Each month, we challenge our community to do something that will improve the world around us—and our own lives. September's challenge? To connect
Introduce two people who don't know each other.
For today's challenge, I was asked to extend my friend matchmaking services to two people I know, but who do not know each other. I happen to know at least three people who do not know each other, so I decided to streamline the process and just hook them all up.
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Last weekend, I set a friend date for GOOD editors Tim Fernholz and Megan Greenwell with an auxiliary friend, Sarah. Sarah is an editor at another website based in Los Angeles. Perfect, right? They have so much in common! Next step: Alcohol.
We all headed to Tiki-Ti, where the rum was flowing freely, and the friend date commenced. When Greenwell and Sarah began discussing an area of mutual interest, I made a graceful exit from the conversation, then attempted in vain to swallow a pineapple garnish off of a toothpick. "We cut you out for a bit and talked about sports," Greenwell recalls, which she describes as the "ultimate friend matchmaking" accomplishment. "We should hang out again," Greenwell adds. "Unless she hated me."
She didn't. "Megan was fun," says Sarah, who learned an important lesson that night: "Friends of my friends can also be my friends."
Fernholz, too, had a not-bad time. I asked if the experience was awkward for him, but he scoffed at the suggestion. "Since you were there, it was not very awkward," Fernholz says, adding that consuming alcohol "makes things much less awkward."
The more you know: Consuming alcohol can also complicate the matchmaking process. The friend date was almost sabotaged over my unwise choice of Tiki-Ti as a new-friend destination. "It's loud," Fernholz complains. "Terrible. Too crowded," Greenwell piles on, adding, ominously: "$3.50 ATM fees."
When I awoke the next day, I realized I had accepted a $20 bill from Sarah with which to buy her a drink, instantly forgot that I had done so, neglected to return her change on the purchase, then later demanded that she buy me another alcoholic beverage. "Unfriended," Sarah told me when I attempted to apologize for my behavior. "I'm replacing you with Megan." Would connecting my friends cause me to lose one of them? Only time will tell. If Sarah becomes a stranger to me, Greenwell can always make an introduction.
Ready, set, go! Good luck completing today's challenge. Share your experience on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook by using the hashtag #30DaysofGOOD, or let us know how it went in the comments section below.
Tomorrow's challenge: Email someone you admire but have never met.
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