A Sydney man who demanded a refund for the $6 he paid for a coffee during a date has revealed why modern relationships fail.
He approached Emily, a 29-year-old British expat, on the beach and invited her out for a drink, and she agreed to meet him and the pair went for coffee afterwards.
But after the date, Emily admitted she felt there was “no spark” between them, which led him to do something unexpected: demand that she pay for his hot drinks.
While Emily was horrified by his lackluster response, Melbourne psychologist Carly Dover said the man's reaction was tragically common and warned it was an “unhealthy approach to dating and relationships”.
“Men also behave in this way because they believe that having invested their time and money in the date, they are entitled to the woman's time, romance and sexual attention,” Dover told news.com.au.
“It's normal to feel hurt and upset after rejection, and rejection is a normal part of human dating in the broader sense, but it also signals low emotional intelligence and poor emotional regulation.”
“His reaction would be expected from someone who holds misogynistic views towards women, or who has been taught by a larger social and cultural environment that women owe their time and energy to men.”
Emily appears to share this sentiment in her own viral video. video The video has been viewed more than 85,000 times since it was posted on Monday.
“Oh my goodness, I can't believe this happened to me,” she begins in the TikTok video.
“I just had a date with a guy I met on the beach and he asked me out… We went for coffee and we just wanted to be super relaxed.”
After returning home, Emily explained that she didn't feel romantically attached to her date, so she decided to continue texting him in the hopes that they could still stay friends.
“I thought I'd be polite and message him and not lose contact,” she explained, before publishing the texts.
It read: “Thank you so much for organising the picnic. It's a shame the weather was so bad. It was nice to meet you but it didn't work out so well. I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere though. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.”
She ended her message with a smiling face emoji.
However, no reply was received and the man quickly responded, demanding that she pay him back for the coffee.
“Hey! I agree. We are so different. Best of luck. P.S. The coffee was $6.”
Finally, he gave Emily his Payid number so she could transfer money to him.
“Six dollars? He asked me to send him six dollars for a coffee,” she shared on TikTok.
“I've never heard of asking a woman out on a date and then asking for money,” she replied. In the video, she said she had no intention of paying cash.
The exchange wasn't over yet, as the mystery man insisted he had “no intention” of pursuing her romantically, and said he would be “thanks for taking on your role.”
“It would be a disgrace to you to keep such a small amount,” he said sarcastically at last.
Melbourne Psychology to enrich your life Doctors at the clinic said that it's often men who get angry after rejection and that this actually hampers their date's chances of finding love.
“If what they want is a romantic or intimate relationship, then acting like this will make that much more difficult for them,” she said.
“When a woman has an experience like this, it can make her less motivated to date men. And if she feels like she owes a man for just the money for a coffee, she may be less open to meeting new people and going on dates.”
“The end result is that people are lonelier and there are fewer respectful and joyful connections.”
News.com.au has contacted Emily for further comment.
