| This weekend I was out with the HB 9 I've been dating and some of her friends. I was the only guy in a group of three girls (great social proof, but I'm happy with my HB 9 so I had no desire to look around). At one point in the night while we were all a bit tipsy, a guy walked up to me (not the girls) and tried to open the set through me. Probably through doing such things myself so often, I immediately recognized he was using MM or some iteration of it as he opened me in an effort to win over the entire group before a future isolation. I'm a nice guy, and I had no problem with this...initially. Through his opener he tried to bring me into his frame. In my AFC days I may have gone along with his "joke," but I knew what was going on and I wasn't about to let this guy steal my frame right off the bat. Here's how it went down.
Other PUA: (To me) Hey, how are you doing. You guys look like a lot of fun. My name is Erich, but I go by Goody.
Esperanto: Hi, I'm Esperanto.
Other PUA: No, thats no good. Tonight your name is going to be Gabe.
He said this with a grin and all in good fun, but I'm not about to let a PUA change my name within 30 seconds of meeting him. So I decided to make it a bit more difficult for him.
Esperanto: (With a false sense of confusion) Wait a minute. You asked my name and are now trying to change it? I think I know my own name. You can't change people's name, buddy, its not really how society works.
Other PUA: But I...
Esperanto: (Cuts him off) And you are changing your name too? Its Erich but you go by Goody? Thats four names we've discussed in like a minute. This is way to confusing for me buddy. (Turn away from him and talk to my girls).
Other PUA: I'm just having a good time, man.
Esperanto: Oh, hey. I'm just trying to hang out right now with my friends. Your name-changing thing is throwing me off.
I just kept acting confused and turned off by his opener. At one point he even muttered, "I know what you're doing." Little fucker was resilient, though, and soon enough he moved over to talk to my friends, despite being amogged. From there it was classic MM. Here are some highlights.
-He tried to out energy everyone by introducing his cousin (a girl) and being really enthusiastic about EVERYTHING.
-Here was his attempt at a neg of the target:
Target: (Concerning cousin, before being introduced) "So are you two married?"
Other PUA: "No. She's my cousin! That'd be gross. Who do I look like, Jerry Lee Lewis?"
Target: "Well, are you married at all?"
Other PUA: "I told you, she's my cousin!"
He was pretending she was still asking about her cousin. And this exchange went on for another minute or two. The routine only left the target confused and sapped the energy from the conversation. Also, the Jerry Lee Lewis reference was too obscure, as I was the only one who got it.
After a couple more routines, he left the group. I told my friends he'd be back...and he was in about 10 minutes. He even re-opened with, "I like you guys, you guys know how to have fun!" I was loving the canned material at this point. Later on he tried to establish social proof by making it a point to introduce us to the owner of the bar. It was obvious what he was doing, at least to me. Though not the leader of the group by any means, he was locked into our group by acting somewhat like a clown. He even did some funny poses for some pics we took of him. Finally, he went in for the number close on one girl. It was long and painful by starting with, "I think you are a really fun, interesting, unique girl and I'd like to get to know you better," and continuing the flattery from there. Unfortunately, he was turned down, and he promptly ejected without saying goodbye. I talked to her later and she says she knew exactly what he was doing from the beginning. She wasn't impressed. Here's my critique of his game:
-His opener was good, but not great, and he let me pull him into MY frame rather easily (opposite of what he was trying to do). But he opened me to get to the girls, which was smart.
-He followed MM until the point of negging the target. He wasn't unable to adapt when his negs didn't work and consequently never was able to build attraction.
-He left the group to mingle with others, and even tried to show social proof.
-He was dressed smartly and was well put together.
-He was able to lock into our group, but once he couldn't build attraction with anyone he resorted to holding our interest by acting like a clown and consequently sabotaged his pick-up.
-He never isolated his target or even established a target until he tried to number close. This was the biggest hole in his game, as during his n-close he tried to tell the target she was really cool and unique, yet he hadn't spent any more time talking to her than anyone else. This fact destroyed his credibility.
-His number close was really long and awkward. Just not good at all.
Overall, I'd give his game a B-. He's enthusiastic, confident unless resistance emerges, and understands the MM steps. He just needs to work on looking more alpha throughout his game. Despite this, though, I'd be surprised if he wasn't pulling numbers on a semi-consistent basis.
Watching this from another perspective was really interesting and informative. Hope this post gave some insight.
-Esperanto.
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