Why RAs are the Best Wedding Dates Ever

I recently went to a wedding with my friend Ryan. He asked if I would go. I said yes. Then he told me it was a family wedding and I was going to be meeting a lot of really important people from his childhood. He followed it up with “but I knew you could handle it, which is why I asked you.”

Sometimes Most times in life people like to humor me, but this time I didn’t feel like I was being humored. Why? Because I used to be an RA.

Last year I had two weddings that I needed dates to and both times I took an RA. I took Ryan to a wedding where I wouldn’t know anybody else there and I took Brian to a Catholic school girl wedding – which says something in itself And you know what, I knew they could both handle it. Because they were RAs.

It was Ryan who pointed this out to me and inspired this post. (See, credit where credit is due.) All content is original.

They usually remember names, and if they can’t remember names, they remember facts.

I happen to be one of the people that remember names. But I can assure that even if an RA can’t remember that the girl with the brown hair in the blue dress is Michelle, he or she will remember that Michelle loves to travel and went on a really cool trip to Argentina last year with the tall man standing next to her (Rob). That could be useful if you’re left alone in the bathroom line together.

They clean up nicely.

Please see Exhibit A below.

They know how to make small talk.

The first weekend of being an RA when all of your residents move in you not only need to make small talk with every resident on your floor, but every single resident who is in your building, and his or her parents, grandparents, siblings, significant others, etc. As an RA you have a stash of really easy small talk ideas already lined up – the weather, the day of the week, something the person is wearing, a fun fact you just learned, a question to ask, and more.

They know how to ask unassuming questions.

If you don’t know anybody besides your date at a wedding you don’t know that Uncle John used to be dating Sally, but he’s now in a domestic partnership with Betty – and Sally’s now married to Joann and together they own a company where they heal plants using crystal and gemstone therapy. And there’s nothing wrong with any of that – but you honestly have no idea what you’re walking into. So, if you’re already pre-programmed to ask questions like “so where do you call home” or “tell me more about that” or “so what does that look like” you’re going to be a lot better off.

They don’t mind making fools of themselves on the dance floor.

Most RAs don’t have any shame. They’ve already been put on the spot so many times that there’s just not room to keep that emotion around. Also, sometimes the easiest way to break the ice is to make a fool of yourself. Hey, somebody’s got to do it.

They’ve seen it all.

Seriously. The types of questions I got asked as an RA blew my mind – don’t get me wrong, I was always happy to answer – but I was shocked at the amount of personal questions that people asked. Questions about hygiene, sex, alcohol, death, careers, salaries, religion, politics – we’ve heard it all, from students and parents. Also, we’ve already dealt with a lot of drunk college students, and your friends and family can’t be any worse than that.

Did I miss anything?