Dear Ida,
I am a 34-year-old man living in Charlotte, NC. I have a high-profile job that is very demanding and leaves little time for me to look for a love interest. I finally found someone that I am crazy about, but each time we see each other it seems all I manage to do is make her mad.
She is new to the area, and I want desperately to show her around, get to know her and make her mine. However, she is in a perpetual state of anger where I am concerned. Our first meeting resulted in her walking away covered in red wine. Though it wasn’t exactly my fault, I felt guilty and apologized. She was not receptive.
Next, we met at a party of a mutual friend. We got along fine after she finally accepted my apology, and we even flirted a bit. I was called away for work, so our encounter ended early. The third meeting was a disaster. I was hungry and our mutual friend allowed me to ravage his fridge. Unfortunately, I consumed the food she was saving for her dinner. She was livid when she came in and saw me chowing on her meal.
I really like this woman and want to get to know her. How can I stop pissing her off long enough to ask her out? Help!
Sincerely,
Sunshine in Charlotte
After proofreading the letter, he pressed send and hoped Ask Ida would respond quickly. He was anxious to make things better with PJ. Crossing his fingers, Max decided to head upstairs for a shower. Once he was done, he laid across his bed and closed his heavy eyes. With a belly full of food, he fell asleep with dreams of PJ dancing in his dome.
The next morning as Max was sitting at his desk thinking of ways to apologize to PJ, his phone chimed with a notification. When he checked his phone, he saw that Ask Ida had posted her latest column. After logging onto the site, he saw that his letter had been selected! He was so excited he hopped up and did a little dance. The eyes of his coworkers followed him in amusement.
He laughed and waved it off stating that he just got some good news. Once everyone went back to their duties, he sat down to read the response. His heart was racing with excitement as he read.
Dear Sunshine in Charlotte,
Thank you for submitting your letter. Obviously, you are a wise man because you know when to ask for help and you’ve come to the right place!
Let’s get to it. You wrote that you are responsible for ruining her outfit with red wine, but all you offered was a shaky apology. Did you ever think to replace the items you ruined? Of course you didn’t because you think like a man. If the woman was mad, she was that way because she would have to replace her clothes and possibly her shoes. Those things can get expensive. Why should she have to pay when all she did was be in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Next you said you ate her food, and she was upset. This is an easy fix. Take the woman to dinner and buy her anything she wants. Find out her favorite dessert and bring it to her doorstep with a bottle of champagne. She might just invite you in to share it.
Do these things, and I am sure she’ll forgive you. If you are the mess, I think you are, you’ll be writing for another resolution soon. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Sincerely,
Ida.