In the days of online dating, it’s often not very prudent to agree to spend a couple of hours with someone you aren’t sure you’re going to even like. So how do you remedy this? Welcome to the pre-date.

Plenty of people (mostly dudes) argue that a pre-date is just a date. I disagree. A pre-date is like a mini-audition. Not sure if the person’s love for collecting porcelain cats or predilection for World of Warcraft is something you want to listen to them wax poetic about during dinner? Or maybe their profile picture is grainy (which usually means it was taken in high school — RUN!) and you aren’t sure you like the look of them? Set up a pre-date.

Look, I’m not as much of a hateful witch as I sound, but at 34 years old, I am not trying to waste my time on someone who is only going to get on my nerves in two weeks and make me want to set myself on fire when I spend an evening with him. There’s a fantastic girl movie called “Clueless.” In it, the main character says something like, “You see how picky I am about my shoes and they only go on my feet.” Totally like that.

I assumed the pre-date was something everyone knew about, with the exception of the grouchy boys in the newsroom who don’t count. But when I started to look for proof, I came up empty handed. The most I was about to find was people checking out their first date on Facebook and Googling them prior to meeting and speed dating.

So schedule a cup of coffee or a drink. Not only are you in a public place, but you get to spend 30 minutes or so over a cup of joe or a beer and see if anything clicks. If it does, time to schedule the first date. If not, you’ve only lost a half hour of your life.

I have saved myself plenty of awkward first dates by using this method. It’s tried and true people. Say thank you with presents.

Amber Pittman is a reporter for The Covington News. She can be reached at apittman@covnews.com com.