The Collector

One of my biggest pet peeves is when a guy says he is 5'6" (same height as me), and I show up to a man who is 5'3" -- my experience has taught me to wear flats for these occasions, but did you really think that I wouldn't notice the few inches that you are missing?!

So I arrive for round 2 of my double header to a man shorter than advertised, but I'm not shallow enough to leave the restaurant over his height so we sit down and have a drink.  He is a little shy, but he has a great job plus several rental properties, shows pictures of his adorable dog, very close to his family - seems to have his stuff together (isn't it amazing that these qualities are now enough to make you excited about a guy?!)

About 20 minutes in, he asks, "So do you have any collections?"  I'm thinking, only a collector would ask this.  He proceeds to tell me about his movie posters, life sized Darth Vader and cardboard Spiderman.  He informs me that all of these are stored in his media room so I chalk it up to the fact that everyone has their own unique interests (and at least it was better than Mr. At Least I Lived to Tell the Tale -- see previous post for more).

Then the fun starts.  He talks to me for over an hour about his airline miles collection! Apparently a blog exists of promotions for earning frequent flier miles - everything from taking surveys, watching advertisements and online shopping (all of which he does on a daily basis).  I think to myself, "I love to travel so that's cool.  If this works out, I won't have to buy another plane ticket again."  Then he drops the bomb -- he has a spreadsheet to track all of his credit cards for frequent flier miles.  Apparently he opens accounts, keeps them open for the required time period to earn the bonus miles and closes them before the annual fee hits.  He then waits the required time before reapplying to collect the bonus miles again.  He has a card for every major US airline in addition to select international airlines for destinations that he would like to visit.  

After dinner, we spend the remainder of the evening exchanging travel stories over another drink.  When the bill comes, he quickly reaches for it and says, "There are bonus miles for all purchases on this card over the weekend so I've got this." with a large smile like he had just scored a treasure to add to his collection.

I get home and was actually considering a second date with him.  Although his process is extreme, at least we shared some common interests, and he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.  Then I get a midnight text asking if I'm still awake.  The conversation went south as he informed me about his evening activities & yet another collection --- porn.