1. Don't be afraid to be the assertive one. You might be the indecisive one IRL, but when you're planning a meet up with someone via text, you don't need to think about whether or not the person will actually hate you for choosing pho instead of pizza. In turn, the receiver is also expected to be assertive even if he/she is not in real life. If you don't like the assertive suggestion of pho, then be assertive and say, "Let's get pizza instead." The reason why assertiveness is important via text is because time is of the essence when you're old. We don't have time anymore, so the meet up is rare and must be finalized before it's too late. Haven't we both finally picked a day that works for both of us? That's probably rare. Don't miss that date because you guys couldn't decide on a place to meet, or more annoyingly, frantically decide on a mediocre spot at the last minute.
2. But maybe you really don't know the person very well. To be polite, you can provide location/fare options. Two is good. More than two is overwhelming. It's probably smart that the two options are vastly different from each other. Then again, if you don't know the person very well, it's always best to choose boring (but always delicious) Italian food. But if it's a first date, always avoid Italian even if you're trying to be safe.
3. When you decide on a spot or provide options, best practice is to give as much detail to the person, with the least amount of work on your part. The solution? Yelp. And I don't mean just linking the person to the Yelp page. If you don't know the "share" button on the app, then do us all a favor: get on the Yelp app. I'm on iOS so I can tell you how it looks from your iPhone. After you're on the page of the business you want, press the button on the top right corner that has three dots. Press "Share Business." Press the message/email icon and send to the appropriate person. It will provide the name of the business, address, phone, and link to the page. What you don't do is say, "How about Shake Shack?"
Two issues with this: 1) it's annoying for the person to Google it and 2) "which Shake Shack?"
The exception might be if you and your friend have already determined that you'll be meeting in Astoria and there is only one Queens Comfort, and perhaps you have even been there together before.
4. It's a nice bonus if you realize that one person might be doing all the work. Perhaps your friend researched and chose the place for you guys to meet. Then maybe you might consider deciding on a time, whereby making it easier for the person to simply respond, "That works for me! See you then."
In other words, if your friend decided on a place, and you simply respond, "Great!," then it's your friend's job again, this time to assert a time to meet. Make their life easier by just telling them what conveniences you instead of having them ask you what conveniences you.
