Why is this so difficult?

Last week I got an email from a friend asking if I was available for dinner on Wednesday night (tonight). This started an onslaught of emails that have left me so frustrated I not only want to go straight home, I want to never make plans with her again.

I responded telling her I would love to meet her, but that since I am such a baby about snow and cold could we meet near our respective offices. Two emails later we realized we both work fairly close to each other on the west side and had decided to meet at 6pm. Her next email included 2 restaurant suggestions. One of which was in the Meatpacking district, the other in the East Village, neither of which are anywhere near our respective offices. Odd, I thought. So I responded again asking if instead of our both going so far out of our way that we could meet near our offices as we had originally planned. Then to make it even easier I included a list of 5 restaurants located between the two of us.

She responded saying any place was fine. Her next email suggested somewhere near Grand Central instead. Again, no where near our offices, and I have no convenient way to get there (neither does she) but walk, cab it or take 2 different subways (which I hate doing). Plus she lives and works on the west side how does that make sense? So again I email her and suggest we meet somewhere near BOTH of our offices as originally planned. She responded saying great idea she’d think of a place and get back to me (obviously my suggestions were rejected). Shortly after that I received a reminder call from my doctor that I had a 5:30pm appointment on Wednesday. My doctor’s isn’t far from Grand Central so I emailed her about the appointment and she suggested we make plans to meet at a bar in Grand Central and then to decide where to eat from there. Whatever, I just agreed.

Then the next day she emailed me to tell me that her office just scheduled a 6pm meeting so she wouldn’t be able to meet me until 8pm. UGH! Meeting for dinner had suddenly become more tedious than looking for a job in this market. It’s possible she was starting to sense my growing frustration so she sent me yet another email saying she will meet me near my apartment at any restaurant I’d like at 8pm. So I made arrangements to look at apartments at 6pm and told her that I would still meet her at Grand Central as planned at 8pm, trying to be flexible since she originally suggested it and it’s not that far from my apartment.

This morning she sent me another email, suggesting a new Vietnamese (gross) restaurant near her apartment, on the upper west side. Nowhere near our offices, nowhere near my apartment and no where near Grand Central. Is she kidding me?! Is she even reading our emails?! What a pain in the ass.