Scenario 1
Person x rings me via Skype. Talks to me for about two minutes before they are interrupted by another skype call. Person x excuses themselves and takes the other call. Returns shortly to say that other [more important] people are on the other line.
John: Oh well I better let you get back to it.
Person x: Oh, but I don’t want to abandon you.
John: You’re not abandoning me. Besides I have stuff to do.
Person x: Really? Or is that just one of those things people say?
John: Does it matter? [You're going to take the other call anyway, I am just trying to be polite.]
Scenario 2
Person y explains that he has great emotional intimacy with his best friend; I won’t bother to use the actual terminology used in the conversation because I think it will add an additional level of confusion.
John: I’ve been up for hours and I haven’t had anything to eat.
Person y: You side-stepped that quickly?
John: Side-stepped what?
Person y: That I have such a great relationship with my best friend.
John: Oh, well I didn’t really have anything much to add. [Really, are you trying to bait me? You have a great friend. You have a better relationship with that person than you do with me, even though as far as I am concerned you're my closest friend in the world. Yeah. Forgive me if I bite my tongue rather than reveal how hurt and insignificant I feel right now.]
Really what the hell do you people want from me?
EDIT: In both instances I didn’t have a problem with what had happened, indeed in both circumstances I expected it. What I had a problem with were the responses that were being elicited from me.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You analyse this kind of stuff a lot more than most people do, I think.
I don’t have a lot of real life friends and at some point in my life I made a decision that I would be my own best friend. So a lot of this kind of stuff I just let it go over my head because none of them can get anywhere near the great relationship I have with myself.
That might have something to do with being burned too many times, or it might have to do with a desire to be self-sufficient. I really don’t know for sure. Whatever it is, I prefer it that way.. saves me a lot of the hassle of trying to figure out what people want out of me..
Cheers,
Snoskred
Ugh… time to cut them out. I have no need in my life for such people.
Steves last blog post..Sixty years on…