"The world's best pick up line."
As told by Fred Golden,
then science editor, Time Magazine

One of the advantages of being an old timer is that, over the years, you get to hear a lot of great stories from interesting people. This one came from Fred Golden, once (early 1980s) science editor at Time Magazine.

Fred was researching an article on how singles bars had changed as a result of the then-new sexually transmitted diseases. One tidbit, though, never made it into his article; fortunately, Fred told us.

As part of his research, Fred tagged along with a friend of his, a recent divorcé who was recuperating by frequenting singles bars. During the evening, Fred noticed this fellow following a pattern.

"He was a nice looking guy," Fred said, "who could easily have mingled with any woman in the room, but he didn't, and I discovered why. This guy had to have the world's best pick up line, or at least the best one I've ever heard."

Our hero would keep to himself, fading into the background, but alert for signs that a woman might be particularly interesting. When he identified a candidate, he approached her very directly, and simply said:

"Listen, why don't we skip all the middle steps and go right to the part where I send you a check every month."

Fred reports that he always got a smile, and almost always got a date.


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So what's the moral of this story?

You're welcome to spend all the time here you want, but you really should think about skipping all the middle steps and getting to the part where you send us a check every month!