Is Duckie still single?

I was really starting to like Andrew McCarthy, or AM to keep it simple. He is funny and pretty cute and seemed to have his life together. Sure he has a few dramatic and extraneous things going on, but I was willing to be understand and look past most of it. Come to find out, boyfriend is reeeally bad with money. I'm actually embarrassed for him. Oh so embarrassed.

Now before I tell this story, I want to be clear on one thing. I am NOT of the breed of woman that thinks her man should pay for absolutely everything. Sure, a sugar daddy would be great, but I don't like feeling like I owe a man anything. It's unsettling.

Nevertheless, a man has to have some kind of cash flow available to fund dating, if that is what he chooses to do. AM doesn't seem to quite understand that. Last night, we went out on our third date. Things were going well, chugging right along, until we went to dinner, at a pretty cheap restaurant, and he couldn't pay the bill. We're talking less an $25 here.

* As a side note, I should give you a little history: First date, he paid the entire bill, and only accepted I provided the tip when I persisted (After all, I am an independent woman). Our second date I footed the bill, and while he offered tip, I did not accept and he did not persist. When I do the math, the third date was his turn.

Back to date number three. I've been told my opinion on this is a bit harsh, and maybe that person has a point, but I think that there is absolutely no excuse for this. To quote another friend, big boys have checking accounts and credit cards. He knew for days we were going on this date, and had plenty of time to move funds around, which is what his excuse was for lack thereof. I don't care if you are planning to spend money or not, there should be, at all time, AT A MINIMUM, $100 in your checking account. And a credit card, of which I have several and which aren't all that hard to get, is an excellent back up plan. I'm not saying I'm interested in dating someone with huge amounts of credit card debt, but what I am saying is that it's nice to have that safety net.

But it gets worse. When I footed the bill, he said he would get the movie. Ok so...you don't have $25 in your checking account, but you have $16? Then, you'll just never guess the bad luck he had. The theater's computer system was down and not accepting cards, and only cash. Ha! And I heard this straight from the source, so this wasn't some tale he weaved for me. Soooo I had to fork over cash for the movie, too. The oh so ironic part is that I had stopped at an ATM earlier to get cash because I like to have it and I thought I might need it. Good thing one of us is prepared.

After the movie, I asked him if that kind of thing was going to happen all the time. I mean, I need to know what the deal is and I think that is fair. He was apologetic and embarrassed (maybe not as much as he should have been) and told me, No, of course not.

So where does this leave me? I really don't know. In my mind, this is a biiiiiig problem.