In the movie Wall Street, when invited to lunch by Charlie Sheen, Gordon Gekko replies "Lunch is for wimps."
 
I lived through the late eighties and well into the nineties absolutely loving that line! Hell, I must have used it thousands of times since I originally heard it.
 
I loved it for all of the following reasons:

• I thought it was a very cool line.
• I believed it.
• It’s all about not wasting time (which is even more important once you have a wife, kids, and cancer).

For one thing, I have learned how to slow down and smell the roses. Cancer alone will take care of this. I’ve also learned that one can indeed conduct business over a meal ... especially if that meal is with someone whose company is enjoyable. But in spite of my "growing up," I remain a guy who basically feels that lunch is a huge momentum-breaker that not only requires one to re-start his or her engine, but who also must spend a great deal of time in transit. Time that could much more readily be spent at the end of the day with one's family and/or good friends.
 
But even more important, is the fact that the individual who is inviting me to lunch would even suggest this as a worthwhile place to conduct a "first date." Why? Well, here are a few reasons:

First off, lunch is more or less a standardized "block" of time. One hour? Ninety minutes? Whatever it is, it is pre-packaged in a way that commits both parties to a set amount of time at a very set physical locale.

So, if either party fails to impress, someone is going to suffer. They will sit there, quietly chomping their food and even more quietly working up a lathered mad; wondering how they were so willingly horn-schwaggled into somebody's misguided idea of a good time!
 
Next, one must consider the true amount of time that a proper lunch meeting will consume. Again, we are not just talking about the time it requires to shovel food into your face; au contraire, one must also add-in the amounts of time it takes to physically:

1. Get from your office to your vehicle,
2. Get from your vehicle to the restaurant,
3. Wait, while your car is stuck in traffic, and,
4. Park your car, restart your computer, and return/restart your phone conversations. (Remember that whole momentum-breaking thing?)
   

I assure you, this is no small amount of time. We are talking about an hour beyond lunch, possibly more.
 
And lastly, the big downside to lunching with someone on a first date is the plain and simple fact that, by definition, anyone who would call me to arrange a luncheon meeting almost assuredly is someone with whom I have very little or even no interest in meeting!
 
And so why is this, you ask? Simple.
 
Anyone who so brazenly "steals your time" in this fashion is almost certainly someone that you are going to find unlikable and someone who clearly has very little respect for you and your time. Remember, this is just a "getting to know you" type of meeting. And just as your mother told you ladies when it came time to meet a new guy for the first time, you should "keep it short," and "make certain that you can escape" just as soon as you are reasonably certain that you wish not to spend any more time with the no-good bum.
 
Good people don't make demands on your time. You know this. So any truly good person simply will not do this to you, or anyone else for that matter. What's more - truly good people don't make demands of this nature on their own time! Remember, good people are also busy people with ideas and energy and full schedules.
 
Just think it through - would you want to spend time with anyone who has no idea as to whether or not meeting you is a good idea?
 
I should think not. And yet this is obviously what is happening with someone who just calls you out of the blue, suggesting a luncheon meeting!
 
(Now, to be fair, if you are some true "player" ... someone who can move mountains with a snap of his fingers ... then any amount of time spent with you and/or even someone close to you is a win.)
 
Time is precious (and it becomes even more so the older you get). If you wish to have people interested in lunching (or, "dinner-ing") with you, then I strongly suggest that you immediately STOP trying to dine with your dream-date until such time as when you have established a bona-fide relationship with them.
 
Besides, everyone on this planet knows that a free lunch isn't free.
 
In fact, you now know that it is even more expensive than you thought it was just ten minutes ago!