Ok, we've all seen the possible ill results of the "Speed Dating" experience. Watch the movie "The Forty Year Old Virgin" once, and the gig goes from "multiple opportunities" to "every bad date you ever had in one." However, there are other options I would easily label as far worse. Here are a few I do not recommend trying on for size.
Darwin's Dating Service
This refers to the first ever Natural Selection Speed Date: Rich Guys and Hot Girls event. Forty of each variety were invited. The men had to bank a certain amount--based on age, of course (guys over thirty had to bank at least half a million a year). The women were pre-selected model-types (what other kind of hot woman is there?). The creator of this event called it a fabulous success, but I'm sure the builder of Chernobyl said the same long before the blast.
The problem is that there is nothing natural about it--it's entirely fabricated. The women are looking for some extra spending cash and the men want a new accessory hanging from their well-tailored Armani suits. I guess it is still characteristic to "shudder" at evidence of human shallowness.
Stoplight Parties
This isn't so much a daters-only event as it is one where people get a visual alert as to who is single and who isn't based on the color of their dress. As you can assume, green-wearers are actively looking, yellows are dating, and reds are in committed relationships. Where does asking someone go wrong? And who has enough yellow in their wardrobe to be officially "seeing someone"?
Lock and Key Parties
In order to save the fragile nature of men's egos, each guy is given a key and each woman, a lock. The object of the game--you guessed it--is to find the person with the match to your piece of equiptment. I suppose this may work if someone was actually matching potential partners, but if you end up in the random selection pool again on this one, the guy opening your lock could be the same kind of loser as you would find without the need for that conversation piece.
Do these work out? I'm sure there's a success story for each of them (like everything else), but biting the bullet and talking to someone at a party or at a hotspot is still your best bet. You have lots of people to choose from, so if someone isn't your type or is with someone else, you can move on without looking like a moron. And there's usually no odd dress code to contend with. Whose accessories go with locking devices anyway?
