Browsing dating apps can be a dangerous game, and almost all of us will have come across someone we know while swiping through profiles on Tinder, Bumble, or Hinge.
But one woman was left gobsmacked when she opened up Hinge to find a message from a very familiar face, as she'd been asked out for coffee by her former landlord.
The woman, named Heather, explained that the man likely had no idea who she was as they'd only met in person once, but she knew it was him because his profile photo was taken on the rooftop of the house she used to live in.
And while the idea of your ex-landlord asking you out on a date is weird enough on its own, Heather said there was even more to the story - as she claimed the bloke had refused to give her deposit back when she moved out.
In a video posted to her @dubwaaah TikTok account, Heather, from the US, first shared the Hinge message the man sent her, which read: "Do you wanna go to Frothy Monkey downtown today and grab a coffee? You're beautiful! Something quick and casual where if we don't click we don't have to stay that long."
The man also included his Instagram handle, which Heather blurred out for his privacy, and told her they could continue chatting on Instagram if she was interested.
She explained in her video: "This may look like your run-of-the-mill Hinge match. Nice message, kind of looks like it was copy-and-pasted, but that's fine. I noticed the background of this picture and I'm like, 'What the heck, that was taken on the rooftop of my old townhouse that I moved out of back in September'.
"Then I read the name of the Instagram. This is my old landlord. He clearly didn't recognise me in the photo because we only met once when I toured the apartment, but things ended very badly to the point where we both said 'Don't contact me again'."
Heather said that she and her then-boyfriend rented the house for 12 months, and they barely saw the landlord because he lived in another state and would never make visits to the property.
However, she insisted they never had problems with the landlord, and said things went smoothly for their entire stay - until the time came for them to move out.
She added: "We were moving out because we were breaking up and also the lease was ending, so it was good timing. But it was kind of a s**t show.
"It's a really long story but [the landlord] ended up keeping our security deposit with absolutely zero word of what damages there were. He just texted me like, 'You know the damage is far beyond the security deposit'. Like no, actually, I don't know that. I paid $400 for a move-out cleaner, we left that place spick and span. I used to be a realtor, I know my rights as a tenant.
"Things went off the rails. He threatened to file a police report against us because he claimed we went back to the house to take mail, and both of us were out of the state at this point. Like, what are you talking about dude? He just put us in a group chat and was threatening to file a police report. We were like, 'slow your roll, no need to get aggressive, we haven't been at the house'.
"Anyways, there was this drama in the middle of me going through a breakup, it was just ... this guy was unhinged, for no reason."
To end her video, Heather typed out a message in response to the man's date request, which read: "Yes sure! But only if you'll give me the security deposit back", and asked her followers if she should send it.
And commenters were so invested in the tale, with many giving her ideas on what to do next.
One person said: "Now you must make him fall in love with you and then break his heart. It's only fair."
While another added: "Girl go on that date and get your compensation!"
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