Is it silly to want to get the last word in? (OLD)

[BusyUser]

The situation is this - spoke to a guy on Tinder/Whatsapp for about a week, good chat but no arrangement to meet. He texted me on Thursday evening and I didn’t reply until Tuesday. Honestly fair enough if that’s a red flag for someone in the early days of dating, but he was so weird about it and the conversation then goes like this (paraphrased because I deleted the WhatsApp chat in a rage):

Me - Hello hello sorry I ended up having a really busy weekend. How’s it going?
Him (within seconds) - It’s Tuesday 🤣
Assuming he’s annoyed, thought ok I’ll just leave it there then.
Him (few hours later) - I’ve got to ask, what are you looking for?
Me - Def not casual, to each their own but I’m too old for that! How about you? How long have you been single?
Him - A relationship definitely but it needs to be with the right person, can’t be forced, not going to chase anyone. Been single for one year after a 10 year relationship so “I ain’t got time for playing games”. (Actually what he said!)
Me - Agreed. Are you free this week or perhaps next to do something?
Him - Next week would be better, let me know when you’re free and we’ll see.
Me - I’m free all week so take your pick!

I don’t think he will reply to arrange anything but now I’ve stewed on it, I’m actually really annoyed with this. I’m tempted to message explaining the reality, which is that I was helping my mum all weekend because she’s really poorly with cancer and not getting better.

Is that silly? I know he won’t care but it’s the principle - I’m not playing games I just want to spend time with my wee mum!

If someone left me waiting for a reply from Thursday to Tuesday, I'd block them and move on.

(Sorry to hear about your mum).

OLD can be difficult due to the many strange rules and expectations surrounding telepathic powers.

If it took me a long time to reply, it probably means I’m not interested. So, keep that in mind. Maybe he liked you and is a bit upset that you went silent. Men do have feelings.

Yes, getting the last word in mentality is silly. Typically with people in those situations you're far better off just ignoring them and not replying. That'll probably wind them up far more than anything you reply with.

I don't know what you got in a rage about though, he's not really done anything wrong. Don't forget than modern dating is (for many people), a field playing game. So he probably thought (wrongly in your case) that your 'busy weekend' was meeting up with other potential suitors. And that when they didn't work out you've restarted communication with him, leaving him feeling like a backup option. You could've explained a bit more about why you were busy, without going into any specific detail - "I was busy caring for a sick relative".

I think his messages perhaps come across as snippier than intended. Either way, radio silence from Thursday to Tuesday (which is five days by my reckoning) very much gives the impression of lack of interest on your part.

I think you were rude to ignore him for so long. I would have blocked you.

But going silent on him was quite rude, even though understandable in the circumstances.

You could have dropped him a quick message to say you were going to be incommunicado.

It's probably not good timing for you to be trying to get something going.

I think his “it’s Tuesday lol” reply was a humorous response to your “sorry I had a busy weekend” message. That’s the sort of excuse you’d send if you hadn’t messaged from Friday until Monday morning, but Tuesday is WAY past the weekend!

I did OLD and whilst I think you generally need a thick skin, I don’t see any issues with his messages tbh. He doesn’t have the wisdom of insight into your situation, or the reason for your silence, so could have thought either you’d ghosted him, or you’re married so can’t message over a weekend, or you were playing hard to get.

Hope your mum is doing ok.

Don’t get the last word in, be mature and just agree to a date or kindly say no thank you, I’m not up to it.
I can’t see he’s said anything wrong, a slight dig at it being way past the weekend but he’s taken in humour. It is annoying to those that take days over a response, especially when you don’t know the reason why, Perhaps you don’t emotionally have the time right now.

I'm surprised he replied at all. Not many people are that busy not to drop text.
The playing games dig is probably because he thinks you're playing hard to get.

Ive paused OLD atm but I gave them 2 days to reply 3 max if I liked them.. more than that..nah, block.