One of the reasons I started to consider the alternative to dating known as phone line dating was because I was not successful at meeting women in general places. They gave me many excuses, such as they were too busy, working a lot and the most common is they were just getting out of a long term relationship.

So after countless times of hearing these excuses, a friend told me about a phone chat line he had success with in meeting beautiful woman. It sounded like a great idea, so I called the chat line and started to browse through different profiles of woman. If someone gave a good description of themselves, I connected to them via telephone. After you connect for a live conversation and if both of you have some interest in each other, you either exchange numbers or you meet in a public place.

One time I was talking to a woman for a few days and I asked her what she looked like, and she told me she was 5’5″, 120 lbs, with long black hair, hazel eyes, and a body was like J-Lo’s. She said she worked full time and was attending school.

We exchanged numbers and decided to meet at her place. It sounded like a great idea, so I went. When she opened the door I must have had a look of surprise on my face, because she was overweight and not even close to the description she gave me over the phone. To top it off, she had two kids that she never told me about. I was nice and talked for about 20 minutes. I told her politely that I had to go, and that I would call her later.

I was left confused and upset because she lied to me. I finally figured out that this is why people do the phone dating thing: because you can’t see them and they can get away with making up how they look in person.

So, after that experience I tried to convince myself to give up meeting women on the phone. But then I realized one of the reasons I had chosen to chat on the phone was that when you talk to people on the line they give you all the time you want.

So yes, I gave it another chance. This time, the woman was a little older than I was. She and I talked for about a month. She sent me a picture of her just to show me she wasn’t lying. She told me she was athletic, petite, had curly long blonde hair, and was a singer at a local bar in San Diego. She wanted me to visit, but it was a two and a half hour drive. But, she told me she was worth the drive, so I went.

When I saw her, she looked like she was in her late 40s. I ended up talking to her for a couple of hours and had some coffee. I asked her how old the picture she sent me was. It was 5 years old and now it all made sense. Once again I had been lied to. So, I lied and told her I had to get back home because I had to work in the morning.

I’ve still had many more disappointments with phone dating, but I still can’t say that I’ve given up on it all together. You’re probably asking why I can’t just talk to someone in a normal setting and say, “Hey, how are you?” Well, if it was easy and there wasn’t so much drama and rejection, I would. But being a single man living in Los Angeles doesn’t leave me much choice.

Elisha Burke can be reached at Elisha.Burke.6@csun.edu.