Dear Mr Strauss,

I recently read your book The Game and wanted to put your advice from its sequel Rules of the Game into practice, however I reached a stumbling block.

You see, I tried the “Plenty of Fish” website to meet people, and after a while I started using sites where you pay other people to write a professional looking profile for you. In fact, I used more than one of these sites and I still got no messages or replies to messages, no matter what I wrote or what picture I used.

The girls here in my hometown of Blackpool, Lancashire, England aren’t exactly the nicest girls in the world, and neither are the guys, really.

I tried Exercise 1, Day 1 of your book, making small talk with five random strangers. I took my family dog with me so I wouldn’t feel as nervous. I said “evening” to some people, and the first time a guy said, “Even-” and then stopped himself mid-sentence, looked at me and laughed. After that it went a little bit better, but I only said the word “evening” and nothing further to people.

I live at home with my family because of the economic crisis, plus I have both learning difficulties and mental health problems, so I find it hard to relate to people. I am 25 and have never had a girlfriend or know how to relate to girls at all. The only thing that came close to a relationship was this girl I met on a bus. We talked but she had a boyfriend who treated her like crap. They break up and get together a lot, but I digress.

I need help badly. I want a girlfriend but I wouldn’t know what to do if I had one. Plus my handicaps in life make it more difficult for me. Especially because I spend all day with my mum—we lean on each other, as we are close.

I need advice from a professional. Thanks.

–Daniel D.