Multiple Choice: A Watched Pot...

Girl meets boy.  Boy seems interested.  Girl contacts boy via email, Facebook, text message or the like.

Multiple Choice: What is the minimum acceptable time to panic because boy has not responded?

1. 5 minutes
2. 12 hours
3. 24 hours
4. 48 hours
5. 7 days
6. Trick question: girl should never initiate contact

True or False: Thanks, Carrie Bradshaw

This week's tour of Jury Duty reminds me why watching too much Sex in the City in my early to mid 20s has fully warped my expectations of early 30-something dating.

True or False:  There is a cute, single, age-appropriate guy serving on the jury with you.  Obviously, you will go on at least one date, rehash courtroom hijinks, and fall in love.

True or False: You meet a cute guy on an airplane.  He may or may not be single, and he's probably agre-appropriate.  You share a few laughs over the Sky Mall.  Obviously, you will go on at least one date, discuss the pros and cons of the Hammacher Schlemmer Solar Insect Zapper, and fall in love.

True or False: You reconnect with a guy friend from high school over an electronic social medium.  He's almost single, kind of cute, and age-appropriate (with few other redeeming qualities to speak of).  Obviously, you will go on at least one date, discuss the good old days, and fall in love.

True or False: You meet a cute-yet-elusive colleague at your summer job.  The flirting is mutual, if sporadic.  You have coffee together under the pretense of "networking".  Obviously, you will go on at least one real date, thank the Corporation for bringing you together, and fall in love.

Multiple Choice: Caffeination Situation

A couple of months ago I was at a team lunch with our group's director and several peers.  Workday caffeination  practices came up in the discussion (such a seemingly innocuous topic); I made the mistake of asserting that Starbucks is coffee for people who like lattes, and is terrible without all of the milk, syrups, creams, and other accoutrement.  This was not a popular assertion.

Is it better to:

1. Claim to like Starbucks because that's what your superiors like (and even though you can rationalize spending $100 on a pair of shoes you cannot bring yourself to spend $4 on a cup of coffee)
2. Defend your longtime love of Dunkin' Donuts, because even though they don't sell it in your blessed state, that's what America runs on

Multiple Choice: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Seconds

As much as my married friends love to remind me how long it's been since they have been single, they love to give advice on how to handle the dreaded first date.

Which of the following is the most efficient and effective way to ensure that your first date will be your last?

1. Tell him about your pre-adolescent stint in the circus
2. Bring a copy of your family tree--which could confuse the writers of Days of Our Lives
3. Arrive in your Subaru, complete with ice hockey gear in the trunk
4. Mention anything about your cat 
5. Show off your Robbert Pattinson tattoo (No, I don't have one; just wondering how that ranks against the other offenses.)