In the first instance of the story I think you did the right thing. A question like that poses a risk for satisfaction or dissatisfaction. If I asked a friend if I have bad breath, I’m going to want the truth so that I can make changes.

In the second instance, I agree with the “cold blooded” response. It seems to me culture and childhood environment makes a large impact on the way we respond to others. Some may take offence, while others may not.

My question would be, “Is the internet, Facebook, and mass connectivity making Generation Z less adept to responding naturally in live social situations?”

Grow a pair and stand by what you say if you’re going to say it – man up.

I don’t mind dissenting opinions at all – but if you take the time to rant like a moron on someone’s blog, at least make sure that you know what you’re ranting about. No one said to pander to women in this post. Like I said – read the article, and then get back to me.

Men need to stop pandering to women on the off chance they might get some ass and let the women start chasing and giving and working like animals to impress US. Any man that is pandering to women is just fucking the whole thing up for every other man and will be hunted into a corner and gutted with his own teeth, neatly torn from his mouth. It is always one or two people fucking the whole thing up for everyone else on this planet, except in the modern world, it is the 98% of morons fucking it all up now. DON’T BE THAT GUY or we will fucking get you.