Did you hear yourself say, "We're friends"? Run!!!
It's good to have friends. It's bad when friends have you. And that's what a lot of people are dealing with lately. And it's not because friends behave that way. Real friends don't allow themselves that. Suddenly people have more friends.
Suddenly your neighbors are calling you their friend. No reason. You don't celebrate holidays together, you don't walk your dog next to you. And then suddenly you are friends. The usual reaction - shrugged and went on about their business. Although it would not hurt to stop and think about why all this sudden affection.
Or a random passerby, turning to you, will call a friend and ask something: time, road, money. It is also familiar and commonplace. And few people think: why is he a friend at all, if he is not a friend at all?
And more often than not, colleagues become friends. Well, how can you not admit that they become friends if they see you more often than family and real friends? And they know you and about you sometimes even more, though from the other side.
The new fashion: now the leaders become friends. Also casually say: "Well, you're my friend. And that's all. Offenses melted, misunderstandings are forgotten. To be friends with them for real, of course, does not work, but relations are getting warmer.
In the situation with the leaders, many immediately smell a catch. Employees with experience shudder to recall not so long ago faded into oblivion corporate culture code-named "family. Anyone who got to know it well still wakes up in a cold sweat and then can't rest his twitching eye for a week.
It was the kind of manipulation of the collective mind that no one seemed to be able to beat. Wrong. Friendship culture has gone further because it is not as flashy and acts more delicately.
Now why run after the phrase, "we're friends."
Let's go through each of the cases described.
In the situation with the neighbor, whose name may not even be known, everything is simple. Friend today, give me a pinch of salt tomorrow. Then take my dog for a walk. Well, we are friends. How do you say no to a friend? Variations: borrow money, give a tool for a couple of days, take the whole family to the mall this weekend.
It's hard to say no. Friends don't get rejected. A friend will always help a friend. And it doesn't matter that you don't need anything from such a neighbor, and you have everything. The hope for "someday later" is immortal.
A random passerby. Called a friend. You did not have time to think clearly, but somewhere deep in the back of your mind you felt a pleasant sweet warmth from the soft and kind "friend". And they answered the question or request politely, willingly. And the direction showed, and in the money some do not refuse.
A colleague in a friendly way, too, do not refuse. So asks a nice man to cover him, to help with work. What a nonsense. Today you, tomorrow for you. Isn't it true? Tomorrow will come someday, won't it? And it even comes sometimes in little things. It's nice to have friends.
And the head is almost a "friend". Well, is it difficult to stay a little longer, if a friend asks? Not every day. Big deal. Or go out on a day off. What's wrong with that?
There is nothing wrong in any of these cases. The usual manipulation, built on our need to belong to a social group, the need to communicate. It works without fail.
Run away if someone who is clearly not your friend and has never been your friend suddenly calls you that. It won't do any good. Run away. And the sooner the better. He will not become your friend just because he called you that. And he doesn't need it.
Your new friend needs your time, skills, talents, money or some other things. He isn't interested in you at all and doesn't need you. Just affectionately calling him "friend" shortens the period of getting what he wants from you by hundreds of times, and in some cases - to one moment. It depends on your need to be friends.
Few people today can boast that they often and regularly see and communicate with their friends. More and more often there is no time, no opportunity, no money. Stingy short calls, rare correspondence.
But the need to be friends is not going anywhere. So they fill it with their friendship manipulators. And you believe it, without even noticing. And someone even really believes that a little-known people who do not know anything about you, really a friend.
Run. Run from such friends. And don't let those you consider your friends call you that. Setting personal boundaries is the best defense against such characters. Otherwise, before you know it, you'll be giving everything you need to the manipulator and getting nothing in return.
I thank God for his help in writing this article, and you, dear readers, praise him if your reading has been helpful to you.
I want to know your opinion.
If you are interested in my content,then I invite you to read my other articles:
https://read.cash/@Belozoriana/onion-and-garlic-jam-f71c50ef
https://read.cash/@Belozoriana/forest-glade-themed-cake-b6adf80b
https://read.cash/@Belozoriana/we-eat-to-live-not-live-to-eat-5fc88f83
https://read.cash/@Belozoriana/choice-or-a-reaction
https://read.cash/@Belozoriana/gravlax-or-they-are-not-rolls-fb460b64
5.02.2022.
Absolutely agree with this point. We should stay away from such kind of people.