I want to turn down invitations for weekends. I’m currently seeing a man on a monthly arrangement.

I’m Saito, a column writer♪ As the gentleman with the intense papa-katsu experience says, you’re simply a complete mismatch. In my case, I’m only available during weekday daytime hours (my evenings are taken up by business entertaining), so I don’t approach office workers in the first place. I also rule them out as potential partners at parties and events. The best option is to explain the situation and part ways.

Maezawa from the CEO’s Office here with an answer as well. No matter how you put it, men are likely to feel offended. I think that’s unavoidable, so let’s consider what you can do about it. First, putting yourself in the man’s shoes: He may have free time during the day on weekends, with nothing else to do, and feel bored. Being able to go on dates with a woman during that time would probably make his life more fulfilling. On the other hand, you already have a fulfilling life on weekends, so the only time you have available is weekday evenings. You probably feel that if you could use that time for dates, your life would be even more fulfilling than it is now. In that case, the times you both want to meet don’t match at all, so some compromise will be necessary. In other words, you could set aside about three hours on one weekend day for him, while he could make time on a weekday evening for you. That way, it seems like you’d each be compromising a little. This is just an example, but I think it would be best to discuss it along these lines and meet each other halfway. If weekends are absolutely impossible for you, try telling him that honestly and directly. Even if that leads to the two of you parting ways, I suppose it can’t be helped if neither of you is able to compromise.