It’s not always easy to know who your real friends are. Realizing that people were just hanging out with you because they wanted something from you, or because it was convenient, or because you came as part of a package deal can be pretty devastating.
Throw the rise of social media into the mix and how easy staying in contact can be, and you might go years before figuring out someone you consider a close friend doesn’t share that opinion of you.
We’ve all been there, and as much as it blows, sometimes there’s catharsis in shared experience. To that end, folks on Reddit are outing their former friends as fakes and detailing just how they figured out the friendship meant a whole lot less than they thought it did.
1.
Finding out they have an inner-circle group chat but i’m the only one not in it.
2.
After my divorce. We were couples friends not individually.
3.
When they stopped contacting me when I stopped drinking.
4.
Once high school ended, I heard about all the rumors they made up about me.
5.
When my phone got stolen and I lost their phone numbers. Mine stayed the same, but we just never talked again.
6.
I quit going on FB months ago. Only 1 person reached out to me and asked if everything was OK and how I was doing.
7.
Whenever we were supposed to hang out something came up and that something was hanging out with other mutual “friends.”
8.
When I broke up with my long-term boyfriend, the guy I thought had been my best friend of 3 years gave me 2 weeks before saying “is it my turn, yet?” Fucking garbage.
9.
My “friends” from high school all unfollowed me when I graduated college. I’m the only one who no longer lives in our hometown.
10.
When I traded in my truck for a smaller more eco friendly vehicle. Communication plummeted now that i can’t haul furniture around, assist with moving as much, dispose of garbage.. etc.
11.
One friend stopped replying to my texts right after we graduated from college. Like the same week we graduated. So… I was pretty much just a study buddy that they kept close to keep me helping them.
12.
On my 21st birthday- all my “friends” made up excuses why they couldn’t come. Then the 3 friends that did met some guys and we went back to their house and awkwardly sat around.
13.
When I went through a divorce and was down to $700…most difficult period and weeded out all those who “friended” me for my generosity because I was well settled. Started over and have like 2 true good friends.
14.
When you try to open up and try to share a genuine conversation about something going on in your life and all they can do it crack jokes and try to get you to go out drinking with them. Made me realize how surface level many “friendships” really are.
15.
I was invited to the bachelorette party for one of the friends in this group. While at the party, I figured out that I was the only person not invited to the wedding. I had been invited to the party because they needed another person to chip in for expenses.
16.
My wife and I separated and she got the majority of our friends. Almost nobody checked in on me to see how I was doing. Then we decided to work it out and stay together and now there’s a whole list of people’s birthdays I don’t have to remember.
17.
I wouldn’t say I have fake friends but I am definitely the periphery friend. The majority of the time if there isn’t enough tickets or space in the car for everyone to go do something, I’m the one who gets cut out. It doesn’t bother me much but I wish they would be more mindful when talking to me about “things we have done.” “Remember when we went to see XXX? Wasn’t that fun?” Well, no because I wasn’t invited.
18.
We were all set to go enjoy music at a local establishment. I talked to multiple people from the group, confirming meeting time. I got there and no one else was there. Eventually they all showed up together. Found out they had been out all day together shopping/drinking and I was the only one not clued into that part. I had been looking forward to the night but ended up feeling lower than I had ever felt.