A few conversational landmines worth avoiding, no matter how comfortable the date starts to feel:
- Detailed stories about an ex, good or bad.
- Anything about how much money you make or spend.
- Complaints about your job, your boss, or your life in general.
- Questions about marriage or kids this early on.
- Oversharing about past relationships or breakups.
- Negative comments about their appearance, even as a joke.
- Long stretches about yourself with no questions back.
- Anything that puts a friend, family member, or coworker down.
- Strong opinions on hot-button topics before you know each other at all.
- A running commentary on how the date itself is going.
None of this means you have to be guarded — just aware. A little discretion early on tends to let the real conversation happen naturally.
