Democracy Dies in Darkness

Carolyn Hax: Friends say to break other plans to avoid offending new man

Friends say it was a “huge mistake” to follow through on a prior commitment when a new love asked for a date.

Advice by
Columnist
May 19, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. EDT
(Illustration by Nick Galifianakis for The Washington Post)
5 min

Carolyn Hax is away. The following first appeared Feb. 14 and Feb. 7, 2010, and has been lightly edited.

Dear Carolyn: I’ve had two dates with a great guy who has expressed to me and to mutual friends that he is very interested in me. On Wednesday, after a dinner date, he asked me to do something this weekend. I said I’d love to, and mentioned I had a friend’s birthday dinner, organized by her husband, on Saturday night. He said he’d call me.