It’s the end of an era! With news that Craigslist is shutting down its Personals section due to the House of Representatives’ approval of the FOSTA bill (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017), we can’t help but feel a great deal of relief/euphoria/newfound gratitude that Craigslist’s other popular subsection, Missed Connections, is still very much thriving (you’ll find it under “community”). After all, how else are you supposed to reconnect with that cute Starbucks barista you met during that one road trip all those years ago? Making the first move, face to face, is definitely overrated.
To celebrate that fact, we rounded up the most memorable Missed Connections encounters, courtesy of Reddit users who fearlessly shared a wide range of their aww– and cringe-worthy experiences.
Hot Wheels
“My sister, who bikes to work, was going out of her normal route, and a guy on a bike first saw each other when they got to a red traffic light. He awkwardly said, ‘I like your glasses’ and rode off at the green light. His friends persuaded him to post on Missed Connections — the one and only time he did so — to make fun of him for being awkward. My sister’s friend laughed at the anecdote and jokingly suggested she look on Missed Connections. They sat down together and did, found his post, connected, and got married this past summer in Greece.”
Live and Learn
“I posted one about a girl I saw on the train. Her friend found it and sent it to her and we had an on-again, off-again thing for a little over a year. I was young and stupid and liked her a lot but never made a solid commitment. She was awesome and I kicked myself in the ass about it for a while. Live and learn.”
Work It Out
“I tried to use it to meet a girl at the gym that I saw every single morning for a year. I didn’t have the courage to actually approach her in the gym and thought it was kind of uncool to do anyway. Described the hat she usually wore so there was no doubt it was her, and included probably enough about myself that she would know it was me. She never returned to the gym again. Ever. I took that as not a very positive response.”
Looking for Dad
“Not a love story or anything, but my father was never around. I had no idea what he looked like; I only knew his name, and where he went to high school. I looked for him through various creeper sites, trying to get a phone number, anything. I found his brother, who refused to help me, saying he was ‘no good.’ After two years, I decided to give Craigslist a try. I put up an ad in Missed Connections, targeting the town he grew up in, and someone who knew him responded with his address. I wrote him a letter containing my phone number and he called me … We met and neither of us knew what to say to each other. We still don’t. The best part of it though, was finding and meeting all these half-siblings. I have an older half-brother and three younger brothers. All of them I found on the internet, because I was looking for my peepaw.”
You Got Served
“I didn’t post but somebody posted about me once. I was waitressing at the time and the ad said something about how I was a great server and made the couple’s night. I went into work the next morning and the bartender had seen it, so she printed it out and hung it in the back. Once I saw it, I knew it was the lesbian couple that had come in the night before. It got super awkward every time they came in because they would always request me.”
Ride On
“About five years ago, I wrote an ad directed to a very attractive man that I saw almost daily during my commute home on the train. He was always working on the day’s crossword puzzle (as was I). He actually replied via another Missed Connections ad, and the next time I saw him on the train we struck up a conversation. We got each other’s phone numbers and began to hang out; he lived nearby and had a lot of the same interests. He was hilarious, so intelligent, and very kind — but I unfortunately f—d it up (by being an immature, selfish little s—) and we haven’t spoken since. I do miss him.”
Looking in the Wrong Place
“Someone posted an ad looking for my husband. She did not find him.”
Hold Your Gaze
“I saw him at the VA when I brought my Vietnam veteran neighbor in for his appointment. We locked eyes, and he was and is the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. I didn’t have time and I didn’t have the guts to approach him. That night I posted a short ad, saying, ‘Locked eyes in optometry waiting room at VA. This is desperate and creepy but I have to try.’ He emailed me within the hour, saying, ‘Thank f—ing God we’re on the same wavelength.’ We met up for dinner a few nights later. We’re getting married this year.”
Coffee Run
“While working in a coffee shop, a couple of regular customers, both female, walked up to the counter giggling and exclaiming, ‘Someone has a crush on you!’. One laid a piece of paper with an ad printed on it describing me and how I always brighten this woman’s morning. I responded to the ad when I got off of work. We met for coffee. We fell in love and lived together for over two years. It was probably the best relationship I ever had, and I did almost nothing to find it.”
Tough Luck
“This was probably seven years ago. I smiled at a girl with a camera, she smiled back and I was smitten. I posted on Missed Connections and she responded that day. But so did her boyfriend, so that kind of sucked.”
Feel the Music
“A little over two years ago, I met a guy at a show. We kept exchanging looks all night but he never approached me further than small talk and I was too shy to approach him. I left the show thinking I imagined all the flirty eye contact, but had an inkling to check Missed Connections the next day. Sure enough he posted one for me! I immediately sent him an email and we had our first date two weeks later. We’ve been together ever since.”
Liar, Liar
“When I had concerns that my ex was cheating on me I Googled a Halloween party that she went to. I saw a few pics of her in her ‘naughty police woman’ outfit. Didn’t seem that bad, but when I went back to the Google search, two results down was a Craigslist Missed Connection link. Clicked it, found it was some guy looking for that ‘naughty police woman’ that he hooked up with at that party. I printed the page, confronted her, she tried to lie and we broke up.”
Keep In Touch
“While living in NYC, I barely caught a late subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn. I almost knocked this girl over by jumping in as the doors were closing. She laughed, we talked. We had both just moved there. It was silent on the train except for us talking so I kind of chickened out when she got off one stop before mine, but kicked myself because I thought she was cute. So that night I posted on Craigslist. About three days later, I get an email from her. Apparently, she had told her friend about me, and her friend suggested checking Craigslist. We went out a handful of times and had a lot of fun, but it never got serious. This was two years ago. We’re both no longer in N.Y.C. but we still text/Facebook chat every couple of months.”
Butt First …
“I was someone’s missed connection. They described passing me in opposite directions and how our eyes met, the whole shebang. Then I saw that it was a MenForMen. Oh well, somebody thought I had a nice butt. It was a good day.”
First Date
“I saw a girl across the subway tracks in New York City after their annual ‘No Pants’ subway ride and smiled at her (this was a few years ago). She was gorgeous. Found a post by her, met up for a date — I believe coffee and walking along the West Side Highway, though the latter part of that was unplanned. I was nervous, we didn’t click, so nothing really happened. Your typical first (and last) date.”
Let’s Connect
“I reconnected with my best female friend from my hometown. I was home for Thanksgiving or Christmas or something like that, and for the hell of it I drove by her old house. I hadn’t spoken to her in years. Placed an ad about her on Missed Connections with a general description of her without using names. A coworker of hers saw it and she emailed me. Pretty wild. We fell right back into our friendship after that.”
Reddit entries have been edited for length and clarity.
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