The annoying thing is that the annoying guys are more likely to get a date, while they just go about their day. Not because they are better, or because their methods are good, but purely because they approach more people.
I hate making people feel uncomfortable (no matter their gender), so I always struggled finding "spontaneous" dates, or even dancing with strangers at a club/party.
The only thing that really worked for me was using dating apps, where both parties have implicitly indicated that they are looking for dates in general (because they're on the app) and explicitly indicated that they are interested in each other (by liking their profile, or whatever).
Although I've heard the apps have all gotten worse lately, I wouldn't really know, as I found someone on Tinder years ago, and now we're happily married.
I love that you found this workaround, but arguably that code path should do the admin check, too.