The Social Ripcord/Eject Button -- share your tales.

[Sarah]

But at least you're usually not stuck in a car with your psychiatrist.

[Stan]

In one weekend, my sister-in-law:

- Told my mother she married my brother for his health insurance (if she doesn't believe in marriage for emotional reasons, fine, but why tell my mother that?)
- Failed to speak to most of our family at Thanksgiving dinner, including my 80 year-old grandmother.
- Informed me (unprompted) that she despises my father and says he is her "least favorite person in the world" and she "hates him"

She pulled her own fucking eject button on that one.

 Isn't she a cat killer as well?

[jbissell]

recently, i discovered a good friend, who i generally have a good time with, believes we came from aliens.  once that was out of the bag, it became the longest road trip ever. 

Yeah, I've got one those friends too.  Were were on the train this summer and he was going on and on about the new world order and I pretty much had to pretend he was just a crazy guy that had sat down next to me and just started rambling.

[erika]

In one weekend, my sister-in-law:

- Told my mother she married my brother for his health insurance (if she doesn't believe in marriage for emotional reasons, fine, but why tell my mother that?)
- Failed to speak to most of our family at Thanksgiving dinner, including my 80 year-old grandmother.
- Informed me (unprompted) that she despises my father and says he is her "least favorite person in the world" and she "hates him"

She pulled her own fucking eject button on that one.

 Isn't she a cat killer as well?

Nah, that's my boyfriend's sister-in-law. But she stopped trapping the kitties and started donating to the ASPCA so I guess she saw the light

I really do love my sister-in-law but I just can't believe she said this shit to me/my family. She has no filter.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Sorry for the long post, but the topic strikes a nerve for me. These were two very close friends.

1. I had a friend in college who was always "almost my girlfriend" with only one or two drunk exceptions.  We were insanely close and spent days and days together at a time.  After college, we both happened to move to NYC.  We still hung out, but not quite as often. The "When Harry Met Sally" charm ended one day when she told me that she burned her hand with some Starbucks coffee and her new sleazy boyfriend recommended suing Starbucks.  I kinda shrugged it off, thinking she would never really do it.  The next time I saw her, she had started the legal proceedings.  I have spoken to her about four times in the past ten years.  I have no love for Starbucks, but I have even less love for frivolous lawsuits.

2. This involves a friend of mine since fifth grade who i see about once a year now.  In all of that time, I had avoided talking with him about politics because I knew his parents were hawkish, and he's never been the type to bring it up anyway.  A little more than one month ago, a bunch of my high school friends got together. After a few drinks, we got talking about politics (which was obviously in the air right before November 4th).  We were not even talking about 9/11 when this guy blurts out, "I SWEAR. AFTER 9/11, WE SHOULDA JUST FLOWN OVER AFGHANISTAN AND GLASSED THE FUCKERS." In my infinite stupidity, I decided to actually debate this point instead of walking away.  But ultimately, and obviously, it was pointless. I have lost an old friend over what I see as a truly sinister comment.

[todd]

Last night I went on a blind date. The conversation was moving along, albeit tentatively, until my date began passionately discussing her recent experience at Family Guy Sings! at Carnegie Hall.

Ew boy. Then she mentioned her love for Stadium Arcadium, and I knew it was ovah.

Please share your tales! What nuances or suggestions have effectively ended your evenings?

you will die alone



and you deserve it

[<<<<<]

Politics have been a major eject button ~ particularly since the Bush Jr. administration ~ conservative viewpoints create a major roadblock on the road to friendship now.

[Gibby]

2. This involves a friend of mine since fifth grade who i see about once a year now.  In all of that time, I had avoided talking with him about politics because I knew his parents were hawkish, and he's never been the type to bring it up anyway.  A little more than one month ago, a bunch of my high school friends got together. After a few drinks, we got talking about politics (which was obviously in the air right before November 4th).  We were not even talking about 9/11 when this guy blurts out, "I SWEAR. AFTER 9/11, WE SHOULDA JUST FLOWN OVER AFGHANISTAN AND GLASSED THE FUCKERS." In my infinite stupidity, I decided to actually debate this point instead of walking away.  But ultimately, and obviously, it was pointless. I have lost an old friend over what I see as a truly sinister comment.

Jesus. Crazy. Good tale though. A similar thing happened to me when a friend said, whilst reading an online story about how an Islamic group plan to build a mosque on land that they own, "THEY bomb OUR country and yet WE give THEM this?". After calmly explaining the issue, I quietly muttered that "I don't think we can be friends anymore." She tried to laugh it off and claim dumb-blondeness overcame her, so I reconsidered until relaying the story to the rest of the band, they said she was always coming out with junk like that.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

She tried to laugh it off and claim dumb-blondeness overcame her, so I reconsidered until relaying the story to the rest of the band, they said she was always coming out with junk like that.

as long as youre not sleeping with her, let her do her thing. 

[gravy boat]

She tried to laugh it off and claim dumb-blondeness overcame her, so I reconsidered until relaying the story to the rest of the band, they said she was always coming out with junk like that.

as long as youre not sleeping with her, let her do her thing. 

[KickTheBobo]

I was at a small Thanksgiving dinner once at a friend's apartment, when I approached the host and her neighbor and asked where I could find the washroom. The neighbor, a seemingly normal woman in maybe her early 30s (whom I had never met before, and had maybe said 5 words to up until then) says this:

"What're you gonna do in there?...(insert a long string of vocal fart sounds)"

I wasn't so much offended than I was bewildered.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

KTB wins.

[Stan]

I was at a small Thanksgiving dinner once at a friend's apartment, when I approached the host and her neighbor and asked where I could find the washroom. The neighbor, a seemingly normal woman in maybe her early 30s (whom I had never met before, and had maybe said 5 words to up until then) says this:

"What're you gonna do in there?...(insert a long string of vocal fart sounds)"

I wasn't so much offended than I was bewildered.

 Obviously your reputation preceded you.

[KickTheBobo]

another time that I really wanted to hit the eject button was once when I was waiting for the Greyhound. A young skinhead-looking fella, maybe in his late twenties sat down beside me in the seating area outside. I could tell something was off about him right away, and of course he struck up a conversation. I can't recall the exact details of his story, but apparently what happened was that he had been working construction and had been shot in the head with a nail gun. He then went on to tell me about how he had just got out after having spent some time in the "hospital" and was glad to be out. It was kind of hard to keep talking with him because he would occasionally go catatonic for a few seconds mid sentence. then I made the dumb mistake of asking him "so, how long were you up there"? and he's like "where?" and I say "the hospital".

the next thing I know, our eyes are locked (he's sitting in the chair right next to me) and I see nothing but pure rage in his face. My fight or flight immediately kicked in,  because I knew that I was about to be stabbed or attacked in some way. I made an awkward "hey, I gotta get going" excuse (which was tough because my adrenaline was surging) and got up and checked out the arcade inside the bus station until I saw him tailing me. got in a cab and got the fuck out of there.

next time I'll tell you about how I somehow found myself at the family dinner table with two crack smoking skins who spent the whole meal verbally abusing their grandmother right to her face. good times.

[yesno]

A young skinhead-looking fella,


two crack smoking skins

Lot of skinheads in Rhode Island?