'I didn't understand why my date left after 5 minutes. Then I discovered the lemon law.'

Mak's makeup was flawless. Her lashes were long, perfectly curled, and made her eyes sparkle. Her cheeks carried a gentle, natural flush, and her lips shone with a soft, inviting gloss.

After all, it was her first time meeting Josh*, who was driving 40 minutes to pick Mak up for their first date.

When Mak heard the car pull up at her house, she grabbed her purse and left the front door in anticipation.

But just five minutes later, she was shutting the passenger side door and returning to her house. Josh had ended the date almost as soon as it had begun.

Dumbfounded back in her bedroom, Mak grabbed her phone and uploaded a video to TikTok about what had happened. 

"Guys help," she wrote. "A guy just picked me up for a 'date' and dropped me off back home within five minutes and he drove like 40 minutes to me.

"I'm never attempting to put myself out there again… I can't stop thinking about it," Mak shared to her TikTok followers.

Watch: Mak's first date story. Post continues after video.

Amidst comments of consolation, two words kept popping up from various users: "lemon law."

"The lemon law is real," wrote one user. 

A second added: "Lemon law… it's a thing."

"Lemon law … what language are y'all speaking?"

I was similarly confused, so I did some research. It turns out, the lemon law is not some philosophical principle Plato jotted down between lectures on virtue. But rather, a punchline in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

It came about when the character of Barney Stinson (played by Neil Patrick Harris) posed the idea that people should be able to end a first date, guilt-free, within the first five minutes if it's clearly not working.

"From the moment the date begins, you have five minutes to decide whether you're going to commit to an entire evening," Barney said in the show, arguing it gave both parties a "clean exit" early on.

The theory was cited by one Barney Stinson, from How I Met Your Mother. Image: 20th Century Fox Television/CBS.

The name lemon law comes from the law of the same name in the United States, which protects consumers from buying defective vehicles (referred to as lemons) by allowing them to return faulty cars.

In a dating context, lemon law has had a mixed reaction. Some people praise the idea, saying it's better to make the call early and not waste anyone's time. Others, meanwhile, criticise the law as harsh or superficial, arguing that five minutes is hardly enough time to judge someone's potential.

According to dating and relationship coach Karina Chapman, the ethics of the lemon law aren't black and white.

"I think there are certain times when [the Lemon Law] is helpful and certain times when it's harmful," Chapman told Mamamia, explaining that it might be helpful in instances of catfishing.

"I would use it if I was meeting someone for a date and they were four inches shorter than what they had said that they were, or they were different to the person that you were expecting," she said.

In essence, the dating coach said, if there is a "really obvious sign that they have lied", she believes it would be fair to end the date within the first five minutes.

"If they've definitely lied and you can tell that they're not the person that you're expecting, or the person that they portrayed, then I think it's fine to say, 'I just don't think we're clicking. It was nice to meet you, but I don't want us to waste each other's time. Good luck in the future with your dating'," Chapman said.

"But, if that's not the case and if you're just thinking, 'Oh, I'm not sure if I like this person or not,' then it can be harmful."

Generally speaking, five minutes is not enough to determine if there is a connection, Chapman added.

"Let's face it, no one is their best self in the first five minutes of a date," she said, recommending committing to at least 30 minutes before making a decision.

"We have to give people a little bit of a chance to gauge whether they're your kind of person. Are you in alignment? Do you have things in common? If you do, then maybe go on a second date and explore further," she said. 

"But if you feel like you've given it a good chance, there's nothing that you've got in common, there's definitely no spark, then say, 'thanks so much for your time. It was great to meet you, but I don't feel that we're aligned. But I wish the best in your future.' That's the best way to do it."

The dating coach, however, insists that first dates should never be prolonged. 

Listen: The very specific dating experience women keep having. Post continues below.

"I always believe that first dates should really only be a short thing so that you're not wasting time, because everyone doesn't want to waste their time these days," said Chapman.

"We're very time-centric."

And it's true. If you think about it, we frequently watch videos at double speed, we binge shows all in one go, and we skim articles instead of reading them fully.

"I wouldn't want to waste four hours on a dinner date and then say, 'sorry, not interested'," said Chapman, "Tell me straight up, and see you later."

At the end of the day, whether you're team Lemon Law or not, the idea says a lot about how people are navigating connection and rejection in today's dating climate.

"I think people are being more conscious of not wanting to go on 100 terrible dates," Chapman observed.

"You've had ones that go nowhere, they've wasted your time. You could be wasting weeks, months, whatever it might be. So, I think now people are becoming more conscious about the fact that we can't learn everything about someone online. We need to meet them in person. We need to see what their energy is. And we also need to listen to our own intuition about that person."

The dating coach added: "We don't tend to do that. We look at the stats. Are they the right height? The right look? The right, whatever? But how do we actually feel inside? That's where the connection comes from."

Feature Image: Getty (Stock image for illustrative purposes only).

*Name has been changed for privacy reasons.

Mamamia has reached out to Mak for comment.