Is there anything more romantic than leaving a missed connection for a cute stranger you happened upon, and then actually receiving a response?
With the popularity of hookup apps like Tinder and Grinder, the Craigslist missed connections section is largely a ghost town, a memory of years past when people would scroll endlessly to see if anyone wrote about them. But still, missed connections exists, and there are plenty of people who have entertaining memories from the reigning days of that corner of the internet.
In a popular Reddit thread, people shared their missed connections stories - both heartwarming and disappointing.
I had always secretly hoped to get one. When it happened, it was anticlimactic to say the least.
It was from a guy I had seen in Target while I was trying to pick out a new bra. He was a rather disconcerting fellow, leering at me out of the shadows of the lingerie racks. He appeared to be several decades my senior and wore a green trench coat.
In his missed connection post, he called me a "pretty little thing" and asserted that we "made eye contact and there was a sizzling connection."
A friend of mine actually met his wife through a missed connection on Craigslist. Mind you, this is a guy who gets 90% of everything he has through Craigslist, Amazon, or Ebay, so finding a spouse on there is not outside the norm for him.
My step-brother dressed as Borat for halloween one year, when he was 24-25ish. Not suit borat, but neon-thong mankini Borat. Anyway, at one of his bar stops he met a girl dressed as St. Pauli Girl, who he spent some time talking to but never asked for her number. He posted on MC the next day with the title "Borat searching for his St. Pauli Girl". The post got mentioned by a local radio station the following morning, and within a few days the girl managed to get in touch with him. They met once I think and nothing ever came of it. So with the help of a radio station, it worked out for him.
tl;dr - In conjuction with a radio station, it works.
I actually MC'ed the guy I just dated. I'd seen him around town and understood that he and I had a lot in common, but not enough for us to ever conveniently meet. After seeing him downtown, I took my chances and posted a Missed Connection, knowing how bizarre it would come off as.
Luckily, his friends found the posting, recognized it was for him, and he responded. We met for a beer, hit it off wonderfully, and had a good couple months together.
I dated a girl for 7 years. We did the long distance thing while we were at different state schools for 5 years, 4 hours apart but making the drive to each other regularly. The last 2 years, we lived together, in a new city where she was doing grad school. We were getting in each other's hair, and we took a break. Got separate apartments, but continued to see each other regularly. Our relationship was getting stronger as we got to know each other in different ways.
One Tuesday evening she tells me there's a missed connection about her on CL from a guy. She tells me about it, and we have a chuckle. Says, "You know, I could use more friends, really. I think I'm going to email him, see how it goes." I'm comfortable enough with myself, her, and the relationship to say, "Go for it, sounds like fun." The next day she says he invited her over for dinner the coming Sunday, and what she should do. She told me, "seems kind of fast... how do I stay in the friend zone?" I explain some of the signals that I would pick up on that the woman's not interested in a romantic relationship, including, "I'm kind of seeing someone right now,"
Fast forward to the following Wednesday. Haven't heard from her since Saturday night. I get a text, "I think I'm going to keep seeing this guy."
This all occurred in February, I presume they're still together.
Reddit. You won't believe this. But screw it, this is too cool. Last night, I went to a concert, and my wife and I sat next to a great couple that we hit it off with very quickly. We talked the whole night, and exited the arena at the same time, but in the shuffle of 18,000 people, went our separate ways. Didn't have anything other than names.
Fast forward 15 hours or so. I am at work, sitting on Reddit. I see this post, and am reading it, but not that interested. I love to peruse CL, but had never thought to look in MC. So I pull it up as a whim from this post.
Top post in MC is about us, and the other couple looking for us so we can get together.
To me, the world just became a little smaller. Thanks reddit!
Saw a really cute girl at a coffee shop once, while I was there talking to a friend about a project. Her appearance amazed me; she had a certain look going with a cool hat and scarf, and a vintage looking scooter. It all worked really well together. She was there alone reading a book and seemed like a mature, serious minded person. Totally on a lark, I posted a MC and received an email back the next day. Her roommates had seen it and figured out it was her.
She asked a couple questions to confirm who I was, and then never wrote back. I suppose these things only really work for attractive people.
I wrote one about my boyfriend at the time (he was a server at a popular restaurant here) and made it out like a 45 year old man was looking to bag him. He freaked out and was kind of flattered but spent the entirety of his shift searching for this "regular" who I made up.
9. From kchu:
Happened to my close friend, we'll call him (a): (A) Saw a cute girl on the subway in NYC and wrote a missed connection, it was easy, she had a blue cast on her arm. The girl replies and he psyched that it may work out. They mutually decide to each bring a friend along for the meet up, just so it isn't so weird. So (A) brings friend (B) to the date. What happens? The girl is (B)'s EX GIRLFRIEND from a few years ago that (A) never met before.
I'm sitting in Powell's reading, caffeinating, staring at these goddamn kids walking by on the street, thinking I should submit them all to LookAtThisF*ckingHipster. My friend sends me some humorous text, I laugh, and out of the corner of my eye, I spot Abe Lincoln smiling at me in the window, who totally mistakes my smiling text reaction for a beard+sideburns fetish.
A few days later, I'm curiously skimming Missed Connections, and sure enough, honest Abe had made a post about an "Angel in the Window at Powell's." It was kind of a shameful personal triumph to be the subject of a CL post, but I decided it might be courteous not to leave the poor schmuck hanging.
"Four days and seven minutes ago, you thought I was checking out the sideburns of Burnside. Sorry, I was just laughing at a text message (telegram). Try not to go to any theaters."
I had a MC experience....
A few years ago a friend threw a huge house party. I went there with my GF at the time and eventually noticed a really pretty redhead with huge boobs and a really awesome shoulder tattoo.
"Noticed" is an understatement, I was ogling and staring and my girlfriend noticed. She was so pissed she made a point to make sure that we (as a couple) approached her and talked to her, just so she could watch me squirm and sweat... clearly I was more attracted to this girl than the one I was dating.
My GF and I eventually broke up a few months later and I forgot all about this girl until one night she just came back into my mind and I was obsessed again!
I started by getting in touch with my friend who hosted the party - "Who was that girl..." was the question that no one could answer. He didn't know her (she was a friend of a friend) and no one else that I remembered from the party knew her when I asked.
On a whim, about a year later I decided to post a MC ad describing her physical features and her tattoo, no response. A couple of weeks later I posted another and this time I had a bite! I guy responded "I'm not who you are looking for but I think I know who it is" and proceeded to tell me about this waitress he has seen recently.
<snipping a few days worth of internet research> and I found her working at a bar in the city. I don't like to hit on girls when they are at work but now I had enough info to find her OKCupid profile.
I sent her an OKC message, being very honest about the whole thing "Met you at a party, thought you were gorgeous, couldn't get you off my mind, trying to find you, yadayadayada"
She was flattered so we went out a few times! Nothing came of it, actually she turned out to be sort of crazy, not my type at all.
The kicker is shortly after we decided not to go out anymore she got a new job at my favorite bar and I went from not being able to find her for a year to seeing her several times a week...f*ckin' hell!
I was at Penn Station which happens to be underground for those of you not familiar with this NYC train station when I gazed upon the most beautiful woman sitting in a train heading god knows where. I only knew it wasn't my train. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. In an instant she too was looking at me. Until then, I never believed in love at first site.
At that moment saw the train number and whipped out my Iphone to change my ticket. C'mon, C'mon f*cking AT&T. Piss poor reception to begin with in NYC let alone Penn Station. C'mon... god damn it, load...ugh! The train began to move and I could see the disappointment on her face. I was devastated. My only recourse perhaps was to post on MC. I did and I never received a response.
Fast forward 3 months later, I still find myself often thinking of what could've been...popcorn at the movies, our wedding day, her being pregnant with our child, our son's 3rd birthday, our son's piano lessons, walking by the capital and seeing our son become president. Oh the possibilities.
A couple of months ago I was out drinking with my roommate's boyfriend. We were at a bar that only served beer and were fancying a whiskey drink, so we wandered down the block to another bar and ordered a couple Red Labels.
Some 6/10 was sitting behind us smoking and overheard something my buddy said. She laughed and he immediately went into wingman mode. She came and sat with us and some other creeper with a mustache sat at another table and kept chatting her up. She looked uncomfortable and when we decided to head back to the other bar she asked if she could come with us. Sure, my buddy says.
So, we head back and have a few more drinks. This girl is clearly into me for some stupid reason, and she's literally grabbing my cock under the bar while we're having some stupid conversation. I'd been in a pretty heavy dry spell so I was all about it. We get a call from some of our friends about a poker game at their house, so I get permission to bring this girl over and she hops in our ride and we go.
Get to the house, pack the bong a couple times and I leave homegirl to step outside and cash in for some chips. I get my $20 in chips just as someone comes in to inform me that the girl is inside losing her shit all over the bathroom. So I go back inside and this girl is just puking her god*mned guts out, completely lost her cool from smoking herb I guess. Me and my buddy have to fireman carry her ass out to the car and can barely keep her coherent enough to tell us where she lives. Him and I carry her inside and get her on the couch, then leave, locking the door behind us.
I'm sitting there realizing how lucky this dumba*s is that we were the ones to take her home when it dawned on me that I hadn't got her number during the whole debacle and she was moving out of state in the next couple of days. I was drunk and figured posting an ad on CL would be the best way to get in contact with her. Posted something along the lines of how she grabbed my cock and then passed out. Lo & behold, she actually found it and had replied by the next morning. She sent me a picture of her titties and said we should try again.
I showed all my friends the picture of her titties and then never called her crazy a*s again.
I once had a missed connection that someone had posted for me. I was really excited because I'm a craigslist addict and would check missed connections every day hoping to see a post describing me (I used to go out a lot to increase my chances). Well, it finally happened so I emailed the guy telling him that I was the subject of his post. We met up one more time at the club that he had originally seen me at and I gave him my phone number. Soon after I realized he was only looking to get laid so I told him to f*ck off and that was the end of that. Not really successful now that I think about it.
Fun experiment, but ultimately a waste of time.
I did a small impromptu swimwear fashion show.
We had one shared changing room, so ladies went to 1 corner and guys to another. Clever huh?
Anyhow, after the first walk, things are getting way off time and we have literally 45 seconds to get changed into the next getup and back out poolside. Anyhow, I walked in on a gorgeous and super cute girl (who I was already tongue in a twist nervous about) and there she was changing...
I stood there slack-jawed and completely frozen until she looked up at me. I threw on my stuff and hauled ass out of there. After all was said and done, I couldn't find her.
Two days later, I couldn't get her off of my mind. I posted a missed connections, and guess what... one of her friends found the post, and thought it might have been her.
She contacted me...we traded numbers...we met up.
Worked for me once. I met a girl briefly at a bar. She was on her way out for a cigarette and I was on my way in. We exchanged some words and she continued on her way out letting me know that she'd be back in a few. Her friend had her purse stolen so they ended up leaving and I didn't see her again that night. I posted a little something on missed connections with what was close to her name (it was very loud at the bar we were at) and some details. She messaged me back and we ended up getting together for a couple of dates.
Another interesting story, I was hanging out with a female friend of mine at a bar and we both started talking to this girl next to us. She was a roller derby girl and at the time I didn't see it but she was interested in my friend. Derby girl never made a move but posted something on missed connections the next day saying something like 'me gusta but I didn't know if you were bangin that d00d.' Made my friend's day finally seeing herself in MC.