You’re right, it’s great not to judge based off a limited interaction. That’s why I went on several dates with him and tried to shove my varied misgivings aside up until basically this moment. Afterwards, he further sealed the deal by getting mad that I politely tried to end it… which DEFINITELY helped validate the spidey sense of “something’s not right” that I’d gotten in various smaller interactions along the way.

… then again: whether or not Leo simply misspoke, the fact that he felt entitled to denigrate a group of strangers was a very bad sign. So this particular moment deserved to be given as much weight as I gave it.

(Also, FWIW, the fact remains that some people genuinely do mean to say shitty things, and that abusive people often deliberately screen potential victims early on by way of disrespect. So, a friendly warning: if anybody ever does that to you, feel free to take it as a red flag.)