Wednesday 21 March 2012

Bad ways to break up

The other evening there was a short segment on the radio about bad ways someone can end a relationship with another person (or as I prefer to call it, "Breaking Up: The Douchebag Method"). Over the years I have heard of several poor ways to break up with someone, and I thought I would begin to list some of them; some would be quite creative if they were not so heartbreaking to the person on the receiving end:

1. Very short telephone call
I remember when listening to Dawson McAllister Live on the radio how Dawson McAllister strongly recommended to people looking to end a relationship to do it in person, rather than through other methods such as texting, e-mails, or even phoning (although this did assume a "good" relationship, rather than abusive ones where he suggested to just leave). I once heard an instance of someone being dumped via a phone call lasting less than 30 seconds (I did not hear it on the show, however).

2. Re-arranging magnets on a refrigerator
One woman was informed by her boyfriend that she had been dumped via his re-arrangement of magnets on either his or her fridge (I do not know what the exact wording of the letters was). He was not in the vicinity of the fridge when she saw it. This one gets points for being clever, but it is still cowardly!

3. On a social website
This is one I read about, rather than heard on the radio: there was a guy who phoned his girlfriend after a date, and she told him to check Facebook: when he did he could not see anything wrong with it, but then she told him to refresh his page, and voila! She had just changed her status from "in a relationship with (such and such)" to "looking for someone". Dumping someone over any social networking site is a bad idea, but the way this particular break-up was carried out was especially "evil".

4. Cheating on someone, and getting the person you cheated with to tell the person you cheated on that they have been dumped
It is bad enough getting someone else to inform your soon-to-be-ex that they are being dumped, but nothing adds icing to the cake more than telling the person you cheated with to tell the person you cheated on that the relationship is over!

These four are the most notable to spring that my mind for the moment. If I come up with more I shall create new posts for them and link back to this one. Feel free to recommend other bad break-up methods.

For the record, I agree with McAllister that it is best to end a relationship in person, assuming the relationship has been relatively amicable, not abusive, and you are not looking to get away from the other individual for your own safety. Certain things really do need to be told face-to-face, not over any other medium. As funny as these all sound, the person being dumped was likely really hurt by what happened to them.

6 comments:

  1. Ooh, I'm sorry about that. :( It wasn't the purpose of the post to remind anyone of anything! :(

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  2. I am not really sure there is a good way to break up but these are probably some pretty bad ways.

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    1. I've always thought it should be a case of "the least bad way possible" rather than "kick them while their down".

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  3. Unfortunely I've gone through the text message break-up and it only adds insult to injury. Especially if you still want to be friends with the other person after you break-up, the right break-up method is key (and all of the above are not the right ways to go about it).

    The best way really is in-person, even if it's the more difficult of break-up ways for the "breaker-up-er", it's shows a lot more respect and consideration towards the person being broken up with. That's just the way I see it anyway :)

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    1. I find it sad that that happened to you: I know you deserve better than that!

      I can see why it would be hard to be friends with someone if they used one of the above bad methods of breaking up.

      I am glad we agree that the best way to break up with someone is to tell them in person. :) It is more respectful and considerate.

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