Adventures in creepy...

Or why online dating might not be for me.


Craigslist. I've used it dozens of times over the past few years. I've never had the tiniest problem or negative experience and I've always listed my cell phone on the ads I'd posted. In my experience people are more likely to pick up the phone and call you about something than send an e-mail. It's just more convenient.

When I moved from Michigan back to the south I used it to sell all of my furniture.

I've used it to find roommates as well with equal success.

What I haven't used it for is dating.

Until now.


I was watching Ellen a few weeks ago and she had a couple on there who'd met on a flight, hit it off but for whatever reason had forgotten to exchange numbers. Turns out they both talked about each other to their friends so much that each of their friends encouraged them to post an ad in the missed connections section of Craigslist. Both thought it was lame and weren't going to to it but finally decided what the heck.

They're getting married soon. To each other. The Craigslist thing worked.

So with the Yahoo Personals experiment being pretty much a total flop I figured what the hell. You never know if something will work unless you give it a try right?

I should note now that at the time I placed the personals ad on there I'd already had a listing for a room to rent and a separate post selling a desk I have, both on which I'd listed my phone number. The ads are on completely different sections of Craigslist and naive me didn't think that someone might possibly be bored or looney enough to browse the entire sight and connect them.

Here's what I put on my Craigslist personals ad:

I've never thought of Craigslist as a place to "look for love" but what the heck. You'll never know if something works unless you try it right?

I suppose it's a bit funny that I feel somewhat awkward putting a catchy bi-line or descriptive paragraph about myself on here, yet I have a myspace page and a blog on which I talk about most everything that happens in my life.

I suppose if you really want to know more about me those are the places to look. My space dot com / dmplgrl or google "Musings of a "Crazy Cat Lady"" and you'll find dmplgrl on blogspot. But here are the basics.

I'm 32, single (obviously lol)
I moved to Mobile, AL from Michigan in 2007 to be closer to my niece. All of my family live in MS.

I'm pretty easy going and am really just looking to meet new people. Hopefully one of them will turn out to be someone I can share my life with.

~Jo

I put a small picture under my name.

I used my middle name Jo in an attempt to keep some anonymity. However, considering I pretty much gave a direct order for anyone who might read the ad to check out my blog and myspace page which reveal basically everything anyone might ever want to know about me, it seems a bit redundant. Hey, I do recall saying and saying repeatedly that I am no good with this whole social interacting thing.

I used my first name Mollie on both of the other ads I'd posted.

Again with the not thinking like a stalker might think and make the connection between the two.


So a few nights ago my cell phone rings. It's not a number I recognize but since I had listed my number on both the room-for-rent and desk for sale post I answered it.

This is the conversation that followed:

Me - "Hello"

Caller - "Hi is this Mollie?"

Me - "It is"

Caller - "Hi my name is Larry, I noticed that you had a room for rent on Craigslist?"

Me - "yes I do"

Caller - "I noticed that you had a personals ad on there as well?"

Me - "uhhh um yes I do"

Caller - "Well I was just looking through the ads and saw your post and thought, I know I've seen that picture before. Except your roommate listing says Mollie and the personals listing says Jo."

I'm getting a bit freaked out about now and slightly irritated at myself that I didn't have enough psychotic tendencies to think ahead of time and realize someone might find both ads and use my personal number for the personals post

Me - "Well... Yes my middle name is Jo, I go by both."

Caller - "Well I know that people sometimes steal other people's pictures off of myspace and stuff and use them for fake personal ads but since you posted both ads I guess you know."

Me - in my head- you have GOT to be kidding me?!? out loud - "Uh well no it's my picture, but thank you for taking the initiative to make sure it wasn't being misused."

Caller - "I have a condo I was going to sell so I was looking at the posts on there but I think I've decided to just keep it, maybe rent it out or something...So.... you say you're from Michigan huh?"

At this point I'm thinking, this guy browsed hundreds of posts in the realty section, then browsed hundreds of posts in the personals section and just happened to have had such a memorable impression of the picture I posted on the roommate listing that he recognized me in a different picture in a personals listing. Then he was so worried that someone might have stolen my picture that we went back through all of the realty listings to find my post, which had my phone number on it so he could call me and tell me I had two different ads in two different sections with two different pictures and two different names.

HELP!

Back to the conversation.

Me - "Um I lived in Michigan for several years yes. Again thank you for your concern that someone had misused my photo, but I did post both ads so uh again, thank you."

I'm assuming the average person would have heard the hesitation and reserve in my voice and realized that I was most definitely NOT interested in continuing this phone call for any reasons what so ever.

Caller - "oh um OK, well I just wanted to let you know, but uh well since you posted the ad I guess you do, so uh um good bye then."

Me - CLICK!

Needless to say I went straight to the computer and removed all 3 ads. As fate would have it I received a call later that evening from a girl who had found my roommate listing only minutes before I deleted it. She'll be moving into my extra room in August so that worked out well. I also received a call that day from someone who came and bought the desk I was selling so that was taken care of as well.

I've given it some thought and decided that since there are no other posts listed and nothing anywhere with my phone number on it, I'm going to put the personals ad back up.

Yahoo Personals wasn't much of a success, OK it wasn't any success at all, but I'm not quite ready to give up hope and start shopping for my black spinster dress with lace collar.

I'm not much of a lace kind of gal.. I don't think it would suit me.