Dating in college has a rule book all its own. Unfortunately, though, it seems someone took the book out of the Reserve Room and never returned it, leaving all of us to fend for ourselves. With an endless supply of prospective mates (or more likely, prospective hookups) it’s nearly impossible not to get mixed up in the peculiar dating rituals of college life. And if you play this game long enough, you are bound to experience enough embarrassing follies and catastrophic bad dates that you just want to throw in the towel. We asked a few brave Bearcats to share their worst dating experiences, so that we can all rest assured that we are not alone in the dating jungle.

Freshman Rebecca Cohen’s experience gave new meaning to the term “cheap date.”

“We went ice skating for our first date,” she said. “He didn’t pay for me, and his father owns a diamond company, so I know he could’ve.”

After they finished skating, the boy got a text message — from his mother.

“He said ‘My mom says I have to feed you. Do you want M&Ms?’” Cohen said.

They ended up dating for six months after the date, and when asked if she took the M&Ms, Cohen replied, “Yeah I took the M&Ms! He was cheap, but that doesn’t make the chocolate any worse.”

Sophomore engineering major Laura Adsit had a more intimate type of awkward dating experience.

“We were completely alone in this field, so we laid down and started making out and whatever,” Adsit said. “When all of a sudden this huge truck-like mower comes out of nowhere, mowing up and down the field. We were so embarrassed; we thought we were alone.”

Noreen Chambers had a dating experience that was more than emotionally painful.

“We were ice skating, and my legs and feet started to burn and get a numb feeling at the same time,” the sophomore psychology major said. She asked her boyfriend if they could stop; “He said, ‘Don’t be lazy!’ So we skated until closing time.”

When she finally sat down to take off her skates, Chambers discovered her socks had fallen down and the skates had rubbed off some of the skin on her ankles. “Blood was everywhere, people on the bench ran away from me. The people who worked there wanted to call an ambulance, but I was fine,” she said.

James Middleton, a junior history major, was lucky to come out of his awful dating experience in one piece — literally. The “date” was a family dinner for the Super Bowl.

“Her uncle asked me to come to the garage, and then he goes to his shotgun,” Middleton said. “He asked, ‘Do you know what this is?’ as he started cleaning the barrels.”

Soon after, Middleton said his date’s uncle schooled him about the inner workings of the weapon in a threatening manner.

“Twelve feet per second,” he said. “That’s the speed of a shell.”

“I made some lame excuse to get away, then later on at the table he was showing his hunting knife.”

Sophomore psychology major Jacob Fox shared a similar tale. Fox was greeted by his then girlfriend’s father at the door, a very awkward meeting.

“First of all, they’re a very Baptist family, and I’m Jewish,” Fox said. “He greeted me with ‘Shalom’ and I thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’” The father then offered to show Fox his gun, which really surprised him. “I was saying to myself, ‘Who dropped you on the head as a child?’”