1. Always set up the meeting well in advance, so you have adequate time to arrange a safety net. This goes for Doms and subs alike.
2. Arrange to meet for the first time during daylight hours in a public place, such as a mall or a restaurant. Park your car some distance away, so that if the meeting goes badly, you cannot be followed away. Another idea is to take a cab to this first meeting.
3. If you are traveling, do not let the person you're meeting know where you're staying.
4. Do not set up an expectation that you will play at the first meeting.
5. Do not play at the first meeting.
6. Consider taking along a friend to the first meeting.
7. Use "safe calls" (also called "silent alarms"). Here are some ideas: Tell a friend (or two) who and where you'll be meeting along with as much other information as you can muster (e.g... a phone number, an address, a physical description, make and model of car, or license plate number). Make sure your friend has an accurate description of you, including what you are wearing. And make sure your friend is absolutely clear about the safe-call procedure. Arrange to call your friend immediately after you've met your "date". Give your friend(s) a "clear word" beforehand - one that you must say to indicate that everything is okay. Failure to say this word in the conversation will instruct your friend(s) to call the police. Arrange to call at specific times. If a phone call is not made on time, your friend should call the police. The police in most cities are familiar and cooperative with this procedure. If an emergency does arise, your friend can tell the police you made this arrangement because you were on a blind date, that in all likelihood nothing is wrong, but could they please send a car around (to the meeting place or to your date's home) just to be sure.
8. Be honest. If you feel, after the first meeting, that this person is not someone you want to be involved with, be up-front about it. (But it's not necessarily a good idea to do this at your first meeting. Go home and sleep on it. Arrange to speak to this person the next day.)
