(Untitled)

[boulderbird]

I've a friend who in some ways can kind of be high-maintenance. Let's call him Bob, for the ease of discussion. Bob is intelligent and often witty, he loves a good meal and when he's in the mood for fun he can be unapologetically foolish. He's also prone to being oversensitive and maudlin at times, and still isn't over his teenagey angst of "not

Comments

[littlehoudini]

I'm not sure if you're venting or looking for comments/suggestions, so I'm going to play it safe and not actually say anything meaningful unless you want it.

However, I will say something trivial:
Let's call him Bob, for the ease of discussion.
(let's call them Stanley and Murgatroyd)
...for complication of discussion? For comedic effort? Just to be a pain?

Also, how's that cutlery working out for ya?

[boulderbird]

You can give advice if you like, but I can't do anything which would directly upset Bob, as I've got to work with the guy. Mostly I just put up with it and keep my mouth shut if I hang with Stanley and Murgatroyd without Bob.

And really, I've got to call them something, and I'm not a fan of using real names. I'm going to remember names like Stanley and Murgatroyd, but chances are Bob is going to go through a variety of name changes.

[littlehoudini]

I appreciate not wanting to use real names (hence my gf, the myserious miss "F."). I'm just mildly amused that Bob and Stanley are so mundane next to the ever-special Murgatroyd.

Anyway... tonight's Thanksgiving so anything I say specific to the situation is likely not useful, but in general it seems like Bob's a little petulant and childish. I would ignore him and not get roped into the drama. Be friendly and open, tell no lies and give no cover... and keep yer head down.

[boulderbird]

Murgatroyd *is* ever-special.

and yeah.. your advice is essentially what I've been doing.
I just get irritated and venting sometimes helps.

[mzrowan]

It sounds to me like Bob is lying about this guest to "express" his displeasure to Stanley & Murgatroyd about not being on the immediate call list in case of a death in the family.

Either way, ugh.

[boulderbird]

ugh indeed.... Although I'm relatively confident that Bob does have a guest... Oddly, I could see him being evasive about the nature of the guest if it was someone more special than "just" a friend, because actually having a lover would compromise his normal slightly self-pitying demeanour.

[squirrella]

OMG, I had a "friend" just like that who got super pissed off when another friend called her neighbor-friend after surgery to let her know that things went not-as-well as one could hope, but nevertheless, she wasn't dead. The "friend" got super-assed up, really passive-aggressive towards those nearest her (physically), and turned the whole ordeal into some sort of personal dig. So awkward.

have fun regardless of the Bobs in your life. :-)

[boulderbird]

It is so bizarre how people react to stuff like this, isn't it? I mean, I got called because Murgatroyd was concerned that Stanley wasn't in an emotional state where he was fit to drive, so surely phoning up other people to share the news wasn't a high priority?!

I could see Bob feeling kind of hurt if it was a couple of weeks after the event and Stanley had been to settle affairs and back and everyone knew, but not hours after Stanley got the call.