For those in a hurry, the lesson here is don’t lie. Especially don’t lie when the truth is easily discovered, because this makes you both a liar and an idiot.
I’ve mentioned that I filter online matches by grammar, but I also heavily consider height. I’m 5″ 8′ barefoot and the shoes I wear typically put me at 6 feet. I like men who are bigger and taller than I am. Actually, one of my friends has a great saying about this: “If he can wear your pants, it’s not going to work.” For me, that’s true.
“9 inches off” seemed like a promising candidate. No glaring grammatical errors, 6’1″, job, college degree, etc. After a series of polite and mostly meaningless email exchanges, we decided to meet for coffee to better assess our chemistry. Per usual, I creeped the guy’s profile pictures on my way to the coffee shop to make sure I’d recognize him.
Walked in, glanced around – no 6’1″ brown-haired cutie yet, so I stepped in line to buy my coffee when I heard “Kate?” I looked down and there he was. I’m guessing the guy stood at about 5’4″. It was my date.
Needless to say, I was perplexed.
9-inches just kind of ignored my confusion and, not wanting to waste an opportunity to caffeinate, I decided to be nice and talk to the kid until I finished my macchiato. Surely he’d fess up to the bold face lie somehow, but no, he didn’t. (Did he really think I wouldn’t notice?)
Wondering about the 2nd part of that title yet? Well, about 15 min in to the conversation, some other dude walks over, sets a cup of espresso in front of shorty without a word and then sits down a few tables away. 9-inches ignores this until I ask if he knows the guy, which he denies. In my head I’m thinking: “Am I being punk’d?” I press the issue and 9″ just kind of shrugs and says its one of his friends. His buddy continues to act like a total weirdo and stare at us the rest of time. Maybe he was jealous…
Now, this situation would normally freak me out from a safety perspective, but they were both so tiny that it was comical.
At least my macchiato was good.
A Date with Kate 
Wow this sounds like one of my fiascos. I agree. Don’t tell me your taller than me and show up showing me your bald spot.
Can you imagine if he met Matt or I?
Wow, the height lie would be a problem with me (totally agree with you on the taller is more attractive for me front!) but the creepy friend would most definitely be the deal breaker lol
Glad they didn’t murder you lol
I think that people – not just women – have a hard time with height. Clearly there’s a big difference between 6’1 and 5’4. But there’s more to it than that. I’m 5’9 3/4 and have been since I was in high school. I had a doctor’s appointment last week (thirty years post high school) and the nurse assistant scribbled down 5’10. As usual. 5’9 3/4 was always important to me as a kid because I was the same exact height as Doug Flutie. Short for a big-time quarterback, but average – or even slightly above average at 5’10 – for everything else in life. Being reasonably athletic, it never mattered that much to me.
I put down 5’9 on my Match profile, even though with any kind of decent shoe I’m closer to 5’11. Over the years I’ve had some great dates, some terrible dates, and mixed in a few lengthy relationships that were online-in-origin. But – more than a few times, and generally in the midst of a bad date – I have heard “You’re not 5’9. No way.” There is no good response to this – and it doesn’t take a relationship genius to know that at this point, things aren’t likely end well.
I submit that – like cup sizes on women – height can be perceived in many different ways. It is often used as a catch-all for “lack of chemistry”. If your last boyfriend was rail-thin, 6’2 and angular proportions turn you on, someone who is 5’10 (or 5’9 3/4) and built like a linebacker is going to seem “really short”.
I’m not saying that is what happened with respect to this blog post. I’m just sayin’.
Thanks for the comment, and yes I agree that things like height trips a lot of people up. I was mostly annoyed by the fact that the guy lied, and it was a really dumb lie.
It’s really all about how a person carries themselves. A confident and positive personality trumps height. 😉