Hi everyone.

today I had the fortune (or misfortune) of attending a Japanese meetup group in London. I very rarely attend organised meetings set up online. I enjoy meeting new people but I often find these planned group activities to be fairly awkward.

I enjoyed a group called Japan dating because I was bored and I like the possibility, however small, of being able to meet attractive Japanese ladies. The meetup group in question had over 900 members in all, so I felt sure that it should have been worth my time.

Anyway, I went to London to join the group for the first time. I was having doubts of the choice of venue, which was a very rundown cafe in London somewhere. I suspect that the organiser got some kind of commission for hosting it there or something.

Because I had some commitments earlier in the day, I wasn’t able to arrive at the planned time, which was 12pm. In my experience of previous events, I have found that members can arrive at different times throughout the day without it being a problem.

I arrived before 1, to an almost empty restaurant, I was so tempted to go back but I gritted my teeth and carried on. I was led to a table where the host, Andre, showed himself to be a very strange man with a speech impediment. I immediately found it hard to accept him as the manager of the group or that he could have had much experience of dating Japanese women.

I introduced myself to the two Japanese members of the group. Everytime I tried to answer a question, Andre would cut in. Soon, I grew tired of listening to his inane questions. I told him politely that I wanted the opportunity to talk with the members, which is why I was there in the first place.

He immediately became angry, and started to berate me, asking me to explain why I was late, and that I should have let him know if I was not going to be on time.

I apologised, but he carried on in the same vein. He then told me that he would ban me from future events and that I was an idiot. I was about to walk out, but thankfully he left after that, leaving me in peace to eat my lunch and chat to my new friends. It wasn’t very pleasant, and I was left with the impression of a narcissistic individual who arranged the meetups for his own ego.

I know I should have told him that I was late, but it was still a big effort for me to attend his meeting in the first place.

I leave you to decide who was right in this situation. Perhaps you have some interesting meetup stories yourself?