Sunday, April 26, 2009

Fine, Don't Be My Friend

A couple of months ago, I wrote a sincere message to someone I was genuinely sorry to have fallen out of touch with. I invited this person to be my "friend" on one of the big social media sites, adding that I'd be glad to be able to follow news in this person's life/work more closely. This person accepted the invitation, though never wrote a message back.

Today, I saw that my "friend" count on the site had fallen--by one person. It didn't take me long to realize that the one who had "unfriended" me was the same person who'd accepted that honest, well-meaning invitation.

I'm fine with people choosing not to be my friend. I just wish they could be honest from the get-go. Telling me if there's something specific I've done to annoy or antagonize them would also be appreciated. I think it's rude to simply drop people in an obvious, traceable, and yet nondirect way. Like "unfriending" them.

--Prunella

4 comments:

Peeves and Rants said...

The whole friending/unfriending business is a difficult one. Awkward, too. Some people who were mean to me when I was a kid wanted to be my friends. Did this mean they had forgotten their bullying behavior or did they really want to move on and make things better? Hard to know.
Anyway, I'll be your friend, Prunella. ;-)

--Curly

Peeves and Rants said...

Thanks, Curly. I appreciate that. Especially since someone ELSE just unfriended me! You keep up with my posts--am I doing something that seems "unfriendly"?

--Pru

Peeves and Rants said...

I don't think you're doing anything wrong or being unfriendly. If I notice you being mean or unfriendly, I'll rant about it here! ;-)

--Curly

Anonymous said...

oh dear, and i have just had to unfriend a bunch of people because i was mixing too much work, friendship, and family (and getting into serious trouble over it do to my er, perhaps overly exuberant, eloquent, open mouth, nearly costing me my job -- indeed, it still may.... we shall see)... I wouldn't read too much into being unfriended.
--kimba