Shopper had a missed connection in SC — but Facebook users help find ‘WholeFoodsRyan’
A woman said she went on an “improbable” first date, thanks to community members who helped her find someone she met at a South Carolina grocery store.
Leahamarie Fiddie was at a Whole Foods in Greenville when a shopper approached her and asked her to go on a date. She turned him down, a decision she later regretted, she wrote on Facebook in November.
“As the days progressed, I couldn’t get him off my mind,” she said in the post. “There was something about him and I wanted to know what it was.”
So, Fiddie said she prayed and considered turning to social media for help with finding the person named Ryan.
“One night I got home from work and just couldn’t resist the urge anymore,” she told McClatchy News in a message on Monday. “It was like I had to post it or my soul was going to burst.”
To see if she could find the mystery shopper, Fiddie shared her plea in a Facebook group called Yeah That Greenville. Responses poured in, and the post garnered more than 1,000 comments.
After wading through messages from people named Ryan, she said in a TikTok post that she still couldn’t find the guy from Whole Foods.
But eventually, the Facebook post paid off. With help from other social media users, Fiddie said an unlikely first date was made possible.
“It’s been encouraging to see something so positive come from this hectic and unpredictable year,” she told McClatchy News. “I think it was a win for more than just Ryan and I, but for a lot of people following along as well.”
The search sparked the hashtag #WholeFoodsRyan and drew interest from social media users, including a photographer who offered to give the two a photo shoot in the parking lot of the store where they saw each other for the first time.
It was a few months ago when Ryan Lindler, who isn’t on social media, said he stopped at the Whole Foods and saw someone who captured his attention, WHNS reported.
“I actually went in there to get a protein drink and then I saw her, she had a mask on,” he told the TV station. “I thought she had nice eyes so I just went for it.”
While their reunion was filled with awkward laughter, Fiddie said there was also chemistry. The two have been spending time together in person and over the phone ever since.
“The spark was so instant that we would just rather be in each other’s company than anywhere else,” she said.
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Shopper had a missed connection in SC — but Facebook users help find ‘WholeFoodsRyan’."
