A woman sits alone with a drink at the bar. She is unaware a man from across the room is walking over to strike up a conversation. He tries to play it cool, all the while rehearsing the classic line, “Do you come here often?”

He casually leans against the bar and raises one eyebrow, but the woman points to her engagement ring, cutting him off before he has the chance to say a word.

Recognizing defeat, the man nods and retreats to his corner of the bar, completely oblivious to the fact the ring on the woman’s finger is a fake.

Nate Dufour, a bartender at Glow Nightclub, said on busy nights he estimates one out of three women will sport fake engagement rings to keep men from hitting on them.

“I think it is the best tactic of all the other ones you could use,” Dufour said.

He said in his opinion wearing a fake engagement ring is a good way for women to drastically reduce the number of men who bother with advances.

James Reynolds, a vocal performance student at Western, said women come to the Western Associated Students Bookstore where he works looking for decoy rings to wear when they go out on the town. His question to these women is why would they decide to wear fake engagement rings if they are single.

“What if that keeps them from finding their true love or finding their soul mate that’s out there?” Reynolds said. “The good guys won’t come up to you if you are wearing a ring, and those are the ones you want to meet.”

Rachelle McGaugh, a customer at Glow Nightclub, said while she has never personally worn a fake engagement ring. She said she thinks the idea is a smart one for women to use when they go out.

“It would be a really good excuse, because I’m not trying to meet someone at a bar,” McGaugh said. “That’s not how I imagine meeting my husband.”

Other women who enjoy going out to bars said there are other reasons for wearing a decoy ring beyond avoiding “creepy” guys.

Megan Thomas, a customer at the Royal in downtown Bellingham, said she wore a fake engagement ring for a couple of weeks when she worked at a coffee stand and had a male customer who stopped by almost daily to see her.

“I think it helped,” Thomas said. “When he stopped coming by as often I stopped wearing it.”

Thomas said she thinks this particular tactic is an approach women use to turn men down that is easy and less embarrassing than other methods.

“It’s the ultimate ‘do not disturb’ sign,” Thomas said.

Mambo Italiano bartender Jill Fox said she thinks wearing a fake engagement ring works for women, and said she wore a silver band to work, until she got engaged.

“I think women mostly wear them to keep creeps away from them so they can just go out with their friends and have fun without worrying about stupid drunk guys hitting on them,”

Fox said. “Sometimes guys will hit on you anyway, but a lot of times they will look at it and respect it.”

Ashley McGowan, a communications student at Western, said she wore a fake engagement ring when she worked the midnight shift at a grocery store. She said her three-pronged, cubic zirconium ring was part of her personal uniform and helped keep men from hitting on her while she worked.

“It’s a protection aspect,” McGowan said. “We’ve been raised in a culture where we are supposed to be aware of dangers. Having a ring on your finger is like a shield that says, ‘There is a guy behind this ring.’”

McGowan said she thinks women typically decide to wear fake engagement rings in public when they have a boyfriend, just want to have fun with friends or want an easy way of showing men they are not available.

“[Men] don’t take other reasons sometimes,” McGowan said. “It is the only language they listen to.”

Nick Griffin, a student studying psychology at Western, said he supports the clever rejection tactic. Wearing a fake ring may help keep men from hitting on women but wearing a ring is not as effective if women are dressed provocatively, Griffen said.

“I guess props to them,” Griffin said. “If a woman is wearing a ring and dressing in a provocative manner, then it sends very mixed signals to men.”

McGowan said she thinks the way a woman dresses should not be used as an excuse for a man to hit on her.

“I think justifying someone’s actions based on how they are dressed is a cop-out and unacceptable,” McGowan said. “If a woman is wearing a wedding ring, then you still should not hit on her because her actions should be judged and not her clothing.”

Griffin countered and said part of someone’s actions include what they wear.

“Your perceptions of an individual are based on a collective number of things including what people do, how they act and the way they dress,” Griffin said. “There is no one thing that is going to counter someone’s perception of something.”

Thomas said she thinks the issue of clothing paired with an engagement ring comes down to the motives people have behind the outfits they choose for going out. She said women need to be honest with themselves and ask why they are at the bar and why they are wearing a fake engagement ring.

“Some people are always going to talk to you no matter what you are wearing,” Thomas said. “You can’t control other people’s actions, but you can control how you react. Ring or no ring, if you don’t want the attention, you can put a stop to it.”

Griffin said although he thinks wearing a fake engagement ring is a good idea, a ring alone will not always stop men from hitting on women, especially if the man is drunk.

“I would say the percentage of guys who don’t care or don’t notice [an engagement ring] is greater than the percentage who do care,” Griffin said.

Andrew Lauridsen, a customer at the Royal, said when he is at a bar, he does not initially think to look at a woman’s hand. Lauridsen said he thinks most men typically look at physical attributes and personality traits before they consider checking for a ring.

“Men are at a disadvantage because they do not have the hindsight of knowing if it is fake or not,” Lauridsen said. “I think any girl who is by herself at a bar is looking for some sort of attention.”

Cheryl Perks, an employee at the Western’s bookstore, said women are not the only ones who come to the bookstore and purchase fake engagement rings. Perks said men have also stopped to look for a ring resembling a wedding band to wear.

“If they have a girlfriend, they buy rings so they don’t get hit on when they go out,” Perks said.

Dufour, Glow’s bartender, said although it may not be as common for men to take part in the fake wedding ring charade, he has personal experience with the issue.

“Oh, I’ve done it,” Dufour said, as he winks and points to a wedding band on his hand. “I still do it.”