The games people play in the dating scene are real, and weird, and really weird. For one romantically inclined woman, a perfectly nice date morphed into a dating test that she didn’t even know she was taking.
Marshmeliii (@marshmeliii) has joined the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve had cringy first dates.
But hers didn’t start out that way. They had fun and really aligned on values. But after the date, she was so confused, she took her story to TikTok. She needed help figuring out what was going on when he had her run an errand with him.
In her video, which has been viewed over 395,000 times, Marshmeliii says she’s “really confused with what just happened.” She says she needs to find out if anybody can explain it to her.
Her date was going well, she remembers. But after their meal, she says it got strange. Like, “What are the social rules of engagement for this situation?” kind of thing.
First Date At Cartier?
The TikTok caption says it all: “I’m so confused, that was the weirdest first date I’ve ever been on wtf who buys another woman a Cartier watch on a first date with no explanation.”
But the specifics really add to the weirdness of the night.
Marshmeliii and her date met at a restaurant at the mall. Once dinner was finished, they’d walked around, and her date suggested that they drop into Cartier.
“OK,” she says, with a lilt in her voice. “Let’s go to Cartier. Let’s see what’s up.”
Once there, she says her date started looking at women’s watches, and she thought to herself, “Maybe he wants to get me a watch.”
But she says she wasn’t all that certain.
Meanwhile, he was still looking at watches, talking about pricing, and encouraging Marshmeliii to try several on.
Sad Trombone (Wah, Wah)
Finally, he decided on a timepiece. But things got even more uncomfortable when the salesperson asked, “Is this a gift?” And her date replied, “Yeah.”
To herself, Marshmeliii says she wondered, “Is he… getting me the watch?”
But then, the salesperson gestured toward Marshmeliii and asked, “Is it for her?”
“‘No, it’s for a friend,'” she recalls him responding.
Now What?
The TikToker says she was totally blown away. Was he really buying a $5,000 to $6,000 Cartier watch for someone else on their first date?
Marshmeliii says she decided that if he’s got deep pockets like that, why not try for a little trinket? Earlier she’d tried on a ring. So she took her shot: “That’s so nice of you to get that for your friend. Do you want to get me the ring too?” she says she asked.
In response, she says he gave a short laugh and shook his head “no.”
Still, he didn’t explain this detour into Cartier and who the watch was for.
But the internet has theories.
“He’s definitely playing games with you. He probably returned it the next day,” one user speculated.
And at least one other person agreed, “He wants you to think he has money and he’ll do that for you if you act right. Just block and move on.”
Another viewer had an alternate theory, writing, “He’s married and that watch is for his wife. Clock it!”
But everyone seems to agree: Whatever he’s doing—game-playing, humbling, being married, or just being oblivious—he needs to get blocked.
In the end, he never gave her an explanation. “I still do not understand what the f— just happened,” she says.
What Is Negging?
Viewed through the lens of emotionally scruffy dating tactics like negging, it starts to perhaps become clear. For the unfamiliar, negging is when you “pick a target in the group and then intrigue her by pretending to be unaffected by her charm. How do you do this? By using a “neg”. A neg is neither compliment nor insult — it’s something in-between — it’s an accidental insult or a back-handed compliment,” writes Ben Casnocha on his eponymous blog.
And that grey area is where Marshmeliii was—on emotionally and socially unsure footing, wondering why her date suddenly turned into a psychological obstacle course.
BroBible reached out to Marshmeliii via TikTok direct message.
@marshmeliii I’m so confused that was the weirdest first date I’ve ever been on wtf who buys another woman a Cartier watch on a first date with no explanation