NEW YORK – A New Jersey man commutes to Manhattan once a week to panhandle for affection beneath a sandwich board that reads, "I'm looking for a wealthy lady to be my wife," The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The cardboard and duct tape sign folds into a neat square when Robert Darling takes it to and from his two-bedroom apartment in Bradley Beach, N.J. For nearly a decade, he has donned the portable personal advertisement at his three preferred love-seeking locations -- the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbus Circle and Wall Street.
Darling, 56, begins each trip by telling himself that this day could be the day he meets the woman he will spend the rest of his life with. "The odds may not be great, but they might be better than any other way," Darling said. "I'm still very hopeful. I'll never give up."
Outside the Met last week, many of the well-heeled women climbing the steps ignored Darling as they rushed inside the museum to catch the Alexander McQueen exhibit, but a few promising candidates stopped to read his sign.
One woman carrying a Burberry umbrella smiled as she pronounced his last name, drawing out the "ah." She posed with Darling as a friend snapped a photograph and declared his sign the best she had seen while visiting from Texas. Unfortunately for Darling, she was wearing a ring on her left hand.
Darling has lost count of the number of attractive women who have appeared in photos with him, but so far his sign has only led to one actual night out. "It was a woman who wanted me to marry her friend, to get her a green card," he recalled. "I'm not here to get someone a green card. I'm here to get a wife."
Darling has been unemployed for nine months following a career in security at various government facilities, including the US Military Academy at West Point and the National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan.
Besides financial security, Darling said his requirements for a lady are fairly lenient -- he wants a smart woman who will make him laugh and enjoys listening to the band Genesis on the audio cassettes he carries with him.
An eligible bachelorette must have a net worth of $750,000, Darling said, though he is willing make exceptions for the right person. His sign offers the following caveat, "Ladies Not yet rich but very well off will be considered."
Click here to read more on this unusual marriage proposition from The Wall Street Journal.
