DEAR ABBY: I am a 44-year-old single woman who considers herself fairly progressive. I have a rewarding career, great family, terrific friends and I date occasionally. One old-fashioned sticking point that is annoying me more and more: I'm sick to death of men I meet who say, "Call me on Saturday" -- or whenever they want to be contacted. What I tell them is, "Call ME if you want to see me." Then they don't bother to call.
Female friends my age and older say it should be up to the man to call the woman. Younger ones say if I'm interested, I should call the guy. I figure if he doesn't call, he's not really interested.
I currently work at home and can appreciate a hectic schedule. When I'm traveling, things can be wild -- so logically, I expect a man to call me if he's interested because the last thing I'd want to do is to interrupt him during his workday. Who is right? -- STICKLER IN PALATINE, ILL.
DEAR STICKLER: Coming from a generation that was raised to believe that the man should always call the woman, it is not easy to take the initiative and make a call. However, the rules of dating have changed since you were taught those restrictions.
It's time you learned a few new tricks -- and the people who can teach you are your younger friends. Let them give you a lesson or two and try some role-playing. I'm sure you'll have the technique down in no time.