A woman named Jacklyn Collier penned a piece for the Washington Post‘s singles column, Solo-ish, about her experience going on a Tinder date with Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceuticals goblin who recently resigned as CEO from his company after being arrested on securities fraud charges related to his former biotechnology firm. Collier’s date with Shkreli took place before all of this latest drama, however. It was just after the CEO became (arguably) the most hated man in America after going public with plans to grossly inflate the cost of life-saving drugs.
Being that Shkreli was all over the news, Collier didn’t at first believe it was really him when they first matched on Tinder, and only reluctantly agreed to go on a date with him after he provided a selfie of himself in addition to photos of personal identification. Also, what woman wouldn’t go on a date, if nothing than out of curiosity, to see if the guy was still as much of a smug, arrogant piece of work in person?
As it turns out, Shkreli was none of those things. Collier writes that he was a perfect gentleman when planning out the date, when it came to her preference of date, time, and location, as well as any dietary preferences/restrictions she might have. As far as the date itself, Collier describes a much more down-to-Earth, and even nervous man than what Shkreli projects to the media. After getting a drink with the self-described “lightweight,” Collier attempted to get him to open up.
The one drink must have loosened Martin up, because the conversation flowed freely and he was surprisingly open. I asked a bunch of questions, trying not to make it seem as though I were interrogating him, but I was curious. He said people saying mean stuff didn’t bother him, but he felt that people didn’t understand the pharmaceutical industry. He assured me that no one would go without the drug if they needed it, that it would be given to patients if they couldn’t afford it. I was skeptical that he could guarantee that, but also wasn’t sure that he couldn’t.
Throughout our date, I saw occasional glimpses of the cocky Martin I had expected, but those were the moments that seemed the most false to me, as if putting on a confident-dude front. He seemed the most genuine when he was acting like the guys I hung out with in high school (I dated the president of the chess club); that’s probably why I felt so comfortable on our date.
Despite the fact that it wasn’t an ideal match, Shkreli continued to be a perfect gentleman and even had his driver take her home to Queens. The whole thing is worth a read, if for no other reason than to glimpse into the mind of someone who has become as notoriously hated as Shkreli has.
(Via Washington Post)