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Hardest Rejection?

 
 
Lullaboozler
18:04 / 12.03.02
Okay, so I finally plucked up the courage to ask the guy out for a drink (with the full insinuation that it could/would lead to more than that), and it turns out he already has a boyfriend!

Don't know why this particular rejection hit me so hard (I have a few theories that I am entertaining) - but I was really pissed off at this.

Not looking for sympathy - hell we all get KB'd, I just wasn't expecting to take it so badly...

Anyone else been taken by suprise like this, and thought 'Hey, I wasn't expecting to feel *that* bad'?
 
 
w1rebaby
18:18 / 12.03.02
For some reason, my girlfriends have often taken the "I'm insane" route. At least two have said they were either coming off prozac or going onto it and "couldn't cope with a relationship right now".

Given that at that time I had taken fluoxetine and paroxetine myself, and knew exactly what the consequences were, I wasn't very impressed.

I think it was what I felt was the dishonesty, or lack of willingness to try, that got to me. I'd rather someone said "look, this isn't working" than tried to explain things away.

If anyone ever says "it's not you, it's me", they're asking for immediate physical violence in my book. That may be just a personal thing.
 
 
Lullaboozler
18:33 / 12.03.02
quote:Originally posted by fridgemagnet / w1rebaby:


I think it was what I felt was the dishonesty, or lack of willingness to try, that got to me. I'd rather someone said "look, this isn't working" than tried to explain things away.

If anyone ever says "it's not you, it's me", they're asking for immediate physical violence in my book. That may be just a personal thing.


I have ended more than one relationship with "this isn't working", and in every situation it was a case of it being 'me' and not 'them'.

Not sure I deserved physical violence though - I thought I was doing the right thing by terminating a realtionship that was going nowhere because I couldn't deal with it (for whatever reason).

I don't like being beaten up
 
 
w1rebaby
18:49 / 12.03.02
As long as you didn't say "it's not you, it's me"... god, I hate that phrase.

In many cases, though, it was obvious that things weren't working. I probably didn't have the moral courage to work myself up to dump them first.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
20:30 / 12.03.02
Easy one. Hardest rejection ever was at a party where I met an ex-thing (ex-partner and, for the previous two years or so, ex-friend, and in their defence for very good and pertinent reasons) and mentioned in conversation that I still had a book of theirs which I really should return.

"Oh. Do you have it with you right now?"

"Um..no."

"Well, forget about it then."

There was an utterly heroic finality in that statement which left me kinda gibbous. And, subsequently, was a useful spur along the road back to something resembling sanity, or at least human decency.
 
 
Mourne Kransky
20:55 / 12.03.02
If you were actively being led into this situation then it could be the guy's a cock-tease and gets off on knowing he's jerking you strings. He risks nothing, since the enjoyment of your pursuit is all he wants, but when it comes time to follow through, you're the only one who's hurt.

I've known a few guys like that and I think the reason I felt so bad was that the signals I was picking up, and getting a charge from, changed abruptly and that probably hurts more than the words.

I suspect I may have indulged in a little of that behaviour myself when I was the cynosure of all eyes in my youth.
 
 
The Monkey
05:17 / 13.03.02
well put ZoCher. The absolute worst rejection is the one where you think you're going to succeed, then get shot down. Even if they're not mean about it. You just get all of that machinery that generates hopes and dreams oiled [lubed?] and running smoothly, then someone throws a monkeywrench in...ouch.

[retreating back to writing final papers]
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
06:57 / 13.03.02
quote:Originally posted by fridgemagnet / w1rebaby:
For some reason, my girlfriends have often taken the "I'm insane" route. At least two have said they were either coming off prozac or going onto it and "couldn't cope with a relationship right now".

Given that at that time I had taken fluoxetine and paroxetine myself, and knew exactly what the consequences were, I wasn't very impressed.


One small and horribly pedantic point:

Drugs, including SSRIs, don't affect every single person in exactly the same way. You certainly know exactly what the consequences of coming off them were for you, but you don't neccessarily know how it's going to affect somebody else. I've been around people who've been going onto or come of off various pills and potions and believe me, it's all very YMMV-ish. Also, chucking in the brain candy can represent a big transition in a person's life; not such a great time to take up with a new fella.
 
 
Lullaboozler
07:25 / 13.03.02
quote:Originally posted by ZoCher:
[QB]If you were actively being led into this situation then it could be the guy's a cock-tease and gets off on knowing he's jerking you strings. He risks nothing, since the enjoyment of your pursuit is all he wants, but when it comes time to follow through, you're the only one who's hurt.

I've known a few guys like that and I think the reason I felt so bad was that the signals I was picking up, and getting a charge from, changed abruptly and that probably hurts more than the words.
QB]


I don't think it was deliberate: he just has a boyfriend.

Still, on the plus side to the day the specialist Maxillo Facial surgeon I saw later that afternoon confirmed that the lump in my throat was just an infected cyst and not something much much worse.

Kinda put the rejection thing into perspective a bit.
 
 
Ganesh
07:25 / 13.03.02
quote:Originally posted by Mordant C@rnival:
Drugs, including SSRIs, don't affect every single person in exactly the same way. You certainly know exactly what the consequences of coming off them were for you, but you don't neccessarily know how it's going to affect somebody else. I've been around people who've been going onto or come of off various pills and potions and believe me, it's all very YMMV-ish. Also, chucking in the brain candy can represent a big transition in a person's life; not such a great time to take up with a new fella.


S'true. If the side-effects of antidepressants were easily and accurately predictable across the board, doctors would likely be a bit less shit at properly warning you...
 
 
Cherry Bomb
10:22 / 13.03.02
The "it's not you, it's me" thing is just annoying because in a way it's actually true, and another way it actually isn't. You can't help who you're attracted to or who you wanna be with, and that's the "it's not you" part. but the truth is, you're just not doing it for possible paramour, and that's the "it is, actually, YOU, sort of" part.

And yeah that hurts a bit, but different strokes for different folks, you know? I personally would rather be rejected by someone who didn't really want to be with me than spend my time with them.

Dating is kind of like sales. You knock on a lot of doors, some people are going to turn you down, but the more doors you knock on, the easier it gets to handle the turn-downs. And someone ALWAYS says "yes" (eventually!).

This guy just had a boyfriend. Probably you just had your hopes up high and were planning pinnacles of amour and all that and it was all ruined when you found out about the boyfriend. I'd be upset, too. (and seeing as I'm a romantic who likes my men idealized and more on the fantasy side than reality, have been there!) But I promise you you'll feel better, and when you do, ask someone else out and I bet they'll say yes.

If you need to talk, feel free to call on Auntie Cherry...

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: Cherry Bomb ]
 
 
w1rebaby
14:13 / 13.03.02
quoterugs, including SSRIs, don't affect every single person in exactly the same way. You certainly know exactly what the consequences of coming off them were for you, but you don't neccessarily know how it's going to affect somebody else.
i know, but i thought (and still think) they were using it as an excuse

maybe i'm just uncharitable
 
 
Baz Auckland
19:50 / 13.03.02
quote:Originally posted by fridgemagnet / w1rebaby:
As long as you didn't say "it's not you, it's me"... god, I hate that phrase.


Someone tried to tell me that a long time ago, except that it ended up being "it's not you, it's me... well, ok, it's you." Damn.
 
 
w1rebaby
19:55 / 13.03.02
if you say "it's not me, it's you" with the correct face on, most of the time people will assume you said "INYIM" anyway
 
 
The Apple-Picker
09:42 / 14.03.02
I didn't say "It's not you, it's me." Well, not in those exact words.

It went a little something like this:
boy: What did I do wrong?
girl: You didn't do anything wrong.
boy: Why are you breaking up with me then?
girl: It's not you, it's me.

Oops. Maybe I did say it in those exact words.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
10:18 / 14.03.02
Not my worst being dumped line ever... but my worst sense of foreboding...
"Would you still want to live with me if we weren't seeing each other?"
So of course, (shellshocked), I'm saying "well yes of course. WHY are you asking?"
The whole situation got worse after that- we DID split, we DID live together for a couple of months afterwards, and it DID suck.
Funny thing is, she's now one of my best friends. Took a while, though.
 
 
alas
13:04 / 14.03.02
quote: Dating is kind of like sales. You knock on a lot of doors, some people are going to turn you down, but the more doors you knock on, the easier it gets to handle the turn-dow

does it? i dunno. i'm in a relationship now, but i don't remember it getting easier. or it would seem to get easier but then some relationship out the blue hits you upside the head. so i'm pretty sympathetic to the 'i wasn't expecting to hurt this much.'

besides which i hate sales. thin skin, alas.
 
 
Persephone
14:20 / 14.03.02
I suck at sales, so that explains everything.

Here's my entry in the It's Not Me, It's You sweepstakes:

"Well for one thing, you like women just because they're women."
"What?"
"You like Carrie Fisher. I read Postcards from the Edge, and it just wasn't good."
 
 
Reason
16:14 / 14.03.02
Hmm, I don't know, but I've had a "it is you" break-up and wow, that's hard on the ego! Try walking around in a post break up funk and KNOWING it was you. Bleah!
And just for a little ray of hope, many relationships have come about after said guy breaks up with his current. You never just know.
Reason

[ 14-03-2002: Message edited by: Reason ]
 
 
Spatula Clarke
09:29 / 17.03.02
Currently dreading tomorrow afternoon, where I'm due to face a fair old dollop of rejection, possibly of the "I've been thinking.. I love you, just not really in that way," type.

Which, no matter how true it may be, is still fairly depressing.
 
 
Tom Coates
09:29 / 17.03.02
My personal advice is when you've been rejected a number of times and don't feel you can stand it happening again that you give up completely and start building an online community of some kind.......

In the meantime, you should probably check out this article at the New Scientist.
 
 
Robot Man Reformed
09:29 / 17.03.02
Oh darling Tom,

You are so fucking sweet.

With me, you'd be so safe.
 
  
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