You can tell a lot about your date by the way your date treats waiters, homeless people, people of a lower social standing, old people, dogs, and so on. I keep an eagle eye on everything, but especially the way my date interacts with others and animals. If my date treats waiters as if they are lesser people, of a lower social status, or his own personal servants, then that tells me he’s a butthole who believes he’s above everyone else. If he’s walking behind an old and infirm person who’s slowing him down and he gets impatient, and maybe even makes a rude remark or (yuck) pushes the person so he can get by, then I know he’s loathsome, and wonder how he’d like his mom or dad to be treated by others. If a homeless man approaches and asks him for spare change and he snarls, “Get a job!” then I mentally file him under “Jackass” and don’t plan another date with him. If he’s cruel to dogs, I feel a migraine coming on and make a quick getaway.

People who don’t display compassion for others aren’t going to have any compassion for you when you need it, either. They’re self-centered jerks who feel they’re above everyone else, and the rest of us had better acknowledge their superiority, bow at their feet, and get out of their way!

It’s not just men; watch out for women with the same character flaws, too, although some of us have an extra flaw which is especially obnoxious: my friend Marie, who’s an otherwise kind, generous, and loving girl, will walk a date down a street filled with expensive shops to test him. If he doesn’t buy her something wonderful that evening, he gets no future dates. (And if he does, she expects increasingly expensive presents on subsequent dates.) It’s whore-ish and appalling, but it seems to validate her sense of self-worth. Watch out for these types unless you have a great, big bank account and it validates your sense of self-worth to shower these girls with gifts!

Remember that there are more character flaws where these came from! If you decide to stick with your date in spite of them, as you get deeper into the relationship, they’ll reveal themselves. I make it a practice to get out early while the getting’s good, but if you’re a masochist (“But she’s so hot!” “But he has such a good job!”), be prepared for what lies down the road.