There is something I just don't understand about people. Why in the world would anyone put up with being treated like crap in a relationship (romantic or otherwise)? If there is nothing I hate more, it's having a friend complain to me about someone he/she is involved with who has not been treating him/her well. It's ok to complain, but if it bothers you enough to share your concerns with friends then maybe you need to open your eyes and take some action to resolve your concerns...even if it means having to feel more pain by doing so.

Ok, so here's the situation...A friend of mine voiced his feelings to me regarding the woman he is dating. (Now, obviously I've only heard one side of the story and so I am taking his word at what has happened.)Basically, she is consistently late whenever she makes plans with him and he understands that that is who she is. However, the most recent incident of tardiness occurred the other night when she was supposed to meet him at a given time to see a movie. He was expecting her to be a few minutes late because of her tendancy to be late...but...she was 20 minutes late in meeting him which made them 5 minutes late to the movie...no big deal I suppose since the previews were still playing and they didn't miss the movie. BUT...and this is what I don't understand one bit...she didn't have the common courtesy to say anything like, "I'm sorry. I was running late." Nope...it was more like, "Ok, I'm here now. You should be happy to have my company." (Granted...she didn't say that to him, but in my mind she might has well have because that is the impression I got.) Anyway, when my friend asked her why she was late, she basically said, "Oh I just decided to stop by the mall before meeting you." This in itself is rather inconsiderate if you ask me because she knew that she didn't have time to go shopping, but apparently she didn't care enough about her 'boyfriend's' feelings to try to be on time.

And this gets better... ....when my friend talked to her about this as it did bother him. She didn't seem to care that she had been inconsiderate, she didn't seem to care about his feelings at all. She didn't see it as a big deal...according to my friend...she just responded with a very insincere "sorry" and that was that. I would think that had she cared about his feelings (even the tiniest bit), she would have replied with something like, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how inconsiderate I was being. I'll try to be more considerate of your feelings next time." Or at least something to that effect. The thing is that my friend is bothered by this, but I don't think he realizes how bothered he should be.

Then again...I may have a somewhat biased opinion of this woman he is dating. Ok, I'll be honest...I think she is a b***h. I can't help but think that for 2 reasons (one I'm not gonna share, but I'm sure you have the intelligence to deduce)...it just seems (from what he tells me) that he is constantly accommodating her with what she wants and she never does anything for him. She is simply using him and he's taking the abuse and I just can't comprehend why he would do that. I can't comprehend why anyone would put up with crap like that from someone they're involved with. I can't understand why anyone would want to be involved with someone who has absolutely no regard for anyone's feelings, but her/his own. Selfishness is possibly one of the most repulsive character traits a person could have. Is it too much to ask that someone make that little bit of extra effort for the person he/she is supposed to care about since they are involved in a romantic relationship???? It's blatently obvious to me that she doesn't really give a damn about my friend and that is unfortunate. I just wish I could tell him that, but I don't feel as though it is my place to say anything and I know that my feelings/thoughts on the matter are biased. Anyway, my friend didn't ask for my opinion he simply told me what happened. Had he directly asked for my opinion, well...I don't think that he would have liked what I had to say because I think that he should dump her and move on. He deserves better...much better.

IMO, life is simply too short to accept being treated badly and being hurt...granted, getting hurt is a part of life, but one should learn from the pain and grow from it and move on. One should not simply accept it as a way of life.