Learning from failed deals

Reference checks for relationships should be de rigueur, for more than just the hygiene factor. There is nothing like the insufferable prospect that the bloke with you is just a new face making the same old mistakes.
And, knowing why someone was dumped, or how a person deals with dumping another, is good-to-have knowledge. What if he is a phone dumper? What if she is like an itch that refuses to go? What if she refuses to face dumpage? What if he is an insensitive boor? And no one like an ex to really dish the dirt. Or if ex happens to be Shri Charm, to let Shri New Kid on Block know that the competition is waiting for him to slip up.

I can't wait to meet an Ex- even have a list of questions for her, and images of some tea, cookies (and fries with mint chutney and sour cream) and good old fashioned bonding over oestrogen:-

1. Is this guy someone you'd recommend to a friend?
   
2. Does this guy have more than 10 stock jokes and stories to share at a party?
3. Have you ever been embarrassed by him?
4. Do you think you have taught him something? (If not, is it because he is incapable of learning?)
   
5. In your many fights, who was the one apologizing more often?
   
6. Did you feel intellectually, emotionally or physically drained by this guy?
7. Did you break up with him, or did he? (it is never mutual- which part of me reads daft?)
   
8. What were the reasons you really think you were incompatible?
   
9. Have you had post-break up banjos yet?
10. Do you feel relieved that you aren't together? (This can be answered truthfully only after passage of a sufficiently long period of time (at least 3-6 months). But chances are, if Newbie is a complete bathingloofah equivalent, this is an answer that will dominated by Ayes)