Saturday, March 01, 2014

Talking About Others

A number of years ago when I worked, we had a secretary that was a gentle old soul.  She was usually upbeat even though her personal life was a disaster (two broken marriages where the last dude tried to kill her and then at the most recent being a devout Christian and living with a Jewish man who others told her must be gay).  She was the kind of person who would take in every animal or small child if she could.  She was also the kind of person who could not get her work done unless there was a looming deadline and nothing else to fill the time.  She was endlessly distracted by things such a livecam polar bears or email chain letters and memes on the Internet.  I rarely asked her to do anything for me, because it was much faster to do it myself.

She wore her heart on her sleeve and I loved her and hated her at the same time!

We are both now retired and I made the mistake of befriending her on FB.  I guess I thought  I would see a better side of her when we were just friends and not colleagues.

She posts up to 30 posts a day on FB.  I have to scroll through them endlessly.  She has not posted an original comment or thought since I befriended her via FB over two years ago.  She instead "shares" a lot!  She shares religious statements from celebreties, photos from sites such as Style Genie, Traveling Dogs,  various animal rescue sites, FamilyShare, something called "Silly Stupid Statuses and Stuff" and other "uplifting" or "humorous" links.

A recent "share" was a graphic which said "I am a fruit loop and the world is full of cheerios."   I almost commented with a snarky reply on that one.

When I complained in bed one evening of her clutter on FB which was like the clutter she used to email to me  at work, hubby replied:  "Tabor, you must know by now that she has not had an original thought ever in her life."

The trouble is, she makes me feel like I am a cranky old bitch and I think I am just an intellectural, discerning person.

There.  Got that off my chest and did not hurt anyone's feelings...did I?

(Today...almost immediately after writing this post...she posted on FB that she had just won $1,000 in the lottery!  Is this a message to me from God?)

23 comments:

  1. ha. well another reason i am glad i am not on FB any more...smiles...yeah people dont change much...ha

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  2. Not unless you 'shared' it with her on FB! :)

    Look, we ALL have 'friends' who use FB as their only means to connect. I, too, am distressed by those who share TMI. It's like they're thinking out loud -- publicly! When I see the stuff that really annoys me, I 'hide' it. :)

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  3. PS Want to 'friend' me? ;)

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  4. 30 is a lot, but it is pretty easy to breeze past most posts.

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  5. I have few few facebook friends who never post anything original, and who " share" too much. If it gets too annoying I just "hide" them, and then I don't have to scroll through the mindless crap. Ooops. Was that judgmental? So be it. Anyway, you can spare yourself without hurting feelings.

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  6. Well, you have the option to hide all her posts. It's up there under edit. I've done it when that happens as this constant sharing does make it difficult to read anything. When we even 'like' something it can be passed on. Sometimes I like that idea as a lot of what I get there is uplifting but a lot also is political and where i might agree, I know I have righties as friends who most decidedly would not. It's not hard though to hide posts from someone and they won't know you did it.

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  7. So funny, so true. I had to hide a relative because she shares every cheese,noodle,bacon recipe she comes across. The photos of oozing grease and carbs and chocolate, marshmallow, high fructose tidbits ruined my everyday. Hiding doesn't involve unfriending, just setting those posts aside for when you have the stomach for it.

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  8. I've got adept at scrolling quickly through things on fb - but must admit it is salutory to see what people are ready online. A lot of it is amazingly trite.\

    Blessings from Dalamory
    www.freda.org.uk

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  9. Didn't hurt my feelings, and this is one reason i am not on FB. As for messages from G-d, well, i'd like to think this is more just a lucky break for someone who hasn't had too many of them.

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  10. RYN: Yes, I pack like that too, I'm just wondering how hot it will be because the temperatures will effect my wardrobe. I'll take 15 days of something, fourty thousand meds, and my camera. :)

    Reading on..........

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  11. I really dislike Facebook and haven't updated my page in months. I read somewhere, and I agree, that having lots of friends on Facebook is like sitting at the popular table in an insane asylum.

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  12. I do believe it's time to "unfriend" her. I do like the hide idea. She won't know. Nothing's worth being driven bonkers about. You could friend me, Mage Bailey, but I share something once a day, and one to two posts a day from the store. You would be bored. LOL

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  13. Is the message that you should start sharing sappy sayings and stupid jokes? I can't imagine God would want that, but I guess it is not for me to say.

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  14. Every time I have 'friended' someone on FB rather than hurt their feelings I have regretted it. That Hide option is my friend, I have to use it occasionally when the trivia of my grand-daughters' friends gets too much for me. Oh, your old colleague will probably slip into overdrive now that she has her win to post about.

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  15. ACK! Don't like or comment on that post about winning the lottery. It's a Facebook secret "game" where whoever likes or posts on your status is then messaged to post one of the given statuses in the message. I've fallen for it and have received the message from a friend, that's why I recognized the status about the lottery. So, she still has not had a thought of her own! haha

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  16. I knew that there were many reasons I don't engage in FB. I have the account but never post.. and I only read those who truly interest me.. family... a couple of friends. At least, so far. I'm feeling more isolated out here in the country so that may change at some point.. but not yet. I didn't know about the "hide" feature. Sounds like a good plan.

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  17. So annoying! Who has time for all that blather?

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  18. I've had people I defriend on FB simply because I find myself irritated with all their posts. Such a relief when I do. I often wonder why I didn't do it before.

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  19. I have some friends like that on FB... I take them out of my newsfeed and put them in their own folder --so that I don't have to look at their junk... Terrible to say and do this, but I don't have time for all of that kind of stuff.

    It's really kind of sad though to think that so many people truly don't have a 'life' --and spend hours and hours and hours on FB or Blogger --saying absolutely NOTHING. I get so frustrated with blogs which talk about nothing... I realize that we are all at different points in our lives, but those stupid memes just drive me batty at times, nothing original.

    I know that not everyone is interested in our travels or hiking or our lives ---but HEY--at least I HAVE a life... GADS--thanks for letting me get this off of my chest... ha ha

    I feel better now.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  20. Face book reminds me of junior high school. I don't want to be your friend anymore. No thanks. Still the political wing nuts who pass on their "wisdom" are an even worse breed....:)

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  21. Every day I think I am going to delete my Facebook then I will read something from one of the grandchildren and remember why I am there. Thankfully I have not "friended" a lot of people and those who tend to share too much I will hide so I don't have to see it all. Often I will unfriend a few if they get too religious or political or gross.

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  22. It is definitely a message from God- Even run of the mill folks can be lucky, n liked! People hate me when I say the truth n don't pretend all is great, I've noticed myself...

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  23. Your ending made me laugh!

    We all have frustrating people in our lives, don't we? You just want to shake some sense into them!

    Although, I've wondered if the oblivious state of some people is a happy place for them to be.

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