A few weeks ago, my brother called to ask, ‘hey, my friend’s sister is a matchmaker, do you want to meet her?’
I don’t know about you but that’s not something I get asked every day. And when I think “matchmaker” I think Fiddler on the Roof (both original and a la Mrs. Doubtfire) or god forbid, this person.
But, I figure I have double insurance if this woman has both her brother and my brother to answer to if anything weird happens.
The Matchmaker
About a week later I get an email, subject line: ‘Beth the matchmaker’.
In the email, along with her introduction, Beth sends me a long questionnaire to fill out. The questions are pretty in depth but reasonable (about my family, my parents’ marriage, former relationships) and some are surprising but make sense when I think about them (favorite cocktail? – oh yes, I guess this is good info for a potential match to know on a first date).
I take a couple of hours to fill out the questionnaire and arrive at my appointment the following week at Beth’s office in Soho. There’s a lot of clutter and there is a job interview happening in the front room which is a little weird. But you know how some people look like someone you could swear you’ve met before, even when you meet them for the first time? Well, that’s how it felt with Beth so I felt instantly at ease with her. (Still convinced we’ve met somewhere before…)
JCrew model? Yes, please.
We proceed to go over my questionnaire for the next half hour or so and Beth seems pleased and excited at the prospect of setting me up. She tells me she has someone in mind and shows me a picture of a very attractive, hunky looking man on her desktop. I thought she might have mistakenly clicked on the JCrew catalog.
So, what do you think, Beth asks, will he do?
(Uh…twist my arm…)
Yes, I say, he’ll do nicely.
After that, she takes a few more notes and we tentatively decide early to middle May would be a good time for a first date. Beth tells me she’ll set up the first date at one of the restaurants I like (which she now knows from the questionnaire as well) and she encourages me to be in touch with her before and after the date, to follow up with her and let her know how it goes and what I liked or disliked about the experience so she can work on finding just the right person for me.
She says she’ll be in touch via email to let me know about the first date.
I leave the interview feeling happy, hopeful and a little flushed with excitement. I also realize I don’t actually have any real information about when anything might happen, but shake off that feeling. After all, she seemed so fun and warm and trustworthy.
Well…
She’s just not that into you?
About a week later, I still haven’t heard anything from Beth. So I send a short email, just thanking her for her time and expressing enthusiasm for whatever dates she might have for me. Four days later, she writes back to tell me she enjoyed meeting me and that she’d keep me posted.
A few days later, I write her to ask if she’d set anything up with JCrew man. Five days later, no reply.
So today, I screwed up my courage and called her. I don’t want to be pushy but two weeks seems like a reasonable amount of time to wait before asking for more information.
I hear her answer and lots of fumbling around. Finally…
Hello, this is Beth?
Hi Beth, this is Tricia.
Oh hi, listen, can I call you back in a bit?
Uh, sure, I say, a little uncertain.
Thanks, she says, warmly.
And…so far, I’ve heard nothing back from her.
I guess I should be glad I haven’t given her any money, right?
But it’s not looking too good for me and Mr. JCrew. Alas.
I’ll keep you posted….
