FU What did i do wrong guys? I just can't improve quick enough...

[Ryan]

Hey everyone,

As you know, i'm still a bit clueless with this. I try so hard, but nothing seems to be going right. I've been on a plateau for a while now - talking with a woman reasonably comfortably after an initial AA, but it's always very, very rare for a girl to give me her number (the only girl that has doesn't see me as a romantic interest). I feel I'm within reach of breaking through the plateau and getting some results and numbers, but something is still setting me back and i need to find out what.

As you can see in my second dialogue, i've included a little flirting/teasing, i deep dived, and got past small talk (i think my rapport is fine for now), did a bit of cold reading (which doesn't usually go wrong) and I always keep the conversation on her. I talk about relevant things to both of us, which she would understand, but what related me to her and vice versa.

I know my conversation is still far from perfect and i think i still need to be a bit more braver and flirt more (but i have to be careful. The girl below got annoyed when i was complimenting her too much, even though the compliments were sincere).

I'll be so happy if someone could correct me where I'm going wrong. I try to remember all my conversations, and 95% of it is there, so I'm sure the experienced guys can spot something and give me something to think about for next time.

(I spent about 2 hours writing all this out in my journal, and i'm really tired and i really want to go to bed now for university tomorrow. So i hope you guys don't mind i just copy it from there).

Day 15 (+9) - A complicated lesson on/in complicated surroundings?

It began this morning. I was feeling particularly upbeat and refreshed after a long break from the baptism of fire that I faced at the beginning of the month.
When i got onto the train to commute into the city, I saw a pretty girl and decided to sit next to her on the train. The only (big) problem was however, that there were at least 9 people surrounding us. (About 4 people directly behind us. 3 people beside us and 3 people sitting opposite, facing us.)
There was no way (i assumed) that I can just approach her normally. That would be far too embarrassing for her and she seemed like a shy, quiet girl (my sort of girl anyway!).

So, i had to think on the spot for this one and come up with something creative. Either that, or one stop before my station, I would go for broke and approach her normally anyway.

And as time was starting to run out and my heart began to steadily beat faster, I thought of this...

I turned the brightness on my iPhone's screen up to max, and typed in into the notepad these exact words:

You are cute
What's your name?

It was definitely one of my riskier moments. I wasn't sure how it'll turn out, but i put my faith into it anyway.
When I just finished typing it into my phone, I saw her take a little glance at my phone in my lap and then I knew I just got to hand it to her right there and then.

I passed my phone to her. She looked down on my phone for about 1-2 seconds, then looked at me for about 2 seconds with a blank, unimpressed expression. She shook her head and said 'no'. And went back to watching a TV show on her phone.



When she looked at me, I think I had the facial expression of 'What the hell am I doing?!' just before I would get on a scary ride. She probably realised that i was really nervous. Or i just wasn't her type and it was tough luck.
But had the train carriage been empty, i reckon i could have at least got a conversation out of her. Her body language didn't seem bad at all, and we were sitting much closer together than other passengers were. Her leg was touching mine the whole ride (until my approach, when she moved it slightly away) and i could feel her warmth (It felt really nice! Why are girls always so warm? >_<)

I didn't really know what lessons to take out of that, or what i learned at all, as she didn't really give me anything to learn from. It was just a flat-out rejection. But in the afternoon, i had a chance to try again in very similar circumstances...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When i was leaving university and returning back home on the train, I was sitting on my own in a relatively busy carriage. I was sitting in a row of 3 seats alone, and there was no-one in front of me in the 3 seats which were opposite.
I wasn't thinking of anything much, until a pretty girl caught my eye. She looked towards the empty seats beside me and proceeded to walk past many other empty seats to sit next to me. I moved my bag (I thought having my university bag between us would create a barrier that could affect her initial warmth towards me, so i removed it, so there was just space between us). She said thank you, and placed her bag on the seat instead.
And just when I got the courage to speak, a few seconds later, i said:

Me: 'Hey, which station are you getting off?' (I was going to proceed with, 'oh never mind, i just thought you were cute and i wanted to speak to you').
Her: 'Richmond'

Just then, a massive, 6ft5 giant came out of nowhere and sat right in front of me and the pretty girl. I looked at him, and thought 'fuck, what now?'

I thought back to what happened this morning. I didn't want to embarrass this girl with my flirting in front of others too, so I dropped my conversation between her.

During my silence, the girl replied to me with:
'Um... Sorry, but I don't get what you mean'.

Me: I thought i was on the wrong train, that's all. I think i'm good'.
Her: 'Oh, okay.'

The next 10 minutes, I was just looking out the window or giving unintentional dirty looks to the massive guy opposite us who could beat me in a fight any day. I wasn't angry actually, just really frustrated on how my day was turning out.

About 10 minutes passed, and the big man opposite us finally got off and i breathed a sigh of relief. I think i still had a chance, i was getting getting good signals/vibe/body language from her. So, i resumed our conversation.

]Me: 'Hey, i got to be honest. I do know i'm on the right train. I just said what i said before because i think you're cute.'
Her: [Smile] 'Oh! thank you for the compliment! It's very nice of you!'.
Me: 'What's your name?'
Her: 'My name's Nikki'
Me: 'My name's Ryan. Nice to meet you.'
Her: 'Nice to meet you too!'

Her: 'I'm going to ___, because my home is there. I go to Royal Holloway university you see.' (I could have jumped for delight then. She actually seemed interested in engaging in conversation! Contrary to many girls I met throughout this month).
Me: 'Really? My cousin goes there.' (I resisted continuing in order to bring the conversation back to her).
Her: 'Yes, I think it's good. I'm doing a PhD in Politics.'
Me: 'Wow, i am not worthy!' (I thought a bit of exaggeration/teasing would have lightened the mood again. The conversation was starting to stutter somewhat. But that self-demeaning statement could have had the opposite effect).
Her: 'Thank you for the compliment!' [giggle]
Me: 'Let me guess, you're korean?' (Thought i'd try and bring a bit of cold reading).
Her: 'No, I'm Singaporean'. (I was unlucky there)
Me: 'Ah, i wasn't going to get that one so easily.'
Her: 'Everyone thinks the same, don't worry about it.'
Me: 'You speak very good English though.'
Her: 'You know, i actually take that as a kind of insult'.
Me: 'But you speak English very elegantly and sophisticated. I would think you're from Oxfordshire.'
Her: 'Oh, more compliments!'
Me: 'Do you speak Mandarin?'
Her: 'No, we speak Singlish.'
Me: 'I'm impressed! You speak so many langauges, English and Singlish! Because why, lah?' (Thanks to Zac, I know Singlish is generally just adding 'lah' or 'yah' to things. Or saying 'Because why').
Her: 'Not really! You said it yourself, Singlish is just that, it's not so hard.'
Me: 'Can you speak Singlish for me? I think it'll be cute!.'
Her: 'No way!'
Me: 'Just one sentence!' (being persistent is good from what i've read somewhere here. When she agrees to my demand, her attraction would increase. But unfortunately, she continued to resist).

Announcer on the train speakers calls out that the next station is my own. We both look to each other.

Me: 'I gotta go now. Can i get your number? (I know i'm meant to say 'give me your number'. It's just that said request is a habit to me).
Her: 'Umm... No.. You can have my facebook... no wait.... no...um...

(What must i do?! And i thought things were going quite well... I know a girl offering her Facebook is worse than useless too. The above conversation felt like it lasted about 10 minutes, but it was probably about 7-8 minutes.)

Me: Oh, it doesn't matter. Nice to meet you Nikki. Hopefully i can see you here one day soon.
Her: Nice to meet you too! [We shake hands]. Ryan, is it?
Me: Yes. Bye.
Her: Bye

======================================================================================

I don't get it. Both girls were giving me good body language and good signals (certainly not negative body language at all!), and all i've got to show for my persistence and bravery is another 2 rejections (1 flat-out). I hope i can break through this plateau soon! I don't know of anything more to write, because I don't really know what i've learnt :/

I'll continue this on Thursday with my Newbie Assignment. Starting from Thursday, it'll be non-stop approaching again I know that i'm not used to going out so much, and i could exhaust myself again, but i NEED to break through the plateau sooner rather than later and actually write a success story here for once!

ryan

Thanks for reading!

 

[Verisimilitude]

First off, nice job with the two approaches. I know they didn't turn out like you wanted, but think of it this way: every time you have sex with a girl, you get 1% better with women, every time you approach, you get .01% better (from Chase). The fact that you had the balls to do that is great. And sometimes, you get turned down. It happens. No big deal. This site will NOT allow you have sex with every girl you meet. No site will. What this site will do is increase your attractiveness so that you get more interest and then give you the tools to capitalize on that interest.

Now for the specifics:

For the first girl, there wasn't anything you could do about it. You can't make a girl like you. Interest has to be there. The best thing you can learn from that is to keep working on fundamentals and raising your attractiveness (haircut, style, facial hair, etc.). I also wouldn't approach like that. It was a low risk, low reward approach. You protected yourself from looking stupid in front of those people (it wouldn't have been as bad as you thought), but you also came off kind of scared (which you were). Verbal openers are best, after some pre-opening.

For the second girl, why were you scared of that guy? I don't know about you, but where I'm from, people don't just fight guys on trains for hitting on girls. If you had persisted too much, maybe he would have told you to back off, but that would have taken a lot of pushing from you. I think re-opening her took your value down a notch. You were also supplicating a little by complimenting her. If a girl walked up to you and said everything you did was the most amazing thing ever, you'd be a little weirded out. Same thing with her. One compliment is enough, two is fine, but as much as you did is overkill. Let her look to impress you, don't be impressed by everything she does.

Also, from what I'm reading the conversation seems a little bit like an interrogation. You ask a question, she responds, then another. Good conversation is back and forth, not one sided. Find a topic she hooks onto, and get her talking on it. Ask her, "so why'd you end up here?" or "what do you miss most about Singapore?" Things that get her talking about emotional topics. There are a couple great articles on that at the main page.

You didn't do terrible asking for her phone number. The trick is to ask for it during a high point of the interaction, not at the end. That way, she feels less put on the spot and still feels the great emotions of the conversation. You asked at the end, and she got flustered. Not really a rejection. She just might be shy.

A tip for approaching: Try to do some pre-opening before. With the first girl, touch her leg, and wait for her to look at you, then open. Or use eye contact. This will improve your success rate.

Don't lose faith, you'll get a success story up her soon!

 

[Ryan]

Hey thanks for your answer xcrunner. To be honest, this was still in my head, and i was still questioning what i did wrong so i couldn't get any sleep. After your great answer, i think i can go to bed a bit more relaxed i was a bit embarressed when you said all these things which Chase and others have talked about, but i'm happy now because i know what to look for now.

In response to what you said about the guy, it's not that i was afraid of him (not physically), but i HATE approaching girls in front of other people (i guess i should have made that clearer). That's why i couldn't verbally approach the first girl, because i knew she was shy and i was afraid the whole carriage will start staring at us once i begin flirting with her (it's quite quiet. Everyone's just reading newspapers and stuff).
For the second girl, i felt very uncomfortable approaching that girl with that guy a few inches away, hearing everything i say. I mean, what if he smirked, laughed or mocked at my attempts at talking with her? I would feel very embarrassed, and my value would be ruined by him.

ryan

 

[Grand Pooba]

Ryan,

First of all, congratulations for getting this far! It’s great to see that you’re out practicing and putting yourself in the grinder. Remember that even the MOST successful men still get rejected from beautiful girls, in the same ways that you did with Girl #1. So don’t be discouraged by this, you’re doing great, and sometimes they're legitimately not interested for whatever reason. The point is that it doesn't matter, move on to the next one that IS into you when you say hello!

Also, approaching on public transit (commuter trains, buses, subways) is HARD(!!), and not many people do this. Big props to you for going out and trying it.

Now, comments….

What you’re doing right:
• Genuine compliment on Girl #2 after getting over the initial nervousness. Well done here! This is sometimes a good way to approach some women if you cannot come up with a compliment fast on the fly: where you ask them something but then tell them directly that you know the answer to what they were saying, and that really in fact you noticed them (even better if it's something specific you noticed about them i.e. hair style) and wanted to say Hi.
• Your introduction with Girl #2 is good: you inquired her name before giving yours, and said it's nice to meet you. She gave you an in by beginning to talk about what she's doing, and you worked to build a connection by associating with it.
• Your conversation: it's good that you're inquiring into her life and qualifying her.

Where you can improve (I sense these are current sticking points):
• Approach anxiety and fundamentals: Judging by the way you describe your interactions your lack of confidence going in is affecting the outcome. I suspect that you were behaving nervously and also that your fundamentals were out of line with Girl #1, though you seemed to do well after you got over this with Girl #2. Your fundamentals…body language, posture, deepness of your voice, your walk, your smile, your style, your eye contact, an air of confidence and sexuality…are VERY potent tools that can make or break the opening sequence. Practice and focus on getting these down. You'll also get more comfortable the more you approach and the less each approach becomes as important in the big picture.
• Do not worry about what random people around you think of what you are doing or might be doing. Unless you are coming off in a super creepy and harassing way (never something to strive for anyway), they will not care. This also comes with time, practice, and lots and lots of rejections, but you cannot worry about what other people think of you, including the girl you’re talking to. At the worst you are simply wasting a minute of your and the girls time, at best you’re going to build something great with you and her.
• As you get better attuned to women (again, this comes from lots and lots of practice) you’ll begin to understand screening and deduce what girls are into you and which aren't, and move forward with the former faster. This can become a pretty advanced skill because many times a woman’s words will belie her body language as well as her interest in you: they say or make it seem they’re not interested when in actuality they are but may be screening for weakness, being coy, or a host of other things. Perhaps someone else can give pointers on this, but for now keep approaching and learn to read how women behave when they are positive and negative to your interactions.
• Pre-open her. Yeah, this one is pretty freaking hard to get used to (speaking from experience), but you have to take the plunge and get used to touching her lightly to engage.

Let’s look at these in more detail:

When i got onto the train to commute into the city, I saw a pretty girl and decided to sit next to her on the train. The only (big) problem was however, that there were at least 9 people surrounding us. (About 4 people directly behind us. 3 people beside us and 3 people sitting opposite, facing us.)
There was no way (i assumed) that I can just approach her normally. That would be far too embarrassing for her and she seemed like a shy, quiet girl (my sort of girl anyway!).

This is a fear of others around you, and I don't think there is any reason you couldn't approach her normally. I suspect that the nervousness you felt here caused approach anxiety.

She looked down on my phone for about 1-2 seconds, then looked at me for about 2 seconds with a blank, unimpressed expression. She shook her head and said 'no'. And went back to watching a TV show on her phone.

You have described this here a little bit but it's important: how were you presenting yourself to her in this instant? Were you smiling? How was your posture? How was your eye contact? This would be good to analyze for your benefit. Anyway, in this situation I would have smiled and done a verbal introduction and put my hand out to say hello the instant she looked at me after she looked at the phone.

Just then, a massive, 6ft5 giant came out of nowhere and sat right in front of me and the pretty girl. I looked at him, and thought 'fuck, what now?'

Don't worry about him.

'Um... Sorry, but I don't get what you mean'.

Me: I thought i was on the wrong train, that's all. I think i'm good'.
Her: 'Oh, okay.'

This was a good save. She was probably wondering why you asked where she is going and determining how safe you are.

]Me: 'Hey, i got to be honest. I do know i'm on the right train. I just said what i said before because i think you're cute.'
Her: [Smile] 'Oh! thank you for the compliment! It's very nice of you!'.

Nice direct, genuine interest. Perhaps practice following this up with something specifically cute about her, then "What's your name?" before she can respond to the second one. Maybe it's her hair, maybe her hands, as long as it's genuine about her. Great work here.

Her: 'I'm going to ___, because my home is there. I go to Royal Holloway university you see.'

She's offering qualifications about herself without you asking, it seems. This is a good indicator of interest, she's giving out her value to you.

Her: 'Yes, I think it's good. I'm doing a PhD in Politics.'
Me: 'Wow, i am not worthy!' (I thought a bit of exaggeration/teasing would have lightened the mood again. The conversation was starting to stutter somewhat. But that self-demeaning statement could have had the opposite effect).
Her: 'Thank you for the compliment!' [giggle]

Good opportunity to deep dive into what she's learning and why she's doing it, how long she's been here for and what else she does at the Uni.

Me: 'I gotta go now. Can i get your number? (I know i'm meant to say 'give me your number'. It's just that said request is a habit to me).
Her: 'Umm... No.. You can have my facebook... no wait.... no...um...

I think you failed here because you did not give her a reason why she should give you her number. She didn't know what you would do with her facebook, let alone a number. It is better to frame this as something like: "Well, I gotta get out here, but you seem really interesting and cute, and I'd love to get to know you better. So why don't we get together over coffee when we both have a free minute, cool?" and then you hand her your phone. (Credit to PrettyDecent for this one)

I hope this helps.

 

[Ryan]

Thanks for your reply Ozz, it was really helpful and i do appreciate all you wrote for me. I'm happy to know i'm doing some stuff right, thanks for that!

Main things to improve on:

• Pre-opening!! Always try to pre-open whenever possible. (I always assumed pre-opening was much less physical, so i'll try to add a bit more touch to my pre-opening).
• Don't be scared by approaching in front of other people. Tone down my voice a bit so i don't draw too much attention to ourselves, and make her shy (right guys?), but always try to open verbally.
• Find to find a topic she hooks on, and keep talking about that topic in a back-and-forth conversation.
• Talk about emotional topics (about her life, and what she is most concerned about).
• Ask for her phone number at a high-point, not just before I leave/at the end.
• Give her a reason why I want her number.
• Keep improving my fundamentals.

 

[Verisimilitude]

i was a bit embarressed when you said all these things which Chase and others have talked about, but i'm happy now because i know what to look for now.

Happens to the best of us. Just do better next time!

I mean, what if he smirked, laughed or mocked at my attempts at talking with her? I would feel very embarrassed, and my value would be ruined by him.

Who cares? Unless he's a guy you know, you'll probably never see him again. I get that its tough though, I have problems with it all the time. We all have been there.

That list looks great. That will go a long way towards you getting a better response from girls!

 

[Nova]

Hi Ryan, it can be a bit irritating when your starting of. Success seems so close but yet so far away if I remember. If you do want success with women, you really do just have to keep practicing. Trust me, GirlsChase is one of the most accurate sites out there when it comes to seduction. Keep on working at it and it will pay off in the end. Each time you approach, each time you fail, succeed, whatever, you learn something and get that little bit better.

The first girl:

Terrible position for you. I probably would probably have just left it. Isolating a girl is a very important part of seduction if you ask me, it really does allow the girl to free herself up and gifts you far better results. The whole message on iPhone thing was not a good call, i'll tell you why and i'll be honest - it makes you look like a pussy, and it makes thing very easy for her to dismiss. For a girl its such a 'roll your eyes' moment. You would have had better chances just opening her normally and ignoring all the other people, at least that displays strength of character etc etc. But I can understand your predicament - quiet girl, surrounded by people - how do I approach? I would have treated it like a day game pickup, nothing too deep, just pre opened, exchanged some casual chit chat, bit of humor, maintained correct body language but mainly relied on solid fundamentals and hoped they paid off I would have worked in a way of quietly receiving her number (this is when passing your phone over could have come into play)

Second girl:

You can't let some big dude put you off, simple as. Girls are very socially calibrated. They pick up on nervousness extremely well and its a turn off. You really have to find a way of dealing with this. That guy was probably shit with women, why let him stop you? Regardless of his size he wasn't their to fight you dude.

Conversation wise, I like the quick exchange of names. Way too many compliments though. I don't give a fuck what anybody else says I never start off with a compliment ie your cute. When I go direct, I don't do it using compliments, I feel it puts guys on the backfoot, unless there is a massive attainability differenc in your favor etc. Man shes telling you shes Singaporean, and shes into politics if you want to deep dive ask her why shes in this country, if she likes it, what she likes about it, if she wants to stay, why shes studying politics, whats the course like, what she wants from her life - and make sure you relate to her and active listen whilst dropping certain amounts of flirting, humor, chase frames & sex frames for flavoring.

Remember these three things for any interaction that lasts over 10 minutes also:

Disqualify yourself as a boyfriend
Gain investment
Show scarcity
Move her

Keep working on it dude. The best thing is you are trying. 90 percent of guys don't even do that so grab yourself a beer.

 

[Marty]

Ryan:

Brave of you to post this, and I echo the comments of Ozz, XC and Nova when they point out that most guys never even make it through the starting-gate. You've got a built-in advantage, always remember that Way to go!

You've had a lot of helpful commentary here and I haven't got much to add, but I do want to start discussion in a couple areas:

Terrible position for you. I probably would probably have just left it. Isolating a girl is a very important part of seduction if you ask me, it really does allow the girl to free herself up and gifts you far better results.

You can't let some big dude put you off, simple as. Girls are very socially calibrated. They pick up on nervousness extremely well and its a turn off. You really have to find a way of dealing with this. That guy was probably shit with women, why let him stop you? Regardless of his size he wasn't their to fight you dude.

Nova, funny thing is I actually agree with both of these points. But what is a little counter-intuitive is that they seem to contradict one another. I think the real point is that Ryan is put off by onlookers, bystanders etc. (as am I) not because he is afraid of what they might do as such (e.g. interfere), but because it could potentially embarrass the girl if she is put in a position where she has to deal one way or another with advances within hearing of others.

Is what you're essentially saying that just so long as you've already opened a girl, you should keep going on the approach if others appear in the midst, but if others are already poised to overhear before you open, then you might reconsider getting started in the first place?

I often have situations in the streets where I am waiting for a girl to cross the road toward me, and as the lights turn, at the last moment some third party appears right next to her, throwing off my opening.

I don't give a fuck what anybody else says I never start off with a compliment ie your cute. When I go direct, I don't do it using compliments, I feel it puts guys on the backfoot, unless there is a massive attainability difference in your favor etc.

Nova I have to admit I just don't get this. I see where you're coming from: compliments risk putting you in the chasing position and/or needy and/or (even worse) supplicating; but what else is "direct"? Are you saying use a "sexual" compliment which is by definition non-needy, e.g. "You have the sexiest legs I've ever seen" which cannot possibly be interpreted as supplication given the confidence required to deliver it to a complete stranger? or what exactly do you recommend?

Thanks
-Marty

 

[Ryan]

Wow, i didn't expect so many replies- Thank you Nova and Marty, much appreciated!

I don't give a fuck what anybody else says I never start off with a compliment ie your cute. When I go direct, I don't do it using compliments, I feel it puts guys on the backfoot, unless there is a massive attainability difference in your favor etc.

Nova I have to admit I just don't get this. I see where you're coming from: compliments risk putting you in the chasing position and/or needy and/or (even worse) supplicating; but what else is "direct"? Are you saying use a "sexual" compliment which is by definition non-needy, e.g. "You have the sexiest legs I've ever seen" which cannot possibly be interpreted as supplication given the confidence required to deliver it to a complete stranger? or what exactly do you recommend?

Thanks
-Marty

I wondered about this too, any chance you could elaborate on this, Nova?

 

[Ryan]

Hey, just a quick update. I just wanted to tell everyone who helped me that they've been so helpful, and today i think i've broken through my plateau - I got a number from a lady just now!! Couldn't have done it without you guys.

I will post the full story on my journal later, but in brief, i pre-opened her through eye contact and touching her elbow before opening. I deepened my voice, walked even straighter and used one of the facial expressions Chase wrote about.
She was on the train, and she got off at a stop 2 stops before mine. I thought 'fuck it', left the train at the wrong stop and approached her.

I must admit, with my confidence, i didn't feel as socially aware. I didn't really listen/care to what she was saying, what she was doing, where i was looking, etc. I can't even remember her name and i was all over the shop, but i had confidence and paid extra attention to correcting the things you guys suggested. And the result is she gave me her number!

I'm so happy now, i can't even concentrate during university which is why i'm posting here ^_^

 

[Nova]

Marty

Addressing your first question

Yeh I really get where your coming from. Simple fact is, if there are other people around who will overhear, you need to be looking to isolate asap. If you CAN'T isolate at all, then you have only one option remaining, bite the bullet and open, hoping that the girl wont be too pressured and that you can get through the interaction somewhat smoothly doing everything you can do ensure that there is no added pressure for her. Which is why in Ryan's specific situation I recommended treating it somewhat like a day street pickup - bit of conversation, mainly to install some degree of comfort, whilst relying mainly on solid fundamentals and grabbing quick digits. As opposed to having a long-winded conversation, consisting of deep diving, sexual framing etc etc which in Ryan's case would have likely been too much considering the potential spectators. You have to calibrate your seductions to your surroundings.

No interaction is going to have perfect variables and honestly there is no right or wrong answer here, you just have to use your own intuition.

Addressing your second question:

Re-considering Ryan's specific interaction, I admit, perhaps going strong here from the beginning wasn't such a bad move since I did just advise treating it like a street day game pickup, where you do sometimes need to say something catching to actually grab the girls attention and considering I recommended not saying too much during the actual interaction, it would be an effective thing to state your intention quickly.

I shouldn't have said I never go direct by using compliments, what I was really talking about was the specific compliment that Ryan used which was too generic, and even though direct, boring and basic. Compliments need to be specific and personal for them to be effective. Girls spend all day brushing off 'hey your cute'esque type compliments. Also you need to consider the onlookers, and by going as obviously direct as Ryan did, with such a blatant compliment that does nothing to ease the pressure for the girl, instead she such wants to quickly end things. The direct compliment needed to be something specific to her so that it wasn't possible for her to simply brush it off as that would has been socially UNcalibrated of her. The compliment Ryan used gave her too much incentive to brush him off.

Another reason why I said I never go direct via compliments is because when I do go direct I usually use the classic 'are your single' line or lines to that effect, that allow me to quickly transition into disqualifying myself as a boyfriend and showing scarcity all at the same type. Also a lot of the time I opt for very basic greeting openers and situation openers, and escalate from there.

No it's not wrong to use compliments when going direct, but make sure they are personal and unique.

EDIT: well done Ryan