I’ve discovered the best way to approach men in bars — it only costs $22
Ink-redible!
A Canadian Gen Zer searching for Mr. Right created a stamp to use on men’s hands at bars that reads, “You’re cute and I’m cute. You should hit me up if you’re single.”
The stamp is signed with Michelle Arshad’s Instagram handle, @messnamedmichelle.
Arshad, 24, devised the sly strategy in 2022 with her sister and her friend, who are both 23. She had noticed other women made bracelets emblazoned with their digits to hand out to guys in bars.
So the trio bought $22 personalized stamps on VistaPrint that are good for 5,000 uses.
Arshad says they find it easier to stamp a guy they fancy rather than try to make eye contact to strike up a conversation.
“We’re all a bit introverted. We thought, ‘Let’s get a stamp,'” Arshad, a Toronto resident who works in finance, explained to SWNS. “It’s easier than making eye contact. It’s a nice little icebreaker.”
The friends put their stamps to the test.
“We’d ask a guy, ‘Can you give us your hand?'” Arshad shared. “They’d say, ‘What are you going to do to us?’ We’d stamp him, and they’d say, ‘I see what this is now.'”
Though Arshad met her 25-year-old boyfriend at the gym, she said her friend did end up scoring a free drink because of the stamp.
Arshad shared her stamp scheme on TikTok — a post last month attracted 2.4 million views.
“A lot of girls were tagging friends and said, ‘We should get this,'” Arshad said. “Others were like, ‘OMG what if my boyfriend comes home with this stamp?'”
Arshad said if she was single, she would “100%” get the stamp out again.
“It’s hard going up to someone random. It’s an easier way of talking to people and approaching people,” she reasoned. “It was an excuse to spread my wings and talk to people.”
Arshad’s advice comes as new research shows Gen Zers prefer virtual first dates, which are convenient and inexpensive, instead of meeting in person.