In the modern dating world, everyone seems to have an online dating profile, a smartphone glued to their palm, and a penchant for sharing their love life with the internet. But some folks take multitasking to a whole new level, turning first dates into business meetings. One recent story buzzed with the tale of a young woman who thought it was perfectly normal to bring her laptop along on her dinner date. You can almost imagine the scene—a dimly lit restaurant, candlelight flickering, and across the table, not a bouquet of roses, but the glow of a computer screen.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Instead of being horrified by the waitstaff mistakenly thinking she’s trying to order a new stock portfolio alongside her entrée, she was in full business mode. Making calls, negotiating contracts, and strategizing amidst the clinking of knives and forks. She’s the embodiment of the “boss girl” persona, the epitome of hustle culture. But while she’s busy juggling deals, one can only wonder what her date must have been thinking, staring at the empty space where his dinner partner should have been, but instead, it was an open laptop competing for his attention.

Let’s face it, this isn’t just a funny anecdote about a disastrous date—oh no, it’s a cultural phenomenon. This kind of scenario shines a spotlight on a pressing issue we’ve all noticed. Some folks are prioritizing career over everything, and we mean everything. The business-first attitude might lead to success in the boardroom, but relationships? Not so much. There’s a line between being driven and driven away. The race to the top can sometimes leave others stranded at the bottom of your priority list.

For those who’ve been around the block, this tale serves as a glaring red flag. Anyone who chooses a spreadsheet over spaghetti, well, that tells you a lot about how future family time might go. Family dinners might just turn into takeout alongside conference calls. Sure, ambition is admirable, but when it morphs into the inability to separate work from personal life, there are consequences. Things like family dinners get replaced by conference calls, and quality time becomes a casualty of career climbs.

So, what’s the moral of this little escapade? Balance. Maybe it’s time to cool down the hustle and heat up the connections that truly matter. After all, when it comes time to retire, it might not be contracts or cold hard cash that will be wrapping a warm blanket around you in your golden years. It might just be that date you brushed off for a client call, and when it’s all said and done, isn’t that what really counts?