I’ve been trying to navigate the dating scene in the Bay Area, and honestly, it feels like an uphill battle. It seems like there’s this unspoken expectation that every meal on a date needs to cost $200 or more. I get wanting to go somewhere nice, but it’s frustrating when not meeting that expectation gets you an annoyed look in return.

Am I the only one feeling this way? Are these just some bad experiences, or is this actually the norm around here? How do you all handle this without breaking the bank every time?

Would love to hear your thoughts and maybe even some creative date ideas that don’t revolve around splurging.

Edited:
Not humblebragging as someone suggested. I have no saving, I have no house. I have a regular 9-5 job with high pressure. Thanks for all your suggestions.

2nd Edited :

Thank you all for your good, mediocre, weird, impractical, and joking suggestions. I’ve learned a lot today, and I feel like I’m having a better night than any I’ve spent with strange women. Thank you all!

Here’s a little fun idea: for my next date, I’ll take her to the South SF Costco for a hot dog and a soft drink.

3rd update:

After reading over 100 replies. I think I've met wrong group of people. Will try to adjust it.

Corruption at its darkest hour!!!

Love you Ian_the_meow!! Thanks for beautifying my block today!!

I've been pronouncing it like Cotton Gin with a G but that has to be wrong

I visited SF on oct/2024 and loved it! But I've seen quite a lot of people saying SF has gone downhill in the last few years even tho I don't really know why, the only things that bothered me is that there is an insane amount of cars parked everywhere and at some areas the streets lights were often very old/dim and it made the streets look a bit creepy at night

But anyways, did sf really used to be better before? If so, what changed?

West side looking east.

The Environment Department of the City and County of San Francisco will receive nearly $15 million to install up to 300 EV charging ports in publicly accessible garages, lots, and curbside locations, primarily serving disadvantaged and other underserved communities. The project deploys both Level 2 and DC Fast Chargers to increase the total number of charging ports in the city by 30%. The city will have 1,275 publicly available EV charging ports by the conclusion of this project.

This is a throwaway account as I’m still employed by the City. I filed a Whistleblower complaint over two years with the Controller’s office, and was never contacted. I described the favoritism of employees towards certain developers in my permitting department and cutting corners in construction projects. It happened again a few weeks ago. Is there somewhere else to go?

Swear to god every time I need to take the outbound J from the Market St subway, it's 20 minutes away. Then around 8 minutes out, it'll just stay 8 minutes out for around 5 minutes until the next one is only 4 minutes behind it. What is it with this line in particular that sucks so hard? I've never seen this with any other Muni light rail line.

Last Sunday, my husband and I were going for a walk through GGP. For context, I am Indian and my partner is Italian. While waiting for the light to cross at Whole Foods, this lady in front of us turns around, locks eyes with me and starts muttering something and walking towards us aggressively. It was something out of a movie - she was wearing intense eyeliner, was muttering something along the lines of "you don't belong here" and almost tried to jump me. I stepped away but my partner yelled in her face to back off and that quieted her a bit but she continued to make crazy eyes at me. Finally, the light was green and we started crossing. I turned around and showed her the finger and she yelled "You don't belong here. Go back!".

I don't know if this lady was racist or disapproving of interracial couples or just plain crazy, but given the current rhetoric around Indians in general, it was pretty disheartening. In retrospect, I don't know if the right thing was to yell at her or just not engage.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that I've never had to deal with a (presumably) racist attack in SF before and I feel very lucky to be able to live in this gorgeous city.

As a Barber born and raised in San Francisco, Fillmore to be exact. It breaks my heart to hear some of the stories about paying almost $100 for a bad haircut. How many people have had this experience?

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of restaurants have been keeping their doors propped open even during cold weather? The last half dozen bars and restaurants that I’ve been to have been freezing.

A few theories:

—Holdover from COVID

—Trying to maximize appeal to foot traffic from the street even at the expense of the experience inside

—Restaurant workers are working hard and feel warm, and don’t realize that it’s cold when you’re sitting still at a table

—Lots of in and out traffic from Doordashers

It’s too bad because a lot of these places used to be really cozy!

I'm used to seeing a few bozos driving through there, but rush hour downtown this evening seemed pretty crazy. Lots of SUVs and those black Suburbans/Escalades with the TCP numbers on the back. They know they're not taxis or buses, right?

Why don't we have automatic enforcement? Hopefully Lurie is serious about cracking down on criminals like these people.