Coupon Tom

My friend Sara is at a crossroads in her recent relationship. She has been dating Coupon Tom. It's what you're thinking. The guy who only takes her to places he has a coupon too. "It shows he's frugal, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, right?"
Right….I think… I had to dig deeper.
Sara's story started off by her telling me she rejected Coupon Tom's suggestion of Buca Di Beppo (he had a "buy one entrée, get the second one free" coupon, of course). "It just wasn't romantic. That's more of a family style restaurant and I didn't want to be sucked into it, just because he had a coupon." Sara then suggested The Chart House for appetizers and drinks instead. (Good move.) But her story didn't end there. While dining at the lovely Chart House, Coupon Tom was sucked into their "rewards program" to get future coupons. Say What?
Houston we have a problem. Coupon Tom is addicted to…well…coupons.
Look, I'm all about the coupons. I use them personally. And in fact, I have ads and coupons on this website for you all to save some money (and please use them…that includes you Coupon Tom!) If a date made a suggestion of a restaurant and then used a coupon, I would have no issue. But if he only suggested restaurants with coupons or rewards programs, well, then that's a little tacky.
We can face facts, in this day and age, we are all trying to save money. I have rewards programs tied to my credit card and I use my "rewards points" toward travel and hotel rooms…does that make me cheap too? I don't think so.
Let me fill you in here. Celebrities…they love free stuff and coupons. The "swag bags"; gifting suites, free invitations to all those great parties (where laymen have to pay hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars to attend) not to mention the perks at restaurants, bars and the free concert tickets. They get a plethora of freebies. And that's why they show up. And the events/restaurants get to say "Leonardo DiCaprio showed up at my event!" -- it's a win-win situation. They get the notoriety and the celebrity gets something for free.
I have a friend who is a private chef who once said to me, "rich people are cheap" and you know what…he's right. So let's all take pause here. While Coupon Tom only uses coupons, he probably drives a nice car, owns a house, and dresses well. "He does!" exclaims Sara. So while he might not be spending money on her right now, as she asserts herself into new suggestions and different restaurants, take the "rewards programs" and allow him to wine and dine you for more nights out but if he can't break away from only using coupons, you might need to tell him, "I'm not a two-for-one" and move on.
One of my favorite sites is Groupon.com: Here's a link: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu3755405
For my friends with kids: Here's a printable coupon for Buca di Beppo: http://www.bucadibeppo.com/pdf/CouponNational.pdf
Oh and hey Sara, I put up a coupon for Match.com (on the left banner).... You can either use it yourself or give it to Coupon Tom when you dump him J
HC