To the op, haven't met you and have no clue what you look like but you lost me at thrift store. Hope you're not buying your clothes there and wondering why people look at you funny, just a thought.
"Intimidating" was code for "you look strong and make me moist in the panties". You should have took both of them back to your man cave and shown them The Intimidator. The good news is that you can still reel em in, the bad news is that you missed the signals and may have gone queer.
So. Tell me... why is it that any old TomDick&Harry can plant metal posts into the dirt & attach crosspieces & then nail on pickets........ but it takes a fuckin MIT trained Engineer to make a goddamn gate that operates for more than two fuckin months and/or 2 inches of precipitation? Seriously. The guy that built my fence did a bang-up job. The gates operate just fine 5 years later. But well over half of the gates that I use to enter backyards all over DFW (and to access yards of folks in high dollar neighborhoods) have gates that do not work. Gates that sag to where they don't latch... gates that have trim pieces that jam up against one another to the point that the gates don't shut..... etc.... WTF???????
You could grow a man bun, I'm sure that would soften up your edges a bit.....no one since the old days of the samurai could make these things look tough, not IMO anyway.
I was picking up a bicycle to refurbish. There is a shop in town that lets homeless folks donate time in the shop, learn to work on bikes and the give them a bike in return as transport to get around the city. I have met some pretty cool folks there. they ask if you can afford it, pay their rate for work, if you cant, just do what you can if you can't do anything, it is free, but ask you to volunteer a little time to help others. It is a pretty cool but not profitable business model I hope they continue to survive for many years. I donate when I can I am just over the larger side of the bell curve in size, not really big at 6 ft 2 and 210, my build is somewhat muscular (especially for a middle aged guy)
I have the "asshole resting face". Everyone who sees me that doesnt know me thinks im pissed off at the world. Its good for airport travel as everyone leaves you alone but i meet new customers all the time and have to make an effort to be extra friendly to beat that first glance impression.