carlito
21-05-2003, 06:43 PM
I read an interesting article on another internet (men's) magazine today about dealing with annoying friends, but in my opinion it didn't give satisfactory answers...
I think most people know whatits like to have friends who annoy the hell out of us. Sometimes they're people we don't really like at all, but since their in your friendship group or clique you have to at least pretend to get along with them, and sometimes they are people who you do like, but have annoying things about them, or are sometimes annoying and sometimes ok.
The article I read outlined these people:
the mooch
This is the guy who has a very close relationship with his money. Actually, he's so attached to it that he won't even use it. He'll borrow money for a table dance, he'll pretend to have lost his wallet when the bill arrives, or he simply won't be there when it's his turn to buy the next round of drinks. He always claims to be broke and constantly tries to get others to provide for him.
the showoff
This one is not necessarily the opposite of the Mooch, but at least he won't be asking for money. This guy will never cease to brag about what he has, what he's done, or with whom he's done it. He'll demand that you pay attention to his stories, actions, or possessions.
the motor mouth
The great thing about being a man is that we can be among our male friends and not have to talk about anything irrelevant. But there are guys who suffer from this troubled personality. They talk and talk and talk and never shut up. They'll tell you about their leaky faucets, marital problems, and painful hemorrhoids. You really don't need that much information.
the rumor mill
This annoying person will usually wind up being a woman, as guys are by and large not known as gossips. Similar to the Motor Mouth, the Rumor Mill elevates yakking to an art form, by only talking about others.
the bloodsucker
Also known as a Leech in some circles, the Bloodsucker is one of the most infuriating personalities out there. No matter what you say to him, you're his best friend. He's absolutely convinced that you care about him as much as he cares about you. Remember Bill Murray's character in What About Bob? This guy is needy and will literally suck the life out of you
the opportunist
This person has an agenda. He may hang around you, pretend to be your friend, but deep down he is playing an angle. Perhaps he has an eye on your girlfriend or maybe he just likes to come over to your house and use your satellite TV system.
the incredible hulk
Okay, you might not actually know a guy that turns green and beefs up when he gets a paper cut. But I'm sure you know somebody who gets extremely angry extremely fast. This guy has a temper and it might only take an ill-received comment to trigger it. This guy is dangerous because he can often get himself into more trouble than he can handle -- and take you along for the ride
the bully
The proverbial bully has a huge inferiority complex. He'll make jokes about you, get you to do things for him without any possibility of reward, and amuse himself with your pratfalls. He doesn't necessarily have anything to brag about so he'll entertain himself by tormenting those around him
the smart-arse
Some folks are just so cocky that they think they know everything. In fact, and I'm sure you'll agree, they're the ones who are the most often wrong. The reason is they are so sure of their own invulnerability that they never bother to check the facts. Only, you watch the Discovery Channel and know that aliens did not build the pyramids.
However, I don't think the article gave very good solutions to dealing with these identified problems/people. Have you encountered any of them and how did you deal with it?
Personally I've met known at least one of most of these types, and haven't really found much of a problem, except maybe the bully. One guy in my group didn't particulary bully me as for some reason take a real dislike or contempt for me (even though we sometimes did stuff just us two) but most obviously in social situations. After a while pretty much most people had noticed this, and tried to ignore it as we couldn't work out what it was (some thought it was because he was into a girl who liked me, but that was before it all started). So we had this weird situation where he'd often say really quite rude stuff to me, seemingly for no reason, even though I was polite to him back.
How did I deal with it? Well, eventually I lost patience. I noyiced that most of our other friends/associates didn't really find the stuff he said funny, so decided to fight fire with ice as it were, and whenevr he said something rude etc I'd make a cutting comment back, but made sure it was funny rather than rude. Now this in the short term inflamed the situation, because people laughed and so he'd respond by being even more rude or hurtful, but after a while he realised that people thought that while I was being funny, he was simply making awkwardness, so eventually stopped.
So lets hear how you guys and girls have dealt with annoying friends?
I think most people know whatits like to have friends who annoy the hell out of us. Sometimes they're people we don't really like at all, but since their in your friendship group or clique you have to at least pretend to get along with them, and sometimes they are people who you do like, but have annoying things about them, or are sometimes annoying and sometimes ok.
The article I read outlined these people:
the mooch
This is the guy who has a very close relationship with his money. Actually, he's so attached to it that he won't even use it. He'll borrow money for a table dance, he'll pretend to have lost his wallet when the bill arrives, or he simply won't be there when it's his turn to buy the next round of drinks. He always claims to be broke and constantly tries to get others to provide for him.
the showoff
This one is not necessarily the opposite of the Mooch, but at least he won't be asking for money. This guy will never cease to brag about what he has, what he's done, or with whom he's done it. He'll demand that you pay attention to his stories, actions, or possessions.
the motor mouth
The great thing about being a man is that we can be among our male friends and not have to talk about anything irrelevant. But there are guys who suffer from this troubled personality. They talk and talk and talk and never shut up. They'll tell you about their leaky faucets, marital problems, and painful hemorrhoids. You really don't need that much information.
the rumor mill
This annoying person will usually wind up being a woman, as guys are by and large not known as gossips. Similar to the Motor Mouth, the Rumor Mill elevates yakking to an art form, by only talking about others.
the bloodsucker
Also known as a Leech in some circles, the Bloodsucker is one of the most infuriating personalities out there. No matter what you say to him, you're his best friend. He's absolutely convinced that you care about him as much as he cares about you. Remember Bill Murray's character in What About Bob? This guy is needy and will literally suck the life out of you
the opportunist
This person has an agenda. He may hang around you, pretend to be your friend, but deep down he is playing an angle. Perhaps he has an eye on your girlfriend or maybe he just likes to come over to your house and use your satellite TV system.
the incredible hulk
Okay, you might not actually know a guy that turns green and beefs up when he gets a paper cut. But I'm sure you know somebody who gets extremely angry extremely fast. This guy has a temper and it might only take an ill-received comment to trigger it. This guy is dangerous because he can often get himself into more trouble than he can handle -- and take you along for the ride
the bully
The proverbial bully has a huge inferiority complex. He'll make jokes about you, get you to do things for him without any possibility of reward, and amuse himself with your pratfalls. He doesn't necessarily have anything to brag about so he'll entertain himself by tormenting those around him
the smart-arse
Some folks are just so cocky that they think they know everything. In fact, and I'm sure you'll agree, they're the ones who are the most often wrong. The reason is they are so sure of their own invulnerability that they never bother to check the facts. Only, you watch the Discovery Channel and know that aliens did not build the pyramids.
However, I don't think the article gave very good solutions to dealing with these identified problems/people. Have you encountered any of them and how did you deal with it?
Personally I've met known at least one of most of these types, and haven't really found much of a problem, except maybe the bully. One guy in my group didn't particulary bully me as for some reason take a real dislike or contempt for me (even though we sometimes did stuff just us two) but most obviously in social situations. After a while pretty much most people had noticed this, and tried to ignore it as we couldn't work out what it was (some thought it was because he was into a girl who liked me, but that was before it all started). So we had this weird situation where he'd often say really quite rude stuff to me, seemingly for no reason, even though I was polite to him back.
How did I deal with it? Well, eventually I lost patience. I noyiced that most of our other friends/associates didn't really find the stuff he said funny, so decided to fight fire with ice as it were, and whenevr he said something rude etc I'd make a cutting comment back, but made sure it was funny rather than rude. Now this in the short term inflamed the situation, because people laughed and so he'd respond by being even more rude or hurtful, but after a while he realised that people thought that while I was being funny, he was simply making awkwardness, so eventually stopped.
So lets hear how you guys and girls have dealt with annoying friends?