A mischievous mum put her best friend up for sale in a bid to bag the 'workaholic' bloke a girlfriend - branding his own attempts to woo women as 'boring'. May Wong posted pictures of bachelor pal Paul Macfarlane alongside a tongue-in-cheek Facebook ad listing the pros and cons of the pet and child-free 'purchase' earlier this month.
These included the 42-year-old being in 'prime condition' and giving 'great hugs' but claimed he's 'a bit of workaholic' who's 'not the greatest communicator'. The ad told potential buyers that they should only apply 'if you're ok with him being very busy and not responding immediately'.
The 48-year-old then cheekily explains the apparent downside, stating 'I think he's busy because he's got no-one to be busy with'. The mum-of-two admitted she'd 'probably be killed' for writing the ad, but after seeing Paul's 'boring' attempts to introduce himself on a Facebook 'mates and dates' group, she took matters into her own hands.
Now the recruitment business partner, who's been in a relationship herself for 18 months, is hopeful her platonic pal of ten years Paul will find love from the post. May, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: "We met through work, we just chatted and hit it off as friends.
"We both respectively left our jobs and stayed in touch, we would catch up once a month. It's the kind of friendship though when even when it has been a while we just pick up where we left off.
"There was never that connection or chemistry between us. It's always been purely platonic, just really good mates. Paul's been single for far too long but I just left him to it.
"Then over the last couple of months I'd noticed he'd been a bit more interactive on the [mates and dates] group and I just thought 'he's ready'. I told him to do an introduction post, he said he'd already done one but I remember reading it and thinking 'it's so boring'.
"I said 'no, you need to do a better one' and he didn't, so I thought 'right I'll do it' but I didn't tell him. When he saw the post I tagged him in, the first thing he said to me was 'we need to have words' I just laughed. He did take it quite well, though he wouldn't have fallen out with me over it."
May said the post attracted hundreds of likes, shares and comments with people getting into the spirit of the ad, joking about the terms and conditions. She said: "I put the pros and cons as I wanted to show the true side of him.
"I was really surprised by the reaction to the post, I wasn't expecting it to blow up the way it did. I had some people joking alongside it writing 'does he come with a warranty or a trial period?' It was a good response. Hopefully 2023 is the year I find a buyer for him. I think it's time now for him to find somebody and have somebody in his life."
Project manager Paul said he was surprised by the post, but that he found it 'cool' that she'd gone to the trouble. Paul, from Dronfield, Derbyshire, said: "I was completely surprised when I saw I was up for sale.
"The pros and cons list was accurate, she got me to a tee. It completely blindsided me but once [I thought about it] I thought 'that is actually quite cool'.
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"A couple of women messaged May - one I'm still sort of talking to on WhatsApp, we're just trying to arrange a phone call. It was fun to see the post and all the interactions where people were genuinely loving it.
"I didn't realise May thought my previous post was 'boring'. I'm not the best at selling myself so I've kind of got to take that. I'm hoping 2023 is the year I find love. If someone comes along and can disrupt my life for the better that would be great."
