How many times has this happened to you:

You’re out for dinner or a few drinks with buddies. You spy a cute little number across the room. There’s eye contact, maybe a wink and a smile. And then your buddies decide to head out and you’re left with … nothing.

A version of that actually happened to me recently. This story has a (relatively) happy ending – a few weeks after the initial sighting I bumped into him again. This time I got up the nerve to talk, and I met a really nice guy. We dated for a few months before ending things amicably.

But most of the time (and this version of it has happened to me, too) you’re left to wonder and kick yourself for not approaching your object of desire.

The guys at the Bear Brew Pub in Orono have come up with a solution on their Web site.

It’s an “Eye Spy” forum where you can go to post messages to the one who got away.

Although there are drawbacks to something such as this – I advocate having the confidence to actually approach someone face to face rather than hiding behind a computer screen – it’s a great solution for those of us who are just a little shy or caught up in a tough situation. I mean, spotting and striking up a conversation with a cute girl while you’re out with a bachelor party is a bit awkward.

Here’s how it works: go to www.bearbrewpub.com and click on multimedia. The different forums will pop up on the next screen.

“Eye Spy” is actually the brainchild of Payson Welch, who is designing the Bear Brew’s Web site. Owner Matt Haskell, a 26-year-old Bangor native, likes the concept.

“I think it’s a cool thing because a lot of kids frequent my bar,” Haskell said. “If people started getting into it and it’s a popular thing, they can chat on it. If I was a customer at a bar, I’d check it out just to see what people are writing about, who they saw and what they saw.”

I think this is a great thing for a college pub such as the Brew, especially because it’s expanding to include a club and more live music, which means more people. And every time you go to the Web site to check the music schedule, you can check out who’s checking you out.

Although everyone has some insecurities at every age, I remember being supershy in college and my early 20s. It’s easier to break the ice over the Internet than face to face.

No one’s actually used the Brew’s “Eye Spy” yet, but once it gets going I can tell you it’s pretty addictive.

As a summer intern in Washington, D.C. – trust me, the nation’s capital is crawling with attractive, smart, ambitious college students in the summer – I would grab The Washington Post to check out its version of “Eye Spy,” which I believe was printed every Thursday in the Personals section. The weekly alternative paper had something like that, too.

I remember thinking, maybe that cute guy with the blue tie on the subway was smiling at me and not actually trying to get something out of his teeth.

The Boston Globe’s Web site has something like this, too, called “Second Chances.” I took a look at the latest postings, and it covers a huge swath, from someone looking for a Mass Pike tollbooth worker to a woman who met a man at a place called the Rockpile in Saugus.

The Boston Globe covers a huge portion of New England. Just think of the connections that could be made at a cozy little pub in Orono, Maine!

Jessica Bloch can be reached at jbloch@bangordailynews.net.