25 Times People Realized Their Friend Behaved Shamefully In Public
When friends act shamefully in public, what do you do?
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Maya Angelou once famously declared, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Two decades later, her words still ring true. But a person's true colours may not be evident from the beginning, especially when the interactions are coloured by friendship.
A recent Reddit thread that asked folks to reflect on an incident of a friend turning out to be a nightmare went viral online. Folks revealed their most heartbreaking stories and we've shared a few of them, in the gallery below.
Image source: davethapeanut, Olena Bohovyk/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: Tollin74, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)
He became a US Marshall, early 2002, and it’s now 2020 and the riots were going strong.
I asked him some questions to learn about what the law enforcement community opinions were about the riots.
He said, and I quote, “all black people are f*****g animals!”
I told him we could not be friends anymore and blocked him.
Image source: TheOtherJohnson, Anna Tarazevich/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Haven’t spoken to him since.
Edit: the icing on the cake is how he just moved on to a different topic as though he didn’t just tell me he thought a member of my family should be executed cuz pronouns or something.
Image source: spicymeatball707, cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: Helpfoolness, Juan Pablo Serrano/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: Santatim_NC, Magda Ehlers/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: p38-lightning, Maksim Goncharenok/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: Honest-Advisegiver, Tope A. Asokere/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: Osfees, Thirdman/Pexels (not the actual photo)
I was so stunned by this that I wasn't sure how to address it; I thought she had perhaps attached the pictures by mistake? She was after all my best friend of many years, so surely she wouldn't have been so insensitive-- so I didn't reply. For the sake of loving her, and I wanted to continue to love her, I decided it wasn't deliberate, but it was quite hurtful and it stayed on my mind.
At our next in-person visit, a few months later, she brought up that she had had the idea to send me the baby pictures but thought it "might hurt my feelings," but also that her baby "was just so cute!" so she asked her husband, a psychologist, if it would be cruel. He reassured her it would be fine, so she attached them. I was even more shocked by this revelation-- I could forgive thoughtlessness, but to have her say to my face that she'd thought it could hurt me, but went looking for permission to do it anyway because her baby was cute? Nah. It ended our friendship.
Image source: Pixelated_Penguin808, Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels (not the actual photo)
When I was kid I used to hang out all the time with another kid whose mother was sort of the stereotypical Italian mother. Way too involved, a bit of a smotherer. But she seemed nice.
Once I stopped around his house (this was the 80s, so no cell phones) and he & his family wasn't home, but some other kids across the street called me over & I started hanging out with them. Fast forward an hour or so and the friend who wasn't home comes home with his parents. The mom comes over and invites me in their house to play Atari or something like that.
The other kids weren't invited, and it seemed rude to ditch the other kids, so guilt kicked in and I declined. Just seemed like the right thing to do, but friend's mom apparently took this as a slight. To teach me a lesson, she then ordered a pizza and when it arrived invited all the kids in their house - except me. Obviously the other kids went for the pizza and I got ditched, for trying to do the right thing.
I was so hurt by it I refused to hang out with her son again and that was pretty much the end of our friendship.
Image source: DivineArcade1, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)
This one week, I lost my wallet, so no money. Surprisingly he he had money that week I didn't have money. I asked him if he could get me lunch and straight up said no. I thought he was joking and then he just bought food and ate by himself. Made me really think people can be so greedy to their best friend. I stopped hanging out with him after that, and I didn't buy him food anymore.
(He didn't steal my wallet it was at my grandma's house.).
Image source: Pure_Mammoth_1233, Mikhail Nilov/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: 444jxrdan444, Aynur Latfullin/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: angel_bunny444, Monstera Production/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: SnoopyLupus, Lorna Pauli/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: Pusfilledonut, Mental Health America (MHA)/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: copingstoic, Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: AlexAA72, Hoy/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: BRCRN, John Diez/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: twelveparsnips, Tobi/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: missmorganadams, RDNE Stock project/Pexels (not the actual photo)
She needed help for a big event, so I went down and worked for her this past July. I worked with one of her regular employees and I asked how the tips were usually split up. The girl told me that my friend keeps every single tip, and that she’s never seen one. This girl is 20 years old and in college and my friend is still taking the few hundred bucks from her. That money is a drop in the bucket for my friend, but life changing for that girl. At that point I realized true greed. Haven’t talked to her since.
Image source: Citadel_97E, Ron Lach/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: bingusmadfut, Matthias Zomer/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: MountainDrew757, cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image source: Hrekires, Анна Хазова/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#1 When he threw a unopened can of coke at a homeless person. Stopped being his friend right then and there and I took the homeless women to get food and gave her money to go get replacement clothes from goodwill. I've never been so ashamed of someone before or after that.
Image source: davethapeanut, Olena Bohovyk/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#2 Going on our 30th year of being friends. Dating back to meeting in boot camp and years together afterwards in navy commands.
Image source: Tollin74, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)
He became a US Marshall, early 2002, and it’s now 2020 and the riots were going strong.
I asked him some questions to learn about what the law enforcement community opinions were about the riots.
He said, and I quote, “all black people are f*****g animals!”
I told him we could not be friends anymore and blocked him.
#3 That time he told me my trans cousin should be shot and it didn’t even occur to him that that’s my cousin. He said it like I was just meant to agree with him like “oh hey, this is what us regular people think when there’s no weirdos around, right?”
Image source: TheOtherJohnson, Anna Tarazevich/Pexels (not the actual photo)
Haven’t spoken to him since.
Edit: the icing on the cake is how he just moved on to a different topic as though he didn’t just tell me he thought a member of my family should be executed cuz pronouns or something.
#4 She talked poorly about every single person she knew/met.
Image source: spicymeatball707, cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#5 They constantly downplay whatever it is you're sharing - life problems, emotions, general concerns etc. It was a sad realization.
Image source: Helpfoolness, Juan Pablo Serrano/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#6 He was a co-worker that hadn’t been on the job long and I was tasked with training him. We worked a service route driving from job to job. He was in his van following me and I passed a turtle in the middle of the road on the painted line. I looked back in my rear view mirror in time to see him purposely swerve and run over the turtle. A*****e!
Image source: Santatim_NC, Magda Ehlers/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#7 I started dating a really nice girl who worked in a jewelry store. After three or four dates, she told me that my roommate and supposed friend had stopped by the store to tell her my dad was an alcoholic. Which was true, but we both thought it was crude and strange that he did that. I dumped him and married her. Still married 40 years later.
Image source: p38-lightning, Maksim Goncharenok/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#8 He slept with my girlfriend, and they both gaslit me telling me it wasnt a big deal “she didnt think of me as her bf in her head” And then sometime later she cheated on him and he was surprised…..
Image source: Honest-Advisegiver, Tope A. Asokere/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#9 I had a miscarriage, and in response to that news my best friend attached pictures of her own three-month-old baby, ostensibly to cheer me up, at the end of her condolence email (we had grown up together but settled in different cities).
Image source: Osfees, Thirdman/Pexels (not the actual photo)
I was so stunned by this that I wasn't sure how to address it; I thought she had perhaps attached the pictures by mistake? She was after all my best friend of many years, so surely she wouldn't have been so insensitive-- so I didn't reply. For the sake of loving her, and I wanted to continue to love her, I decided it wasn't deliberate, but it was quite hurtful and it stayed on my mind.
At our next in-person visit, a few months later, she brought up that she had had the idea to send me the baby pictures but thought it "might hurt my feelings," but also that her baby "was just so cute!" so she asked her husband, a psychologist, if it would be cruel. He reassured her it would be fine, so she attached them. I was even more shocked by this revelation-- I could forgive thoughtlessness, but to have her say to my face that she'd thought it could hurt me, but went looking for permission to do it anyway because her baby was cute? Nah. It ended our friendship.
#10 Not really a friend. Rather his mother.
Image source: Pixelated_Penguin808, Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels (not the actual photo)
When I was kid I used to hang out all the time with another kid whose mother was sort of the stereotypical Italian mother. Way too involved, a bit of a smotherer. But she seemed nice.
Once I stopped around his house (this was the 80s, so no cell phones) and he & his family wasn't home, but some other kids across the street called me over & I started hanging out with them. Fast forward an hour or so and the friend who wasn't home comes home with his parents. The mom comes over and invites me in their house to play Atari or something like that.
The other kids weren't invited, and it seemed rude to ditch the other kids, so guilt kicked in and I declined. Just seemed like the right thing to do, but friend's mom apparently took this as a slight. To teach me a lesson, she then ordered a pizza and when it arrived invited all the kids in their house - except me. Obviously the other kids went for the pizza and I got ditched, for trying to do the right thing.
I was so hurt by it I refused to hang out with her son again and that was pretty much the end of our friendship.
#11 I'd always bought my best friend lunch in high school, Like everyday. Every when he had detention, I'd come by and drop him off food.
Image source: DivineArcade1, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)
This one week, I lost my wallet, so no money. Surprisingly he he had money that week I didn't have money. I asked him if he could get me lunch and straight up said no. I thought he was joking and then he just bought food and ate by himself. Made me really think people can be so greedy to their best friend. I stopped hanging out with him after that, and I didn't buy him food anymore.
(He didn't steal my wallet it was at my grandma's house.).
#12 Left his wife and kids because he was in love with my wife, who wasn't interested in him at all. Then literally never saw his kids again and gave up all parental rights. Her next husband, also a friend of mine, adopted them and has been a great dad.
Image source: Pure_Mammoth_1233, Mikhail Nilov/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#13 They were screaming in my face repeatedly that my dead mom is still alive in heaven after I had nicely asked them not to say that to me. Edit: my best friend from pre k until I was 22.
Image source: 444jxrdan444, Aynur Latfullin/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#14 We went out clubbing and I happened to come across and old friend. She later was making jokes about him being “ugly” and “looking like an alien.” He was a burn victim and she knew that. She would also park in the handicapped spots when she had no disabilities. She then leaked my phone number online having people harass me and thought she was doing something by dating my abusive ex bf. They lasted two weeks.
Image source: angel_bunny444, Monstera Production/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#15 We walked past the gay pub in town and he ran up to it, opened the door and shouted “f**g*ts”!! Twat.
Image source: SnoopyLupus, Lorna Pauli/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#16 He explained to me, after the George Floyd protests, that the outcome of the Civil War was wrong, and that Covid was the fault of black people. Never heard any kind of trash like that from him over twenty years. I stood up, told him I would never darken his threshold again and that we were through as friends. I’ve kept my word.
Image source: Pusfilledonut, Mental Health America (MHA)/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#17 When my friend came out MAGA.
Image source: copingstoic, Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#18 When she and another friend of hers were mad at this guy they knew and she told me they were planning to sneak over to his house and “k*ll his dog” for revenge. (I don’t think they ever did it honestly but yeah, what a crazy b***h).
Image source: AlexAA72, Hoy/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#19 When I got a big promotion at work and she said “what, did no one else want it or something?” Knew right then she didn’t think I was deserving or qualified. Really took the wind out of my sails. She was one of the first people I told because I was excited about it.
Image source: BRCRN, John Diez/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#20 We lived in the same dorm and worked at the same place. I gave him a ride to work daily because he didn't have a car for a few months. The thought never occurred to me to ask for money because it I was going there anyway...why would I? He got a car and my car broke down. I asked for a ride. He asks me for gas money.
Image source: twelveparsnips, Tobi/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#21 My friend owns a very popular food truck in the south. She’s netting a half a million a year in revenue.
Image source: missmorganadams, RDNE Stock project/Pexels (not the actual photo)
She needed help for a big event, so I went down and worked for her this past July. I worked with one of her regular employees and I asked how the tips were usually split up. The girl told me that my friend keeps every single tip, and that she’s never seen one. This girl is 20 years old and in college and my friend is still taking the few hundred bucks from her. That money is a drop in the bucket for my friend, but life changing for that girl. At that point I realized true greed. Haven’t talked to her since.
#22 He called his wife a c**t, to her face, in my house. I told him “you’re not gonna call her a c**t in my house.”.
Image source: Citadel_97E, Ron Lach/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#23 When I spent £100 on their birthday and they wouldn’t buy me a 69p drink.
Image source: bingusmadfut, Matthias Zomer/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#24 When he straight lifted up his girlfriends shirt and bra while we were all chilling at another friend's house exposing her to all like 5 of us hanging out.
Image source: MountainDrew757, cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo)
#25 He was caught stealing from another friend and instead of even pretending to apologize, he came up with a convoluted excuse to justify it.
Image source: Hrekires, Анна Хазова/Pexels (not the actual photo)DE
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