After her boyfriend suddenly broke up with her, 19-year-old Emma Vowell turned to Tinder, like most young people may do—but not for the reasons you may think.
Vowell, a sophomore at Purdue University in Indiana, said her boyfriend broke up with her after she had bought a pair of skydiving tickets above the Chicago skyline as a surprise birthday gift. Rather than letting the November-expiring tickets go to waste, she advertised the tickets on her Tinder bio. Vowell said her ex was devastated when he found out she had bought the tickets but she wasn’t going to take him.
In her Tinder bio, she said said she was “deadass” only looking for a guy to go skydiving with her, and was not interested in hooking up.
Shortly after posting her ad to Tinder, Vowell began receiving messages and even resumes from guys who were interested in her offer.
One of the contenders—who is also a student at Purdue University—Austin Bates, sent a professional resume and an entire cover letter to the newly single sophomore.
“Dear Ms. Emma, I recently saw your advertisement on the dating application Tinder, and am very interested in filling the position you had listed,” Bates said in the cover letter.
He said he could be the attractive guy she was looking for to go skydiving with, and nothing other than that. Bates said although he has plans to skydive in Hawaii next year, he would rather not wait so long to experience the thrill.
As far as compensation goes, Bates listed a number of benefits he could give to Vowell—and not the typical Tinder benefits you may be thinking.
“I would be willing to drive you to class, exams, [and] bars for a week of your choosing in my doorless Jeep,” Bates said. “I also live with a one-year-old German shepherd-husky mix, that I will let you pet, walk with, or send you pictures of any time your heart desires.”
Bates concluded by saying he could also offer free 1-on-1 personal fitness training and cover the costs of food, lodging, and gas.
https://twitter.com/emma_vowell/status/913468129833111555
https://twitter.com/emma_vowell/status/912524431075024896
Vowell posted the “application” on Twitter saying Bates was the most dedicated guy to ever to ever “shoot his shot” and asked whether or not she should take him skydiving. This post received a lot of mix feelings about whether or not Bates should be “hired” for the position.
Some were impressed by his effort and thought he deserved to be her skydive date.
https://twitter.com/Trashpanda_god/status/913058489471242240
Yes take him
— madelyn horning (@_madsta) September 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/keasbeydays/status/913053867092430848
https://twitter.com/ThatBigGirl_/status/912802957846024193
Others were less impressed by the quality of his resume.
Resume has terrible formatting turn him down
— You (@whooismax) September 26, 2017
The formatting is making me cringe, just glancing at it…
— Carson (@ccars0n) September 26, 2017
Formatting’s way off, toss it
— $𝖕𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖞 $𝖙𝖊𝖛𝖊🎃 (@thboywndr) September 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/asap_freeman/status/913131110682337280
Then there were the ones who had some strong critiques for the resume, but thought he deserved an A for effort.
His verbs on his experiences aren’t great action verbs and have different tenses, but he should get extra credit for effort
— Taylor (@tayman47) September 27, 2017
Those margin/tabs make my head hurt. But sure
— Generation Ink (@GenerationInk) September 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/connoraclaus/status/913133309206630410
After her tweets about Bates went viral, other applicants began sending their resumes her way. One guy from Virginia even found her on LinkedIn to send his application.
https://twitter.com/emma_vowell/status/913047517436268545
In the end, it was Bates who impressed Vowell the most and earned the position of being her skydiving date. Some of her Twitter followers were deeply involved with the application process and happy to see Bates chosen.
ANYWAY
— Em (@em_bemm) September 27, 2017
Nice to meet ya, Mr. BATES*****
seriously, really, don’t tweet and drive pic.twitter.com/f8433oqqga
Literally followed for this update, bless y’all
— At Midnight (@mellokids) September 27, 2017
Marry him
— abby (@abbylindley) September 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/Malibu__97/status/913146176408625154
Even Tinder agreed that Bates was the perfect choice—and offered her a job.
You clearly have good judgment @emma_vowell – we liked Austin’s resume too. Tinder loves working with creative people like you and Austin. How does a job with Tinder sound? (we’re serious, dm us) https://t.co/ADsjvNHhGn
— Tinder (@Tinder) September 28, 2017
Vowell and Bates plan to skydive across the skyline of the Windy City on Oct. 28.
H/T BuzzFeed
