Cautionary tale:
I've always seen people trying to date or do things off the clock "as friends" as an attempt to be friends with benefits. After moving to Austin I met someone and let my guard down (my fault) because I was new here and am an empty nester, so I thought to myself that it may be fun to explore the city with this gentleman as friends. Here's the problem, then second you are doing things off the clock because you like someone and then they turn around and start paying for other people's time and not only that ladies are asking you for references, it just leaves a really bad taste in your mouth and leaves you feeling like a complete idiot.
As I said, I do blame myself for letting my heart get the better of me and wanting to be his friend outside the norm, but in my experience it's just a REALLY bad idea. Guys look upon this as a challenge and will do or say anything to pull this off, even throwing around words that should be reserved for someone you truly love.
I've heard since from others that it's not the first time he's done this. He's incredibly charming & a super smooth talker and kudos to him for being the first person to pull this off on me, because I consider myself a very good judge of character. If that weren't bad enough, he pulled my P411 vouch for him so that I couldn't warn others there and also I believe that he likely has numerous handles. I feel like this Austin gent may have even gone so far as to put it out there that I'm a flexible person, because since moving to Austin I've had an huge influx of people attempting to do this. One person even said he left his girlfriend for me...uhhh....WHY, I at no point indicated that I wanted to take her place in a real world setting, lol? Then there are the guys young and old who just believe they are God's gift to women and that they can get around almost anything.
I'm a super nice person and am very generous with my time if I feel we are compatible because I genuinely like what I do. My new policy is yes, I do want new friends here and I may be willing to go out for drinks, etc...but once we are back at my place or yours and I am in Chef mode, then I expect to be compensated for that time spent.
I'm not naming him because I'm willing to bet that many will know how I'm talking about. I believe him to be at his core a nice person who I most definitely met at the wrong time.
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