How Do I Politely End a Date When I Know the Person is Not for Me?

Bethany Heinesh

Written by: Bethany Heinesh

Bethany Heinesh

Bethany has ghost-written hundreds of dating articles in the last 10 years for relationship experts all over the United States.

Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

Discuss This! Discuss This!
Advertiser Disclosure

We’ve all been there – the dreaded first date and a bad first date at that! If you’ve found yourself in a situation where you realize the person isn’t the one for you, you can politely end the date. There’s no sense in wasting either of your time if you get a red flag early on.

Remember, it is wise to meet someone at a public place for a first date. That way, you can leave in your own car if you so desire. There’s nothing wrong with saying, “It has been very nice meeting you, but I can tell this is going nowhere fast. Here’s money to cover my meal.” I believe the best way to handle this situation is to be frank. Don’t lie and make up some excuse to get outta there. It’s bad relationship karma.

Advertiser Disclosure

DatingAdvice.com is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison services to users. To keep this resource 100% free, we receive compensation from many of the offers listed on the site. Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across the site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). DatingAdvice.com does not include the entire universe of available offers. Editorial opinions expressed on the site are strictly our own and are not provided, endorsed, or approved by advertisers.

Our Editorial Review Policy

Our site is committed to publishing independent, accurate content guided by strict editorial guidelines. Before articles and reviews are published on our site, they undergo a thorough review process performed by a team of independent editors and subject-matter experts to ensure the content’s accuracy, timeliness, and impartiality. Our editorial team is separate and independent of our site’s advertisers, and the opinions they express on our site are their own. To read more about our team members and their editorial backgrounds, please visit our site’s About page.