I was meeting some friends at a bar.
I met some friends at a bar.
was meeting - past continuous
met - simple past
In my opinion, I prefer to use the latter sentence because I don't normally hear people say was meeting.
In the sentence: "He met a lot of friendly people while he was working in Chicago."
I can't use the words "was meeting" because he couldn't do both actions at the same time (simultaneously).
However, I am still confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!