by It’s that time of year again. With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, NCC students and professors reflect on some past experiences, hoping not to repeat any of them this year.
“I really hope this Valentine’s Day will be enjoyable,” said Catharina Soto, a Psychology major. “I don’t want to have any negative experiences like some of the stories I’ve heard.”
While most people typically like to be respectful and romantic on Valentine’s dates, some people are not so good at being polite. An instance like this was witnessed by English Professor Allison Carpenter.
“As the couple settled in at the table next to ours, the young man pulled out a cell phone and made a call,” Carpenter said. “Menus came; he stayed on the phone. Orders were taken; he stayed on the phone. Food arrived; he ate while talking on the phone.”
For that man, talking on the phone was a priority.
“In the course of the entire evening, he said hardly a word to his date,” she said. “He just talked on the phone.”
For one NCC General Studies student Catherine Stephens, Valentine’s day reminds her of an unfortunate event a friend of hers experienced.
“Two years ago, my friend’s day ended up slipping away from him,” Stephens said. “He didn’t end up getting his girlfriend any flowers or any gifts. By the time he contacted her at eight in the evening, she was angry. He tried to give her gifts later, but she didn’t want them.”
Professor Charles Mathers also shares a Valentine’s Day memory that just did not go according to plan.
“When my wife and I had an apartment together before we got married, I had lied about going to work that day and took the train into Manhattan’s “diamond district” in order to try to get the best engagement ring I could afford,” Mathers said. “When I came home from work, I was grilled with questions about where I had been though, so I had to tell her to put down her plate of spaghetti and propose to her rather than wait until Valentine’s Day as I had planned.”
Fortunately, Mathers is able to reflect on this and laugh about it now.
“To this day, any pathetic attempt I may make to be romantic is always met mockingly with ‘should I put down the spaghetti’?” he said.
Then there’s those Valentine’s Day fights.
“When I was dating my ex boyfriend, we had a huge fight on Valentine’s Day, said Evelyn Sucro. “It was a few weeks before I got sick of him and dumped him, so it wasn’t pretty.”
Sometimes the single life can be a little bit better.
“Last year I walked through almost three feet of snow on unplowed sidewalks to get to Chipotle,” Kayla Grieco said.
However, having to be reminded of being single on Valentines Day not once, but three times at the dentist created a very awkward experience for Sara Reichard one year.
“I had a dentist appointment on Valentine’s Day,” said Sara Reichard. Three of them [the dentists] asked if I was dating anyone. I wasn’t.”
Whether you’re single, casually dating or in a long-term relationship, the possibility of having a memorable Valentines Day for all the wrong reasons is proven probable by many.
