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By WENDELL WOOD
Ugh another dorm function to invite a date
to. You shudder with the thought of going out
every night this week to scrounge up a date who
isn't your best friend's boyfriend's roommate.
Meanwhile, your grades and self-esteem are suf
fering. What to do?
How about a dating service?
The popularity of dating services, whether
they are computer-run or hand-picked, has in
creased significantly during the past several
years, and the manager of Dating System of
Raleigh suggested a good reason loneliness.
"Loneliness is a prison that must be unlocked
from the outside," said Dating System founder
Roderick Jones. Jones, a research assistant for
the state division of mental health, opened his
dating service to the paying public last March.
In an article that Jones encloses in his service's
applications, an expert on loneliness said that
the cure to the modern problem, which is evident
with divorce statistics, suicide rates and news--papers
filled with personal columns, is to form
new attachments.
Jones, who operates his service by mail and
telephone evenings and weekends, decided to
start his service after the suicide death of his best
friend. His clients, male professionals ranging
mostly between the ages of 25 and 40, pay a $27
membership fee and a $15 search fee to match
them with dates.
After Jones receives a client's confidential ap
plication, which includes questions of physical
characteristics, occupation, age, hobbies, per
sonality and a request for a 5-by-7 photo, he
looks through his application files to. match up
likes and dislikes. He then calls the female to
give her the profile on the prospect, and if the'
client sounds like her type, Jones sets up an ap
pointment for them to meet.
He doesn't release the woman's telephone
number because "the man might continue to
bother her."
The service's fee includes a dinner for two at
an "exclusive restaurant," where Jones intro
duces the couple, takes their picture together
and leaves them alone. If the date does not work
out, however, there are no guarantees.
If a member-client has not found enough
dates during the first year, Jones said he will ex
tend the membership.
Another local service catering to those frus
trated with broken relationships is Astromate, a
mail service which operates via "astrobiology."
"Perhaps you, like me, are weary of pursuing
appearances. Perhaps, like me, you seek your
own roots and desire to share with those of like
mind and heart," Doctor Dave, operator of
Astromate, said in his personal statement about
paraphysics and relationship astrobiology.
According to the "doctor," his method of
matching mates is through correlation and prob
ability. "For any Astromate, the configuration of
planets and constellations at the moment of
birth is highly correlated with certain types of
consciousness," Dave's application reads. The
application requests birth information, including
date, place and time of birth, as well as a $17 fee.
In return, Astromate sends the client a report
oio popularity
consisting of a list of birth dates of potential
astromates (AMs), an individual explanation by a
physician-paraphysicist comparing the client's
birth date to other AMs, as well as a color-coded
chart used to evaluate the degree of marriage,
romantic and sexual compatibility of the client.
Astromate makes no other reference to sexual
purposes, while Jones' date system "strongly dis
courage) an applicant from applying who
wishes to meet other members for purely sexual
purposes."
Like the dating system, Astromate cannot
guarantee satisfaction, "since (it is) working with
probability," Doctor. Dave said. "But then again,
you could blow this much money on a (relatively)
unsatisfying blind date." he added.
Whether you find your date through the stars
or through simply matching up likes and dislikes,
the use of a dating service should be an interest
ing experience, while more expensive than most
stranger mixers at Granville.
As one 62-year-old client of the Dating System
of Raleigh said, "It's like picking out a pair of
shoes in a shoe store. You pick what you find
suits you in terms of physical characteristics and
personality traits."
Or by matching yourastrological karma think
of the different people you'd meet. ()
Wendell Wood is a staff writer for The Daily
Tar Heel.
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D Gee? dJtDso 9dGXDc 03? iJtexxoO
April 3, 1982 (Charlotte. NC)
Central Piedmont Community College
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April 17, 1982 (Raleiah, NC)
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