As we get older, it's more challenging to maintain friendships and forge new ones. Then there's the inevitable discovery that not everyone we believed was on our side really is.
These individuals have gone through some serious turmoil as a result of their painful friendship terminations. Thankfully, they matured as a result of their experiences and began surrounding themselves with more positive influences. Their old pals still have time to come to terms with what they've done.
58. Moving Out
I lived in an apartment with my best friend. It was going fine for almost a year, no fights or anything.
One day, his dad had a stroke. He could no longer work or pay his bills so he needed a place to stay and my friend was adamant that his dad move into the apartment, meaning I would have to leave. After some arguments (I was trying to make the case that I shouldn’t be the one to move out because it wasn’t fair on me) I finally decided to be the bigger person and move back in with my parents so that his dad could move into the apartment.
Weeks later, I see a Facebook post about how happy he is that his girlfriend is moving in with him. The whole thing was a lie to get me to leave so his girlfriend could move in. The stroke was real, and I think his dad was struggling to find a place, but in the end, he found somewhere to stay. My friend just decided to keep the lie going so that I’d leave.
I haven’t talked to him since.
57. Lend An Ear
I had a very close friend I’ve known for 10+ years.
He was always in a bit of a depressive state about his life and I often was the person he could talk to about it all. Spent countless evenings listening, being supportive, etc. He was not full-time depressed, we also shared a lot of laughs and simple-minded, happy moments.
Then for the first time in ten years… it was me that got depressed. I went through a very emotionally abusive relationship and got lied to about a fake pregnancy for weeks (because she didn’t want to lose me). The experience sent me into an existential crisis and a deep depression…
When I tried to talk about it with this friend of ten years… after five minutes, his words were: “Shut up, dude, you’re so annoying!” He went on to say good night and left. A week later he wrote a message: “Wanna chill?” I told him to find a new best friend. I never heard from him again.
56. Love Triangle
Found out she was sleeping with the same guy I was, the guy I had been in love with for years. We sat down and had a long heart to heart talk and both promised to be rid of him. Found out a week later she had gone out of her way to do that to me and they were now dating. Coincidentally she ended up cheating on him.
Honestly though, I’m grateful that it happened. It led to me getting rid of all of my toxic friends and I now have an amazing boyfriend and the most supportive group of friends I’ve ever had.
55. It's Hard to Hear the Truth
He had a long history of drinking a lot and being obnoxious. That said, he was a very good friend other than that.
But he had a very rigid view of friendship. He moved abroad and began complaining that I wasn’t contacting him enough. I got married, had a kid, had a full-time job, but he basically wanted me to be acting like we were teenagers.
He ended up moving back to my area after a divorce. His partying behavior got worse. He got frustrated I wouldn’t just drop everything and hang out with him.
Finally, I told him I was concerned about his drinking, and he went off on me about how terrible a friend I am. We went back and forth for a while until he finally said not to talk to him.
54. It's Not Worth It
Best friends for two years, we did everything together. A few months ago, she started hooking up with a guy, joined his group of friends, and started blowing me off soon after. Constantly told me she was “just staying in”, then I’d see pictures of her with her friends on social media. A few weeks ago, I decided I’d wait for her to get in contact with me to meet up. She never did. We haven’t spoken since the last text I sent her. It makes me really really sad, but I have to keep reminding myself it’s not worth it to make such an effort for someone who makes me feel so lousy.
53. I Saw It With My Own Eyes
I told her that her boyfriend was cheating on her and I saw it with my own eyes. She said I was a jealous liar and a bad friend.
Weeks later he dumps her because he was cheating on her. She still never spoke to me again. Literally went from really close friends to never speaking or seeing each other ever again in a single conversation.
I’m not remotely sad or disappointed by it, even when it was happening. I was more flabbergasted than angry. This was more than 10 years ago, we were young, and I learned that you should always tell them and if they get mad at YOU then they weren’t a good friend anyways. Hopefully, she learned an important lesson too.
52. He Was Completely Serious
My friend never liked my girlfriend, now wife, and I never really knew why. He was a good friend but I really liked this girl and he was starting to distance himself from me it seemed.
One day he and I were hanging out and he was whining about how he didn’t think my girlfriend was a good fit for me. I really liked her and I kept pushing him to tell me what’s up until he finally said to me, “What if you’re the last one in your family to have kids? Your bloodline will no longer be white.”
I laughed and thought he was joking. He was serious…
51. We Found Out the Day Before He Moved
He just up and moved.
Didn’t tell anyone — just moved.
We hung out pretty much every single day from high school through college. But he decided, “Nah, gonna move across the country to be with some girl I met on the internet a month ago.”
We found out the day before he moved from his brother who also found out that day. We tried to call him and to throw a small going away party or just have a last drink. He responded hours later “at a movie, will call after.” He never texted us afterward or called.
Years later I ran into his brother again and had a chat with him. He told me his brother never reached out to us after moving because he was afraid we’d be mad at him for what he did — heck, he even came back to the area for a week at one point and didn’t tell anyone. BS man, cause I reached out to you like a dozen times and always got dismissive quick 1-2 word replies.
He’s still on my Facebook for whatever reason and he’s [presumably] happily married. And I’m happy for him in that regard, but it’s still a sore spot.
50. Don't Expect That Loan Back
His family was in dire financial straits. I loaned him over $10K. A couple of years later, he asks me about this car he really wants to buy and I suggested that maybe he might consider paying me back before spending on classic/collectible cars.
He went off on a rant and said that his wife (since the dire straight, they got divorced) stole the money from me and he was innocent and all sorts of other unrelated accusations.
That was the last I ever heard of him. Shame, we were as close as brothers for a very long time. His (ex) wife is still a good friend though.
Now I realize that you either DON’T do any business with friends and family, or you GIVE them the money and don’t expect it back.
49. Peer Pressure
Friends from middle school through high school. The guy progressively turned into a bully over the years. He was super cool when it was just me and him hanging out, but was a complete jerk when others were around by putting me down to try to make himself look better.
We had a falling out right before high school graduation, and I figured it was for the best since we would be going to different colleges. Years later we ran into each other in our hometown during Christmas break and reconnected. Seemed like we picked up where we left off, super cool when it was just us and we had a good time catching up.
All of a sudden when we would hang out when other people were around, he would be the same bully he was when I knew him in high school. He was basically the same person he was in high school except he picked up a pot habit. I tried giving it pass because I know how hard it is to keep friends around as you get older, but one night we got into a big argument and led to me kicking him out of my car.
He ended up being extremely butthurt by it and wouldn’t even respond to my calls or texts after that. I tried apologizing to the point that it felt like I was chasing him down.
Then it occurred to me, why… am I practically begging this idiot to be friends with me when he’s a piece of crap that is always treating me bad and he couldn’t forgive me for one lousy thing I did?
I’m so grateful he didn’t get back to me. I understand it’s good to keep friendships going but why would you want a toxic one? I chalk it up to being young and dumb, but now I’m very careful with who I let into my life, and it’s been great. Life has been so much better because of that former friendship because it helped me vet out the bad and keep in the good.
48. The Victim Card
I confided in my best friend that I’d been abused for a portion of my life. He was the only person I’d ever told in the 10 out of 17 years of my life it’d been happening.
His response? “Why do you ruin things, you’re bumming me out right now. That’s not what friends do. Good night.”
I gave him a chance to take it back and apologize, to realize what he’d just done but he stood his ground and told me I was in the wrong for being mad at him and continued to accuse me of playing the “victim card”.
Despite us being best friends and having to spend further time together in school and social events, I knew I could never really see him as a decent human being anymore let alone a friend. Took me months to realize it wasn’t my fault the friendship ended and even now I still blame myself when I’m feeling down.
I should say that it wasn’t an out of the blue statement, throughout the past year and a half I’d implied plenty times of the things that had been done to me but he chose to ignore the subtle hints (I was too afraid to say it out loud). I finally worked up the courage to tell him and that was his reaction.
47. Red Flag Behavior
In college, I was meeting this friend at her house and she was coming from her mom’s place. I guess her mom had gone to the grocery store for her and as she was unloading the groceries, she kept saying, “This is the wrong brand, I don’t even like these, my mom is so stupid for getting this, etc.” She then proceeds to call her mom and complain about how she got all the wrong stuff. I mean her mom was nice enough to not only pay for her groceries but to do the shopping for her! Friendship over.
46. I Had My Suspicions
When he came over to my house for a BBQ, then I noticed a day later that my Scentsy warmer in the downstairs bathroom was missing. Went to his house the following day and saw my Scentsy warmer in his kitchen. I asked him when he got it and he started tripping over his words. I knew he had stolen it. Before this, I already had suspicions he had taken other stuff from my house, and this proved it. I didn’t press him on it, I figured he really needed it more than me. I don’t speak to him anymore.
45. I Haven't Looked Back
My ex-best friend was getting married. I was one of the bridesmaids. I was basically planning everything and trying to do everything, but she fought with me at every turn. The maid of honor would deliberately withhold information from us (the other bridesmaids and I had proof) but the bride would get mad at us. At one point, she said another bridesmaid and I were untrustworthy.
My husband paid for an expensive hotel room. I was going to pay for another one because the room didn’t have enough room for all of us. The bride flipped out that I didn’t want everyone together. I told her to look for a hotel that could comfortably suit us. She flipped out once more and told the bridesmaids and maid of honor that the bachelorette party was canceled.
I started distancing myself after it was obvious she was becoming looney tunes. She texted me about the bachelorette party and said she was going to do a one-night beach thing.
A few weeks later, my husband and I decided to surprise some friends and visit South Carolina during Memorial Day weekend. We figured it was cool because she canceled the weekend and said she was going to do a one-night beach thing. I posted how excited I was to be seeing my XBOX friends and grandmother. It didn’t go well. Suddenly, there was talk about a bachelorette party and how I was a horrible person. I wasn’t texting her every day and it was getting worse and worse.
I tagged my husband in an article that the world is supposed to end. You know, those fake news things? I didn’t see the date but apparently, it was the wedding day. The bride had her mom angrily texted me about it and I told them I was done with the high school drama. I haven’t looked back.
44. I Barely Recognized Him
He moved from middle school to high school (1 grade older than me). Didn’t talk to him for a solid 1.5 years. Finally got to meet up with him, and he had changed so much since the last time we met, I barely recognized him. He also went “edgy”. Occasionally I talk to him but he’s more of an acquaintance now. Feel kind of bad since he really likes and respects me, but I’ve moved on.
43. Speak Your Mind
I was 17 years old and due to my aggressive step-dad, my siblings and mom had to move from place to place. I asked my “friends” to help me move, but only one of them showed up. The others came up with stupid lies and excuses, my mom and siblings still have to move from place to place since 2013. If people would just say what they think without telling lies, I would give them more respect. That’s why I thought “nah, bro(s), you all just leave me when I needed you the most.” That’s not real friendship. They only cared when I made jokes or gave them attention. I guess that’s what humans like.
42. Out of the Loop
When I got a boyfriend, they stopped making plans with me. When my boyfriend and I broke up (eventually) our friendships were never the same. Continually made sure I was out of the loop on many plans. Purposefully posted Snapchat stories of them all hanging out together without me.
When it came to prom season, we were all in the same group. We had a group message so all of us could just know what was up whenever we needed to figure some stuff out. Then they created a whole new prom group message without me in it. So, it’s safe to say, I was not their friend. And I never ever wanted to be their friend again. But they sure did like to rub it in my face how lonely I was during this time.
41. Hop on the Nope Train
She told me about how she treated past friends, thinking they were “funny shenanigans” stories that would make me laugh. Really, they were stories that revealed how crappy she is to friends and how they come second to her wants and she will betray them at the drop of a hat. I hopped on the nope train.
40. A Habit of Overreacting
I was friends with this kid and he spilled his drink all over himself. As any male friend of another male would do, I laughed, but of course, that’s not the end. You see this kid has a little habit of overreacting and may have covered me in chocolate milk in response and then proceeding to do the same to my sandwich.
39. Her Boredom Knows No Bounds
We met when I was 13 and she was 15. I was a massive nerd and she had a hard time making friends among girls. She was always saying the wrong things and angering other females. My friends had always been mostly guys and I felt bad for her being all alone. I also didn’t care about the drama that obsessed the other girls, so she kind of latched on to me.
In high school we hung out with a group of my friends, as the only two girls in a group of really nerdy guys. We all had fun together. After high school, we all kind of went our separate ways for college, but she and I ended up in the same area. Without the guys to do things with, I began to notice she never really contributed anything. She followed our lead, but having to constantly provide all the ideas in a friendship gets old.
I just couldn’t get her to initiate anything. She wanted to be entertained. She would literally sit and do nothing when we spent time together, waiting for me to initiate something. I tried for several years to continue the friendship, but it just got exhausting. I finally had to realize I didn’t enjoy anything about spending time with her and ended the friendship.
38. He Brings Everyone Down
He moved across the country. When he came back to visit, he trashed my apartment, refused to clean up after himself, didn’t want to do anything, then complained that he spent so much money making the trip and we didn’t do anything. He whined about the size of my apartment, how my neighbors made noise, and that the pipes rattled. He was super negative about everything the entire time and was just miserable to be around. I cut ties shortly after because I couldn’t handle his holier than thou and everything sucks attitude anymore.
37. Her True Colors
We had recruited a new member of our high school band. She quickly became one of the most beloved people in the band. She was always invited to our “Percussion Parties” and she was an outstanding person. That was until she started talking smack about one of my other good friends. Almost everyone joined in except for me and another dude. That was when both of us realized she might not be as cool as we thought.
Months later, she continued to increasingly show her true colors. I began to despise her but held out hope that we could still be friends. Then that memorable day finally came. We, the percussionists, began fooling around while the band director went off to work with the trumpets.
This other dude and her were talking while I was doing that thing where you stand awkwardly outside the circle listening. I forget the beginning of the conversation, but I do remember this: “… If it makes you feel any better, you’re my 3rd favorite percussionist!” “person 1, person 2, other dude, [me].” Yeah, I was kind of expecting that. Whatever! But then she turned to me without missing a beat: “You’re my least favorite percussionist.”
I shrugged it off, but it definitely hit hard. The part of me still thinking we could be friends finally shattered. Other dude noticed this too. Other dude and I are close now, but not so much with her. I got over it, still got lots of friends, life’s good.
36. Don't Take His Side!
I moved in with my former best friend, and she was also living with another friend. One day she was just treating him like complete crap for no reason. He was in the right, so I took his side. Afterward, she pulls me aside and tells me that I’m not allowed to take someone’s side over hers because it makes her feel like she can’t talk to me or speak her mind. Basically, it made her feel “unsafe” to have someone disagree with her in her own home. Yeah, I knew then that I never wanted to talk to her again.
35. I Guess She Took It Personally
One of my oldest friends was always a really self-centered, dramatic person. Hanging out was always about her and her life and her stuff. Everything always had to be about her. She always had to be the center of attention. I’m a pretty passive person so I just accepted it – to know “A” is to live in the “A Show.” The line was drawn for me though when I was getting married.
I had moved out of the country at this point, but we stayed in touch and stayed friends. I came home to collect my wedding dress about 4 months before my wedding. Unfortunately, I was only home for a few days and time was really tight, so I only had one chance to get together with her. I got really sick and had to cancel at the last minute, and she got so upset that I “blew her off” that we have literally never spoken since.
She never RSVP’ed to my wedding or said she wasn’t going. My oldest friend blew off the biggest event in my life because she felt that I slighted her (and I honestly think she couldn’t handle that, for once, it was about me for a moment). That was five years ago and it hurt me so badly that I’ve never been able to put it aside and reach out to her. I had always defended her and downplayed her selfishness, but this really showed me that she was actually a lousy person. Maybe I am too for not being a bigger person and contacting her.
34. I Had to Find Out From Someone Else
In middle school, one of my friends moved away without telling me. It happened over the summer, but apparently, he made an effort to contact everyone else he was friends with and hang out with them before his family moved. I had to find out from another friend of mine when school started back in the fall and I noticed he wasn’t in class.
33. Little White Lies
So there was this girl I went to college with who lived on campus. I moved off campus during my sophomore year. As time went on, she and I hung out less (probably because we no longer lived near each other), but I still tried to make the effort to hang out with her occasionally.
One day during the first semester of junior year, I asked her if she wanted to hang out that evening, and she said no; she needed to study. That’s fine. Everyone needs to study sometimes. A few hours later, I get a Snapchat of her and another girl I knew drinking wine and watching Netflix. I knew at that moment that she didn’t give a crap about me, and I decided to not give a crap back. We immediately went from friends to acquaintances.
32. No-Show
He RSVP’d “yes” to my wedding. Since he would be the only vegan there, we went out of our way to make sure he had a vegan dessert, a vegan main course, and vegan sides at a BBQ catered wedding. He didn’t show up. Didn’t even text or message the day of to say he couldn’t make it.
31. He Never Paid Me Back
One of my best friends asked to borrow my copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee when going to the beach. He comes back and tells me he broke the game. I found out he left the game on the ground, out of the box, and stepped on it (accidentally). I asked that he repay me for the game, but he was shocked when I told him how much it would cost. He never paid me; his parents gave me the money as a graduation gift.
30. It Isn't Yours to Take
I was in the library doing my stuff and the whole group comes in and decides to try to get me to give up my ticket for the first Harry Potter film to someone else. Like, my mom bought my ticket, she had the ticket in her possession, and she wanted to see the movie with my brother and myself. Just a coincidence that it was the same time. They were just being jerks and one even said, “We didn’t even invite you anyways.” Screw that noise. I am still friends with one of the group because he’s awesome.
29. She Ghosted Me
When she suddenly stopped replying to any of my texts. The last text I have from her was, “I’ll FaceTime you tomorrow, love you!!” She never FaceTimed and hasn’t responded to any texts since then. After almost a year, I only know what’s going on with her through her social media posts. The saddest thing about it was she was my best friend for over five years and we were roommates for a bit too.
28. They Left Me All Alone
When some of my friends at the time told me I couldn’t go to a party because my ex was also going. So I spent multiple weekends in a row alone and was furious for a long time at some of my best friends for also going to the party instead of doing something with me. In their defence, they didn’t think she was doing it on purpose just so I couldn’t go, but we found out she was indeed doing just that. My best friends apologized but I was about this close to just telling them to pound sand at the time. We’re still best friends to this day but those other kids can kick rocks for all I care.
27. Like Living With a Ghost
We were best friends, so when she needed someone to move in and replace the housemate that had moved out, I offered. But it led to the end of our friendship.
I cleared with her before moving in that it was okay to have people spend the night as long as we told each other and she said that was okay. But when it came down to it, she flipped out and threatened to call the police. When my girlfriend moved in with us, she became super distant. She’d quietly walk around the house, purposely avoiding the creaky step so you wouldn’t know where she was, which meant she’d just appear and scare the crap out of us. She also stood outside my room listening to our conversation.
She then started to use the backdoor rather than the front so we’d never know if she was in or out. It also meant that if she wasn’t home then the backdoor and conservatory door were unlocked and we couldn’t do anything about it cause she had the key.
I moved out because I had enough of this crap after six months.
26. I Don't Expect Gifts
For my birthday three years ago, I kept my celebration low key because I had my first marathon that weekend. So my friends and I went to a designer bag bingo. She not only got me gifts, which was nice and very thoughtful, but she also posted a photo of us on Facebook with a very meaningful caption.
She immediately asked me if I saw it and even though I had, I hadn’t read it yet (I won’t read birthday posts until the end of the day). Then she tells me, “Well, you didn’t even say anything about it so I’m gonna delete it.” I asked her to please not do that and that I’d officially thank her later. Nope. It was too late. Gone.
She confronted me about her always buying me gifts while I don’t reciprocate. I just told her “I never ask you to.” So she calls me out for getting gifts for another friend of mine. I explained how it was a personal thing with my other friend and I don’t do it with everyone. She then went on about how she did it to show me how much of a good “friend” she is and to stand out.
As an adult, I don’t except gifts from friends on my birthday or Christmas. When it comes to my birthday and I invite you out, all I care for is your presence, not your “present.” Just buy my next drink if we’re celebrating at the bar/club.
25. Opinions Matter
I was at a chill hangout with friends, maybe 1 am. He played his Irish rock music. I thought something a little more relaxed would be better, since people were sleeping around us. Can I grab the aux (not his)? I put some more modern, softer music on. He had one reaction. “This is crap.” “Might not be what you like, but we have different tastes I guess. I don’t mind it, even if this isn’t the best example.” “No, it’s complete crap. I’m going to bed.”
Like bro, I listened to what I didn’t like for at least an hour, asked, got told it was fine… People like this who can’t respect an opinion that isn’t based on facts/measurable data hurt me.
24. He Backed Out
I tried to get an apartment with a friend from high school. We were planning to get it since December and were looking all semester. We found one that we both liked that had availability starting in May. He drove out with his mom and we signed all the papers, paid the application fee, and fronted the down payment. He made a mistake and had to get his dad to cosign instead, but he forgot his dad’s social. The owner said that we can just send it the next day and we would get the apartment. We both agreed that was cool and walked to the apartment and talked about what each of us was going to bring.
He waited five days before telling the owner that he wasn’t going through with the deal but never told me that he was backing out. Now I have one week to find an apartment. I am in college and I have missed sign-up for on-campus apartments, applications for resident assistants, and all of my current friends already have living arrangements. I will have to pay almost double for any single apartment and will not trust him from now on.
23. She Turned Against Me
As freshmen in college, my best friend and I both liked the same guy. She told me she didn’t anymore and then called him over a break asking for them to start dating. He turned her down, chose me, and when she found out she turned all of my other “friends” against me. She then proceeded to tell my boyfriend horrible, untrue things about me, which he told me (obviously, duh) and then got my RA to talk to me and tell me to apologize and that I was in the wrong. I ended freshman year with about five solid friends. Since then, all of the other girls have apologized and told me they were wrong. Ended friendship with the first girl ASAP.
22. Kids Ruin Everything
I believe a lot of this happens once you have kids. Once my wife found out she was pregnant, our ‘best friends’ ceased to exist. We went from seeing them every couple of weeks to twice in nine months and now not for a year! That was despite multiple unanswered text messages or phone calls from us. We then had an invitation to just the evening of their wedding (when she did a reading and he was my groomsman). We also weren’t invited to his 30th birthday party last week.
21. They Chose Someone Else Over Me
This was around the time I was in 8th grade. I, along with my two friends, used to play soccer together and they knew I was pretty good at it. We all were pretty good friends. I was a bit studious so I did not try out for the school soccer team. They regularly attended and got in. So I decided to try out the next time. When the trials were happening, the school coach asked their opinion about who should be selected. I just stood there hoping they would support me. Neither of them said a word for me but spoke highly of some other kid. I was dumbfounded. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal now, but at that time it was huge.
20. Mutual Friends
My college girlfriend and I both had a mutual friend, I’ll call her Tina. We were both friends with her for years — up until she announced her engagement to another friend of ours. One day, out of the blue, my girlfriend broke up with me. Different story. But Tina’s wedding was coming up. Tina never invited me. But she invited my ex and her “new boyfriend.” Pictures of the three of them all over Facebook. I figured since she didn’t invite me, we must not be friends anymore. So I removed her from Facebook. She bumps into me a few weeks later and apologizes for “forgetting” to invite me. She then tries to re-add me on Facebook. Said screw that crap. Haven’t talked to her or my ex since.
19. Not Even an Acknowledgment
I live in Japan. A friend in Australia posted on Instagram that he was coming on holiday to Tokyo, and I commented on the post and messaged him excitedly because every time he visits (once every other year or so) we always hang out. The last time he visited, he came to my 30th birthday bash. This time, no response to any of my messages or to my comments on his Instagram posts.
He was visiting with his girlfriend (they got together after his last visit so I hadn’t met her yet) so I understood he was probably busy excitedly showing her around, but not to get a single reply or basic acknowledgment from him really hurt. The last straw was when he ate at a pizza place around the corner from my apartment without so much as, “Hey, I’m in your ‘hood! Let’s meet up.” I basically un-friended him that moment and haven’t spoken to him since.
18. Behind My Back
In high school I discovered my best friend and my then-boyfriend were a thing behind my back. Ouch. I warned her because he was a total jerk, but she stayed with him. I moved on.
A while later, she calls me to tell me I was right, he’s a jerk and she’s sorry. I believe in forgiveness and friendship, so we put it behind us and maintained a very close friendship.
Until this year. We are now 15 years out of high school, and she is engaged to that very same guy. It happened quickly. They got back together in October/November 2017 and were engaged by December, then after lots of thought I decided that no friendship is worth having that negativity in my life.
17. She Had Always Been Mean
My best friend from high school… we were inseparable. We called each other soul mates. I went off to college and she had one more year in high school. I grew up a lot in my first year at college. When I came home to visit her for Christmas, my boyfriend and I drove out together. She saw a jacked up truck and she said, “Oh my god I don’t even know that guy but I already want to punch him in the face.”
I then realized she was always this mean and stuck up. And even cruel sometimes. From then on, I made it a point not to reach out to her. If she reached out to me I’d talk to her, but I never agreed to meet up again. I just could never look at her the same again. She was the stereotypical mean girl and I didn’t want any of that in my life.
16. You Only Ever Call Me When You Need Something
When my “friend” kept asking me for money every time we met up. I get it, you need money, however, you still owe me more than £200 and the only time you ever contact me is when you need something. Also, no, I will not just give you more money because we are “best friends.”
15. I Don't Need Your Help
A friend had agreed to drive me to the airport for a trip for a job interview. The day of the trip, he was upset that I wouldn’t let him cheat off of my homework and threatened to refuse to drive me to the airport. I found another ride to the airport and decided our friendship was over (still put up with his presence for a couple of months until the end of the school year, but I never trusted him again).
14. Do I Know You?
I was at the ballpark and saw him and another guy walking around. So I went up and said hey. He then looked at me and said, “Do I know you?” I just said, “I guess not,” and walked away. That upset me and killed my confidence for a while.
Fast-forward a few months and it’s the end of the school year. My school always had a competition to see who could read the most books and make the best scores on tests about them. Well, that year I placed 2nd so my class won a pizza party. I was allowed to go get a friend from another class, so when I walked in and asked for my best friend at the time, lo and behold, there was the guy who didn’t know who I was. He then had the nerve to say to the teacher that he was also my friend. So when the teacher looked to me for confirmation, I looked him square in the eyes and said, “Do I know you?”
Even though I know it was petty, I still felt great doing it.
13. Odd One Out
All three of my best friends decided that my sixteenth birthday wasn’t worth going to. I didn’t have a big sweet sixteen because I didn’t have a lot of close friends, so the four of us were going to go to the movies and then out to dinner. I waited for an hour at the theater before one of them texted me back that something had come up.
Later, I found out that that “something” was they wanted to go shopping together at the mall to get dresses for an upcoming band event. Really sucked to have nobody come to my birthday party and realized I was the one who didn’t belong in my friend group. Did my best to never speak to them again. Seven years later I’m still mad.
12. Abandoned Property
My old roommate took me out for a birthday breakfast. At the end of the month, he added his meal and mine onto my monthly rent. He legit didn’t know why I was mad. Also, every time I was upset at him he would change the wifi password. Didn’t stop being his friend until I was about to move out and I got a call at work that the cops were at my house so I went home. He told them I abandoned the property and wanted to know what legal rights he has to my stuff. I told the cops I was moving out but was simply at work and hadn’t moved my stuff out. They called him a jerk and left.
11. The Company You Keep
I used to hang with a neighbor a lot growing up. It was great because we had similar tastes, so we would always play together after school and when possible during the weekend. One day, he invited a couple of school friends to a sleepover and he invited me to join them. His friends bullied and harassed me the whole time I was there, and, instead of defending me or telling them to stop, he piled on and joined them. I told them to screw off, left, and decided that guy was no longer my friend anymore.
10. Turn a Blind Eye
When I was in 8th grade, I walked past my local fast food joint and saw my best friend of 6 years hanging with the two kids who mocked me relentlessly and made my high school life a waking nightmare. The two bullies saw me instantly and began to laugh. My supposed best friend joined in. I pretended not to notice.
9. Plans Were Made
The person I considered my best friend moved to another town for the last year of middle school. It was only ten minutes away by train, but we saw each other a total number of twice after that. Plans were made but dropped at the last minute (often by not saying anything about it at all until I asked what time we were going to meet etc.).
The last straw was when we had made plans for me to come over. My friend had something to do that day and we could only squeeze in some time fairly early, so I got up in the morning, got myself on the train and then texted that I’d be at the station in five minutes. I got a reply that said something like, “It seemed like you didn’t really want to meet up, so I’ve made plans with someone else.”
I have no idea what I’d said or done that gave off the impression I didn’t want to meet. We had planned to meet, and if I want to cancel plans I actually say so rather than just ignoring the topic altogether and then not showing up. So sitting there on the train feeling a bit foolish, I decided that was it. I didn’t even reply to that text, I stopped reaching out to that person, and to my complete lack of surprise I wasn’t reached out to in return.
8. Not Friends Anymore
I had a friend from undergrad. We got into the same grad school in the US (we were from India). We traveled together, lived together in the same house and graduated together (albeit from different departments). On the day of the graduation, after we walked, all I wanted was one picture of the two of us in our robes and hat. She wouldn’t let me. I tried all day, but she refused to make it happen. She took pictures with everyone else. That’s when I realized she wasn’t my friend anymore.
7. A Loan You Can't Repay
I had a friend who used me for car rides all the time. Had me give him rides to get dates, to and from work, etc. Worst was, he always needed money and I was dumb enough to loan him some. Dude never even offered gas money at all. Never saw any of my money back, but glad that leech is gone.
6. Completely Ignored
I took my best friend with me to Vegas for my 21st birthday. She started “officially” dating a guy the day before we left. She spent the ENTIRE trip on her phone talking to her new boyfriend.
The first night we were there, she was too tired from the flight (less than 2 hours, non-stop) to go out and drink. She proceeded to spend the entire evening in the hallway outside our room on the phone with new boyfriend. Day two — we went to to the pool during the day and guess who’s texting the whole time? We had two drinks and she said she needed a nap. Back to the room we go. After a three-hour nap she had to call her new boyfriend again in the hallway for an HOUR because he was mad she took a nap and wasn’t replying to him (what the heck?!).
I finally demanded we go out to celebrate my birthday. She ordered one drink and stepped outside the bar to call her man because she wasn’t getting reception inside. Left me alone at the bar for an hour.
Day three — we woke up and went home. Total crap. I basically ended the friendship that day. There were other small things that built up to this but that trip was definitely the straw that broke the camel’s back.
5. Face to Face
My best friend from high school. I flew out to where he lived on three occasions over an eight year span, spending thousands of dollars on meals and flights to hang out with him. He never once flew in to see me.
When I got married, he skipped my wedding. I would text him to check in on him occasionally — and he would never text back. About two years ago, I wrote to him to ask if he’d be interested in attending a class reunion with our other mutual friend. I saw that he read the message but decided not to write back. I felt like a fool for even trying.
After a month or so, I removed him as a LinkedIn connection, a Facebook friend, and deleted his number. He clearly didn’t value our friendship as much as I did. It’s shame since some of the best memories in high school were spent with him and the rest of our small social circle, things I still laugh about and that still meant a lot to me.
4. The Final Straw
I had a friend who I was beginning to realize was a bit toxic. She’d call me up and never really have anything to say so I’d do the talking which I found hard going. When we were in company she’d publicly ridicule me for the littlest of things. I stayed friends with her I think because we’d been friends for so long rather than because I liked her or that she even liked me. It was a friendship of convenience.
One day my friend asked me to be her plus-one to a homewares show. I gave up my day to go to this thing on the other side of town, even though I didn’t really want to go, so my friend wouldn’t be alone. We watched the show. It was kinda boring and not my style but it was a diversion.
Every audience member had been given a door ticket. The prize was a $1000 voucher at a department store. As we took our seats, my friend turns to me and says, “You’d better give me your ticket if they call your number.”
I thought she was joking and so I sniggered a little. At the end of the show they drew the ticket and called my number!
After collecting my prize, I went back to my friend. She said, “I’d split it with you 50/50 but I can’t afford that, so how about I give you $250?” I couldn’t believe it. She was serious.
I never spoke to this friend again. Toxic friendship over. I have never missed her.
3. When Life Gives You Lemons
We had this project together back in high school for our law class project. Ours was on criminal law. The project was worth 30% of our grade. I was heavily involved in musical theatre, so I told my friend, “Give me all of the work you want me to do. I’ll do it for you by Thursday. But after that, I have commitments to theatre. It’s tech week. So I can’t do any work.” She agreed. She gave me 3 sections to complete, she had 3 sections, and so did our other friend.
Thursday came and I submitted all of my work and uploaded it to the PowerPoint. I was done. I got a text on Sunday (the project was due Tuesday) and she told me that she needed me to do another part. When I asked why, she said the other girl just didn’t want to do it so I had to. I got mad and said, “I already told you I can’t after Thursday…”
Her response was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard: “When life throws you lemons, you have to be wearing your protective gear so it doesn’t knock you on to the ground.” I got even more mad and was like, “Fine. I’ll have it done for tomorrow.” So I stayed up really late doing this other girl’s work. I sent the lemon excuse girl my work and then uploaded it to the PowerPoint.
The day of the presentation comes and we get to the part with the work I did on Sunday. I noticed everything was spelled wrong. She had “edited” my work and misspelled everything that I had. So, for example, I put “when the lawyer meets the judge” she replaced it with “When the lawyer MEATS the judge.” People started laughing at her spelling mistakes and it lowered our mark.
I was so mad. I confronted her about it and her excuse was, “Well you had to get ready with that lemon gear. And you weren’t.” We weren’t friends after that.
2. Tweens Can Be Cruel
I’ve had a few times where I’ve realized maybe my friends weren’t really my friends after all, but the one that hurt the most was when I was about 12.
My neighbor and best friend invited me to her birthday dinner. It was just going to be her parents, her two sisters, a couple of aunts and uncles, and three of her friends. Her parents drove me and her two other friends of choice to the dinner. Everything seemed to be going well and we were having a great time.
After dinner and presents, she disappeared with the other two girls and it seemed like they were taking a really long time to come back to the table, so her mum asked me to go find them. I looked around the buffet and they weren’t there, so I went into the girl’s toilets and found them.
They had locked themselves into the same stall and were talking about me. I don’t remember exactly what they were saying as it was years ago but it wasn’t nice. I didn’t know what to do so I hid in another stall. They must have heard me come in as they wrapped up their conversation and left to go back to the table. It made the rest of the night super awkward, and because her parents had driven us there I had to wait for the celebrations to be over to be driven home.
We had had fights on and off over the years because that happens, but this for me was the last straw. One of the girls she invited I had known since I was little; the other girl was new to our school and my bestie had become friends with her and I found out later had started to turn her against me.
1. It Was Just Karma
After my high school best friend accused me of stealing his roommate’s sweater, we were done. They went to a different university and she was quite a bit bigger than me so I had no use for her sweater. Also, I’m not a thief. He had his girlfriend, my roommate, check my bag just in case I was lying. Obviously there was no sweater. Then he had her check my car. Still no sweater. I wasn’t as mad or offended as I should have been at the time.
Then I lost my bracelet at his place. No one saw it… sure, buddy. It just up and walked away from the nightstand I had set it on. I think his roommate took it as retribution and he allowed it because he brought it up again months later about me stealing the sweater and how losing the bracelet was probably just karma. I didn’t take the crappy university sweater, and I would still like my bracelet my mom gave me back.