Grocery stores are great places to meet women – they gotta buy food, right? And it offers a great opportunity for you to seem like a helpless male who needs a little feminine wisdom to get him through.

Here’s the plan: Go up to a woman who’s browsing meat (or looking at fruit or reading labels on laundry detergent or whatever). For instance, if it’s meat, look over the meat, too, picking some up and reading the labels then setting it back. Turn to her and say, “I’m hopeless at this, I can never pick good steaks. It’s always too tough or too fatty or just not fresh. Can you help me out?” Women love giving advice, and you just gave her a golden opportunity she can’t refuse. She’ll give some tips. Ask her questions, like what color to look for, if you should buy leaner cuts, etc. When she’s done and you’ve selected some steaks or a package of hamburger or whatever, say, “Thanks so much, I really appreciate this. This may be the first good meal I’ve had in ages. Let me repay you – let me make you dinner. You already know I’ve got good steak.” She’ll be a little taken by surprise, but very pleased with the attention. Say, “By the way, I’m Doug. And what can I call you?” She may accept the dinner invitation and if so, great, get the number and start planning that menu! But since she doesn’t really know you well, she may hesitate to go to your house for a meal.

So if she seems a bit reluctant, say, “You know, I know you really don’t know me and might be shy about coming to my place for dinner so soon. So how about I take you out for a nice meal, and then you can see what a harmless guy I am, and maybe later I’ll cook you that dinner. Come on, you’ve got nothing to lose and you’ll gain a free dinner at the restaurant of your choice. Besides, I owe you. Your advice has saved me from a lifetime of eating bad cuts of meat. You’ve got to let me pay you back.” She’ll be flattered and laughing at this point, and most likely writing down those digits for you!

If you met talking over fruit or laundry detergent, you obviously can’t offer to cook that up for her (well, you could, but you’ll score crazy points instead of brownie points). But you can still thank her and offer to pay her back by going for a cup of coffee or dinner sometime. Play up how she’s saved you from wearing horribly dingy clothes by helping with that detergent or saved you from catching God knows what kind of rare tropical disease imparted by eating squishy, bad fruit. Make a joke, get her laughing, and get those digits! Supermarket scores are great, because women love it when they think a man who was just minding his business, doing shopping, saw her and was so taken that he couldn’t help but make a move.