So, what are your deal breakers in dating? You know, those serious issues that you can’t get past or don’t feel you are ready to deal with. Like stepping into a relationship with someone who has kids and you don’t. Not wanting to travel to date someone online, like out of state for example. Maybe the person shows signs of being abusive or they just treat people poorly in general. The things you come across and just know that you can’t go any further in pursuing a relationship.

What about if the person you have met online shops at Wal-Mart? That’s right, Wal-Mart.

Well, I got an email from eHarmony telling me that I had a new match that was requesting communication. So I logged on and read her profile page and saw her picture and started down the [1] guided communication path with her. After a couple of weeks we got to the Open Communication stage.

Seeing that she had initiated the contact that left it my turn to send the first email. So I went back to her profile to reread it before I asked her any questions. When I got there she had added some new information to her profile page that hadn’t been there previously.

Two of the things she said were that if you shop at Wal-Mart or love our President then just close off communication now. Two of her dating deal breakers were people who loved George Bush or shopped at Wal-Mart. I actually laughed out loud. I wouldn’t say I love George Bush but I felt that any leanings towards him, or the conservative side of the political spectrum, would be too much for her. Also I have shopped at Wal-Mart so I am sure that would put me in the shallow end of this woman’s dating pool. I wasn’t sure what to write now, so I put it off a bit.

I was trying to think of what to say, as I didn’t want to close things off with no explanation. I don’t like when that happens to me but all that came to mind was an email that went something like this:

Hi ****,

I just wanted to let you know that I am going to close out communication with you do to your dating deal breakers that I just read. It seems they are new to your profile since we first started communicating. As I sit here typing this message in my I Heart George Bush t-shirt I recently purchased at Wal-Mart, a single tear runs down my face as I thought we might have been good together.

Jason

I never got a chance to send that email because a few days later when I logged back in she had already closed off communication with me. No big loss really as who would want to date someone who felt so strongly about where a potential date shopped. I can think of a lot of possible deal breakers people could have but where they shop or their political leanings don’t really make the list for me.

Take for instance Mary Matalin and James Carville. They are pretty far apart politically but fell in love and have been married for almost 13 years now. They have two daughters and seem happy. So would political differences be a deal breaker for you? How about where someone shops?

What are your dating deal breakers? What would keep you from pursuing a relationship with someone? Let us know in the comments.