By emydoll - 28/04/2014 03:28 - United States - Honolulu

Today, I had just sat down in the lobby of my doctor's office when my phone alerted me that I had a friend request. I checked; it was from some girl from high school. I muttered to myself, "I don't want to be your friend." I then heard a gasp. She was sitting across from me. FML
I agree, your life sucks 35 269
You deserved it 48 077

emydoll tells us more.

I probably should have made a few things clear first, this girl was a total bitch in high school and made fun of me daily. So you can imagine how surprised I was in that horribly awkward situation.

Top comments

Can't blame you. No way you could have predicted that. But maybe you should check your phone less and look around you more.

Comments

1, More like WHOOPSIEES *Mortal Kombat style*

#78 i Always tought it was "TOASTIE" anyway still funny XD good 1

daisylokes 16

that girl, you rejected also shared her fml about the guy she liked who didn't accept her request…. lol

gjikvtj 18

You could've said it was a phone-y request... too late now, you'll just have to facebook your fears

Nickb55 16

Trying just a bit too hard there bud

Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that she wouldn't say anything and just randomly send OP a friend request while sitting nearby?

buttcramp 21

83, that was my thought too! I know I never look around the room when I get a request

#83, maybe she was just curious to see what he would do. perhaps she knew he hadn't seen her, and just wanted to see if he would accept. its something I would do.

gjikvtj 18

I'm proud of this burial, congrats on making yourself feel superior buy using "bud"

#40 Or be glad I didn't make such a stupid pun, especially when it doesn't even fit the story, as OP was being honest and we also have no reason to think the friend request wasn't genuine.

#83 agreed definetly creepy, so better for the long run

Can't blame you. No way you could have predicted that. But maybe you should check your phone less and look around you more.

I don't know about you, but personally, and I know a lot of people are the same, the last thing I want to be doing while sitting in a public place alone is to be looking around, I want to avoid awkward eye contact whenever I can.. I would much rather look down at my phone even if I was staring at nothing. OP should have definitely kept the comment inside their head rather than let it out loud..

Well that is a problem, that people consider a waiting room as an extremely awkward situation. They are all normal people in there. Why not make conversation?

You'd be bothering people who do not want to have a conversation and would rather sit there in silence

Two reasons, 30: they may look normal on the surface but be secretly crazy, and I also know that I, personally, do not want to hear some stranger's life story whether they're crazy or not. Some people are chatty and love human interaction, and others prefer to keep contact to a minimum. For those of us in the later category, smartphones are a godsend!

TheDoctor10 28

It's spelled "latter" but you have a point. Thumbed up.

I was in a waiting room once and a guy said "good text?" to me. I was actually doing work, but I laughed and put my phone away. We then chatted for half an hour. It was just us in there. Not everyone finds it hard to strike a conversation with a stranger, especially if it's small talk. You don't have to say "why are you here?"

Personally, I keep to myself in waiting rooms. I'm not interested in other people's lives or making small talk. Being on your phone and keeping to your self is no different than those who read magazines doing the same.

I have dissociative psychosis if you started randomly talking to me in a waiting room I would move to another seat

I hate when random people try to make conversation with me. Were strangers not friends. Let me wait for the doctor in peace.

7, that's what can cause an addiction to phones. Everywhere I am, I talk to people. I even scared an old lady because i said hi, she didn't know me so it scared her. No idea how, but that's how some people are. Just talk to people, you make a lot of new friends. Don't talk to anyone, you could be missing a chance of a really good friend or even partner.

@7 I don't about you but I know a lot of people who aren't afraid of the outside environment. They're not scared to look around the environment once in a look.

I don't know why OP saying it out loud is such a big deal. From the post it obviously seems like OP didn't know the person well enough to want to accept; I don't think it's that big of a deal that OP said it out loud.

Some people have a social anxiety. They're already having trouble dealing with being in a public place and the last thing they want is to be speaking to someone they don't know, other people just don't like to have conversations with random people. Yes for some it is nice to have a small chat while waiting but for others it is a big no no and there's nothing wrong with that. Some people simply just don't want to associate with strangers.

This string of comments makes me fear for the future. How is anyone supposed to make friends when everyone would rather use their phones than have a conversation?

Exactly, and it's one thing to just simply not want to talk to other people, that's understandable. But it's ridiculous that people would get mad if someone started talking to them

I think checking your email and Facebook on your phone is a perfectly useful way to pass time in a doctor's waiting room, especially if their magazines are old.

137, if the talkee is clearly reading or otherwise preoccupied, that should be a clear sign that they're not interested in idle conversation and have every right to be mad, or even just irritated, that you interrupted them. It's fine to approach a stranger, as long as that stranger is giving cues that they're willing to be approached. The people on this thread who are all for whipping out a smartphone to specifically avoid potentially stress-raising interactions with people they don't know would not be that amenable.

EphMi 5

there seem to be 2 schools of thoughts here, one being its ok to start a conversation with strangers and the other who think strangers talking to you is annoying. If you belong to the group who think its ok to strike a conversation with strangers, you're the annoying one while the remaining group is just being polite. The problem with OP isn't that he should look around more or not, but he shouldn't talk out loud to himself in public places, not only does it cause awkward situations but its also disturbing to others near by. If by chance thats what he's seeing a doctor about then, my bad!

I agree with #167 ... I have social anxiety, strangers coming up to me and talking to me makes me feel very anxious and near panic. I can socialize with friends just fine, but public situations greatly upset me. I hardly touch my phone when I'm with people, but waiting rooms and the like turn into zoning out into phone games or just reorganizing my apps!

FML64128 7

Ah introverts. My people...

52 - But what I'm saying is that the antisocial behavior wasn't the norm 20 years ago. I enjoy meeting new people. I've made tons of friends I would have never met if we didn't strike up conversation. On top of that, I've received quite a few job offers because you never know who you are talking to. It might be a future boss, friend, or girlfriend.

That's great that you enjoy meeting new people under random circumstances, 197, but I don't, nor, I suspect, do most of the people on this thread. It's one thing to be antisocial in a situation that's specifically intended for networking and making new connections--a conference, a dinner, a dating event. But I know that when I'm waiting in a doctor's office, I'm doing so in order to see the doctor, not the Chatty Cathy sitting next to me. Maybe I am missing out on new friends and job opportunities because I happen to find chit-chat mentally draining, but I'm already happy with the friends and the job I have. Also, the introvert vs. extrovert demarcation isn't new. Before smartphones, quiet types simply read a magazine or pulled out a book to avoid public discomfort. Smartphones are just another, more portable tool now available for an arsenal that's been needed for a long time.

could have turned out even worse.. like, if she was the receptionist

#5 I'm just assuming here but if she was a receptionist then I think OP would of seen her before making the comment out loud considering that you have to check in with the receptionist before actually sitting down.

I wouldn't want to be friends from someone from my high school either.

Well if they haven't spoken since high school, why be "friends" on fb? Instead of sending a request, if she was close enough to hear what was said, she could have said hi.

I agree if she was right there why not just engage in an actual conversation...

What if she was going to use the request as an ice breaker but it didn't work out like she thought it would?

#34 I can think of a few reasons someone wouldn't want to accept a friend request from someone they "knew" In high school for example: one they may have not been nice to them at school and are just trying to be noisy, two they could've just been "friends" at school and didn't socialize with each other outside of school so why do it now, three their friendship could've of ended badly and maybe the girl forgot depending on how long it's been since OP'S graduation, four maybe she had a crush on OP and OP didn't feel the same way about her, and five maybe they didn't actually know each other she could've just seen OP around school or had some of the same friends and decided to just randomly send a friend request but those are just some things off the top of my head however the question I'm wondering is why didn't she just go up and say Hi to OP first before sending a random friend request.

Sorry #34 that comment was directed to #6 I tried to edit it but I had to restart my phone and by the time it rebooted it was to late.

GwennaRose 22

Just go ahead and down vote me, I commented on the wrong FML and edited just in time

SwordSlayer99 11

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway

How do you know? Are you that person she could of done something to her in high school. There is obviously a reason she doesn't want to be her friend

It actually says "some" girl, so if you're going to quote the FML, do it right.

skyeyez9 24

Maybe OP only chooses to add actual people he is friends with in real life to his FB page. Not everybody likes to add "some girl."

#8 how do you know she didn't do something to OP it doesn't say if she did or not, I'm just wondering why she didn't go up and say hi before sending a random friend request since it seems like it's been awhile since they have seen each other.

C0deJunk1e 23

Had your head so buried in your phone you didn't even see someone right in front of you... And I thought I was bad.

That's why you shouldn't be so engrossed in using your phone that you've started talking to yourself in public. Then maybe you would have noticed the people around you too.

Mackay92 14

Maybe OP didn't recognise the person when they into the doctors

Kind of weird that she would send OP a friend request but not greet them face to face. Unless OP was so focused that they didn't even notice being spoken to...

Even more weird for her to send a friend request as soon as she saw him!

What are the odds of THAT happening!!! Awkward .

If her seeing OP in the waiting room sparked her to send the request, I would say the odds were 100%.

Your math is highly flawed. You're forgetting to take into account the odds of her seeing him in the dr's office in the first place, which would drastically lower the odds below 100%.