If Your Friend Was Undatable, Would You Tell Them?

Karina Pawlak
9 min readAug 11, 2024
Unfinished Portrait By Karina. Started in the 2000’s. Oil on canvas

Some people have a character flaw that makes them highly undatable.

And I don’t mean moral flaws. Severe moral flaws obviously disqualify. A friend of mine discovered that her boyfriend steals kid’s toys and resells them. That was the end of him, and rightfully so.

But some people have a character flaw that doesn’t make them morally bad, just impossible in some way.

Why Max Was Undatable

I was 23. I met a good looking guy in a bar. He worked out. He smelled nice.

The bar was loud. I couldn’t make out what he is trying to say. But I could tell he had an accent.

“Where are you from?” I asked.

He said it three times but I couldn’t figure it out.

“Louder!” I yelled.

“Austria!” he yelled.

Indeed the accent sounded like Arnold’s.

He scribbled “Max” and a number on the back of a peeled beer label and gave it to me. I wrote my digits on his arm.

Max called the next day. I couldn’t hear him very well. I wondered whether he is speaking quietly or if there is a problem with the line. I suggested we meet at La Café, A trendy café on College Street.

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