Gena Kaufman | Glamour
Well, I guess I've figured out why I haven't met the love of my life yet during my time in Ohio. I've been going to the wrong places. Coffee shops, bars, dog parks, forget it. The place in The Heart of It All--which is what Ohio likes to call itself because we're very romantic, as you're about to see--where guys are falling hard for passing women? Walmart. Walmart, you guys.
Dorothy Grambell put together a cool infographic for Psychology Today, showing the statistics of "Missed Connections" posted on Craigslist (check it out here), and it's kind of fascinating to see the nationwide trends. Almost as fascinating as randomly reading the Missed Connections section in your city just in case any of them happen to sound like you which is definitely not something I do ever except that I totally do. Ahem, anyway, here are a few facts you might find interesting:
- Seriously, Walmart? Besides Ohio, in Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, and practically every Southern state, the most frequently-cited place for a missed connection was everyone's favorite/most hated superstore. Hey, if Natalie Portman could have a baby there, I guess anything could happen. Oh wait, that only happened in a movie.
- Northwestern women, I salute you. The state of Washington had the highest number of women seeking men or other women. Nationwide, men seeking either women or men made up over three quarters of the posted missed connections.
- The older we get, the less innocent the places in which people cross paths. At age 20, the most common missed connection spot was an ice cream store. So sweet. At 30, it was a bar but by 40, it was a strip club or adult bookstore. Yowza!
- Unsurprisingly obvious places. In New York, the most frequently cited location is the subway. In California, it's a 24-hour fitness center. Both of those seem to fall in the standard East Coast/West Coast stereotypes, right?
- Wait, where?!?! Frequently cited places that seem kind of nuts: Gas stations in Colorado (I guess the smell is an aphrodisiac for some people), in the car in Georgia, and at home in Indiana. Don't ask me how either of those last things work. I honestly I have no idea.
Anyone ever posted/responded to a Missed Connections post? Um, was it at a Walmart?