The woman across from me was sobbing hysterically, snatching her hand away from me and sobbing harder when I reached out to try to comfort her — I had been on bad dates before, but never one that had ended quite this dramatically.

It had started when she mentioned her cat. “Ah yes,” I had replied, “human’s narcissistic asshole best friend.” Turned out her beloved cat of 17 years had just died the week before. And it was only downhill from there…