Blind Date: Josh and Liz do shots at Angry Ale’s and head to Jeff’s Bucket Shop — but she’s more into taller guys

I promised our couple total anonymity in exchange for candid post-date interviews so I could give you an article free of  “The date was a 5/5! We won’t see each other again though because we had no chemistry.” You get it.

Say hi to Josh and Liz.

Josh is an entrepreneur who’s lived in Charlotte for 18 years. His best friend would describe him as “social and energetic with a sarcastic sense of humor.” He’s looking for a partner who’s confident, independent and down to head to Panthers games, college sports games, bar crawls or functions at his country club.

Liz has lived here a little over a year and loves doing beer tastings, trying new restaurants, going to games and checking out Charlotte’s surrounding towns. She is looking for a fellow sports lover who wants to get out of the house and try new things. Her best friend would describe her as “social and outgoing, big sports fan and loves Bud Light.”

I matched these two because they both love to take advantage of the events going on in the city, they’re big sports fans, and they’re extroverted.

Here we go.

How would you describe your experience with the Charlotte dating scene?

Josh: Uninformed. I’m new to it, and I’m just not an advocate for using the apps, so, you know, therefore I don’t know a whole lot about it.

Liz: It can be very difficult at times. It’s hard to find a quality person. A lot of my friends and I have founds guys that aren’t necessarily ready for commitment here, and the quality of guys…that can be a bit challenging.

How do you meet your dates?

Josh: Generally speaking, I know a lot of people. I know a lot of women, right? When they hear you’re single, because there seems to not be a lot of single guys, they’re like, “I want to send you out with my friend.” I’ve met folks that I think are a lot of fun and I can see being friends with them, but that’s about it where it ends. I’m not really interested.

Liz: To be honest, I actually don’t use any online dating sites. Because I work at a computer all day long, the last thing I want to do when I get home is to swipe through people on a site. Usually I meet them out organically if I’m at a bar or sporting event. I’m a very social person so it makes it pretty easy for me to meet different people when I’m out. Online dating just isn’t for me, but it works for a lot of people I know.

How did you feel leading up to the date?

Josh: Ah, that’s a great question. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about it. I got back into town that day, so I didn’t even have time to process it. It became surreal as I was taking an Uber over there. I was like, “Holy sh*t. This is a date! I guess I better start thinking about that.”

Liz: I was actually really excited for it to be a true blind date. Nowadays, so many people look up the person ahead of time and already know so much about them. I actually enjoyed the mystery of it and not really knowing about him because it was exciting when I finally met him to get to learn about him and just have it be a big surprise.

[Agenda related story: More and more single Charlotteans turning to Hinge and flirting on Instagram]

What was your first impression of your date?

Josh: I thought she was very nice and pleasant and had a very warm greeting. She was pretty calm, cool and collected, and was very nice.

Liz: It was kind of funny, I actually saw another guy kind of standing alone, so I started to walk up to that guy and ask if he was him, and then all of a sudden he waved at some friends, so I quick did a little side walk around him. I would say that my initial impression was that he looked like a really nice person. He came up and seemed very polite. I’m like 5’8″ and so I noticed that we’re like the same height, which, normally I look for someone maybe just a couple of inches taller. But the first impression was good, he was nicely dressed. I’ve definitely had dates where guys show up in a sweatshirt or something, like they put no effort into it. It was nice to see someone put some effort into their outfit.

How would you rate your date’s personality on a scale of 1-10?

Josh: Gosh, the 1-10 scale is so subjective, but I’d give her personality probably a 9.

Liz: I’d say his personality was a 6.5 to a 7. He was definitely a sociable person. But I did find that sometimes I’d ask a question and he didn’t necessarily ask a question back to get to know me, so I would just offer up the information. But he’s definitely someone who likes to have a good time.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your conversation?

Josh: I’m going to answer based on conversation now versus then. I would say, you know, probably an 8.

Liz: Like I said, he didn’t always ask questions back, but I would say there wasn’t really silences. Conversation kept flowing. We found that we had a quite a few things in common. I would say probably like a 6.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your chemistry?

Josh: Just being direct, there’s not a ton of chemistry there, but we’re a lot alike. It depends on how you define chemistry. Like as far as romantic chemistry, probably not a whole lot. But just friendship chemistry? It’s probably going to be like a 9. Romantic chemistry would be like a 5, I’m not really sure. We’re both the last people who are going to be leaving the bar, we never go home early, there’s just a lot there but, I don’t know. I can’t speak for her, but I started to ask myself questions like, “Maybe there’s not instant chemistry, maybe it grows over time, maybe I’m overanalyzing it.”

Liz: You know, I wouldn’t necessarily say there was a spark. I’d say, for me, the chemistry was more on a 4, just because of the height and then sometimes the conversation. I’d say he’s definitely someone you can tell likes to have fun and is very nice. I’d consider him more like a friend you go out and party with versus a significant other. I think a lot of the conversation emphasized on namedropping, which some girls might find that intriguing but to me it just wasn’t my type of thing.

What was the date like?

Josh: We were going to go bowling, but they ran out of lanes, so we rolled down Montford and put our names in at Good Food. That was a long, long line. So we went over to Brazwell’s and hung out there and got a quick bite to eat. Then we went to Angry Ale’s and that’s where the instigation started. We did some shots. Then we discovered that she’d never been to Jeff’s Bucket Shop, so we kept the eye on Jeff’s Bucket Shop and when the line was low we went over there.

Liz: So we to Brazwell’s and ate a couple of appetizers and then went across the street to Angry Ale’s for a few cocktails and then to Jeff’s Bucket Shop — it was my first time there. It was a great karaoke place. We both like to go out and have beverages and fun so it lasted through bar time. His conversation included a lot of name dropping, and it just wasn’t for me. It was fun to go out with him and hang out with him, but I wouldn’t see anything other than friends.

On a scale of 1-10, rate the date overall:

Josh: I had a ball, she’s fun as s***. But I’d say we’re going to be more drinking buddies. Us hanging out together will be pure comedy, but definitely more friends.

Liz: I would probably say a 6. It was far better than some of the dates I’ve had, but I think from the standpoint of thinking more of a relationship, he’s not someone I would see that with.

So how did you leave it? Will there be a second date?

Josh: I don’t think there’ll be a date. We traded texts here and there. I think we kind of agree it’s kind of a friend thing, but I don’t know….I don’t know for sure. It’s really hard to say. I actually ran into her on Saturday, she had been out with friends and I was out watching a game. She’s just a nice person, as sweet as can be.

Liz: I don’t think there would be a second date, but if I saw him out he’d definitely be someone that it would be fun to have drinks with but there was no major chemistry or spark for me.