Script it, Hil. Have a script for if he picks up, and a script for leaving a VM. Either way, if you practice, like a call for an interview, it takes some of the tension out. "Hey, this is Hillary; we've been emailing? I have some time free next week and I'd like to see if you wanted to get a coffee/smoothie/tattoo/dinner. Would Tuesday or Thursday after 6 work or you? Let me know by Monday night. Talk to you soon!"
Have 2 potential times and 2 potential choices picked out; that "Um, so whaddya YOU wanna do?" thing makes phone calls worse. You want to offer choice, but not so much choice that a guy gets paralyzed.
And if he doesn't want to meet, you can find out now, and move on.
You can approach it as an Onerous Task (it kinda is, you know; An Interview to See If You Can See If Are Compatible) and be all "OK, I'm gonna call!" on here, then report back!
Thanks, Erin.
He lives three hours away, so coordinating meeting would take some work. From the emailing, we do seem pretty compatible. Maybe he's also got phone anxiety.
coffee/smoothie/tattoo/dinner
snerk
Calling just to chat can be flop sweat-inducing in men and women; broach it like "I've really enjoyed emailing with you; the thought of phone conversations makes me a little nervous -- I always worry that I babble or that I'll run out of things to say, but I'd like to try it. I feel like you'd be even more funny/thoughtful/clever on the phone. You want to try to communicate a bit the old-fashioned way?"
You can leave out "And I really want to see if you're a mouth-breather so I can go back to wasting my time on network TV if you are."
Just got the Snow Day call!
Just got the Snow Day call!
W00t!
And that makes me think I might have made a tactical error in telling the plow guy that I need to leave for work tomorrow at 12:30 - it being conceivable that I might be requested to come along earlier due to folks not having their day program.
Well, the eHarmony guy called me. And we talked for a while, and it was nice.
