How Do They Treat the Waiter?

A common piece of advice in the early dating phase is to pay attention to how your date treats the waiter. The assumption is that how your date treats the waiter is how they will eventually treat you as their partner. This is actually incredibly non-sequitur since you and the waiter occupy incredibly different relationship tiers. If your date is impolite to the waiter, eff ‘em. If they’re more polite to the waiter than you, gtfo. This is a good litmus test at any stage of the relationship. If someone treats their friends or acquaintances better than their partners, do they really consider them partners anymore?

That said, I would like to add that I once dated someone with whom we made a game of flirting with waitresses. It was fine and fun because we flirted with each other just as much, and didn't take it at-all far with the waitstaff.