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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

I Have a Problem

I’m not the mean person that I wish I could be. Why would anyone wish to be mean? So that I could say exactly what I’m thinking when I’m thinking it instead of worrying about hurting other people’s feelings. Some people that know me will be thinking otherwise but that’s just because they had pushed me over and beyond the limits of tolerance and they took that brunt of that.

I have this “friend”. I’ll call her Jane. I haven’t known Jane for very long but it was obvious from the beginning that we’re two very different people. Jane’s parents are well off, they have a family summer home on a lake with the Clintons (the actual Clintons. I’ve seen pictures) for neighbors, and her parents buy her things and pay her bills despite the fact that she’s married and 29 years old. I had a very middle class upbringing. The only time my parents have helped out with my bills is when we were teetering on the brink and it’s been quite a while since they have done so. Both of my parents summer in Ohio like regular people do. My neighborhood was very white bread and bologna. These are by no means our only differences but it's fundamentally why I don't think we're compatible.

Jane, from the day that I met her wasn’t shy in telling me what she thinks. I like that in people and don’t consider it a flaw. One thing she said to me was that she doesn’t normally have friends who don’t have degrees. No offense. Well, I was a bit offended but decided to let it go. Then she tells me that all enlisted wives are white trash, tattoo covered, cheat on their husbands when they’re deployed, and uneducated. But lucky me, she told me that I was the exception to that because I like to read, I’m going to school, and I don’t have any tattoos. Score one for white trash everywhere.

Jane also has managed to manipulate me and the hubby in such a way that she’s borrowing our lawnmower (We're not using it anyway, so why should she have to buy her own), my Dean Koontz book (I hate loaning out my books because I never get them back. She’s had it for 3 months now.), our rake, a spare tv we have, and her husband gets free rides to work thanks to mine. At first I thought I was just being a good friend. Now, I want my stuff back and her husband can walk. It’s only seven miles and the weather’s nice enough. ;)

Also, when she calls to talk, I always get the feeling that when it’s my turn to say something, she’s just indulging me until she can get back to what she wants to talk about.

And she interprets things how she wants to. She wants us to run in this marathon in March. This is laughable in itself. Me? In a marathon? Puhleaze. But C said that it sounded like fun. Jane takes this, calls me and says that he’s committed to running in the marathon so I have to also. He never said that. That’s just how she interpreted “sounds like fun”. She does stuff like that all the time. And no matter how many times I tell her that I have no intention of running, (Running. Lmao.) in this marathon, she won’t listen.

My post the other day about being left waiting for three hours, that was thanks to Jane. I was pretty pissed. I blew her off for another outing the next day and ignored her calls. She also wants me to do her makeup for the Marine Corps ball Friday and I was all set and ready to not be home that day. Then she called me this afternoon and I answered. I only answered because I was going to tell her that she needed to come over so I could have it out with her. The conversation didn’t go that way because she told me, before I could get in a word other than “hello”, that her renter is doing the same thing to her that mine was doing to me. How could I not feel sorry for her after the hell that we went through? She also made me late for a doctor’s appointment because she runs on Jane Time.

I could go on because there's more, but this is long enough. I don’t know what to do. I honestly don’t like her and I don’t want anything to do with her anymore but I don’t know how to say it and not be mean. Her opinions are judgmental and offensive and she’s loud, pushy, and self-absorbed. Would you be friends with this person or am I just being judgmental myself? It’s especially touchy because our husbands work together. This is why I don’t like being friends with people he works with. I feel like I'm stuck with her.

5 comments:

  1. Seriously, I don't think "Jane" is really your friend. Maybe she is just a pushy person and you are the only one she knows in town. Maybe you should just tell her to go away and not worry about sparing her feelings. She obviously has no consideration for yours.

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  2. Anonymous6:26 PM

    i dont know when you became so soft!!!!!! tell her where to go and how to get there! she isnt your friend she needs a dog she can give orders to!

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  3. Jennifer S~~I see what you're saying because that's how I think of it when I'm thinking logically. And when I'm really angry at her, lol.

    Jennifer J~~I don't know!!! Maybe softness comes with age or something.

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  4. Trisha, I feel for you. I have a "friend" like this too. I took the quiet (and cowardly) way out and just stopped returning her calls, loaning her things, agreeing to do things with her, talking to her and showing any interest whatsoever, etc. I never actually confronted her (I'm such a wimp). We are civil to each other still, but she no longer bothers me quite as much. She does complain about how busy I am sometimes. LOL

    Anyhow, I suppose that's not really the best solution. If you can muster up the courage, it might be worth it to give her a piece of your mind. Maybe that's just what she needs. To be taken down a peg or two. :-)

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  5. LF~~If I thought ignoring her calls would work, I'd do it too. The only problem is that our husbands work together so seeing her is unavoidable. Plus there's family picnics and crap like that. I'd like to find a way to not have to be "friends" but still be civil. That would be the best solution but I don't think it's a viable option.

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