Shecky’s

Have you ever had an annoying social media-related guy experience? I just had my first on Twitter. A few weeks ago, I was at home on a Saturday night annoyed that the only thing I could find to watch on TV were shows about single women getting murdered. As a single woman who lives by herself and is at home on Saturday nights in bed with Thin Mints, this is not entertaining for me.

So, I decided to switch off Dateline/48 Hours/Nancy Grace and ended up watching a dumb show on cable that I will not mention to protect the guilty. I tweeted, “Turned off murdered women show now watching (show to remain nameless). Better or worse?” Then I get a message from an actor on that show that says, “Better.” Oooh…flirty, right?

I tweet a joke. He tweets a joke back. He says he likes the show I write for, Community.  I say I like his show. We realize we know some people in common. The next day we take it to Direct Message, which means he is now following me and I am following him. It’s like the modern first base. Since Direct Message is private, we get a little flirtier. We realize we only live a few miles apart, but after a week of messaging he never asks me out, so I move on.

Then I get a message from him a few days later that says, “Hey, how was your weekend?” All my friends decide, “It’s on.” And it was. We move to REAL email. Second base. We email a few times a day for a week and then he suggests we get together for a “hike.” I say, “Sure, as long as there are beers afterwards.” He says, “Of course.” We start making plans to get together and he sends me the following message, “Hey, so I have a gf. Are you crushed? I’m sure you’re fine. So, when’s the hike?” WTF?! I told him that most guys who email me on Twitter are single and that suddenly I was busy and couldn’t hike. He still emails me. Double WTF! New media same as the old media. Guys still figure out how to be jerks no matter what the medium.

-Hilary Winston

Hilary Winston is currently working as a writer and producer of the critically acclaimed comedy Community and was one of the writers for the Emmy®‐award‐winning show My Name is Earl. She began her writing career by getting people coffee at various places like National Public Radio and Hollywood Squares. She can now proudly say someone else gets her coffee. Unfortunately, she doesn’t like coffee. Winston lives in Los Angeles with her cats Lolly and Gordon. Her book, My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me, is out May 3 and she’ll be at Girls Night Out Los Angeles. For more information: hilarywinston.com, facebook.com/TheHilaryWinston, @hilarywinston

GIRL TALK TIME: What do you think of Hilary’s debacle? Have you ever been in a similar situation? What happened?