Time Leeches

You know them, you hate them, and chances are you hung with one at some point.  They want nothing more than to drain your time and stress you out if they can.  They are what this writer likes to call time leeches, though most people may know them by a different name; the needy friend.

Needy friends aren't necessarily bad people.  They can, however, be very annoying and in rare instances, even be dangerous.  They won't shut up, they won't go away, and if desperate enough, they may even attack you.  They'll try to shame you into spending time with them.  It doesn't matter what the weather or if you have plans that don't involve them.  You must stop what you're doing (or going to do) to satisfy their...needs, for lack of a better word.

This writer remembers a particularly needy friend he once had.  At first, we only meet once a week and had good conversations.  One could even call these interactions fun.

That's when his needy personality came out.  Once a week slowly became everyday, against this writer's will.  This writer would try ignoring him, going so far as to put on headphones and crank YouTube up to max volume to try to drown out the sound as his voice.  This writer would still give him full attention once a week and perhaps that was this writer's mistake.

Eventually, it got really bad.  This writer remembers one day, he couldn't even cross the street to get something to eat.  The guy would ask (in his most pathetic voice), "where are you going?"  Speaking from experience, when you're hungry, the last thing you want to do is stand there answering bullcrap questions.

Then, things reached a breaking point.  This writer had just gotten off work.  It was the night before our usual weekly meeting, but this writer decided to give him some time.  This writer spent two hours talking to the guy until our meeting place closed.  It was raining that night, so we found an overhang and waited out the storm for a half hour.  Once the storm ended we started walking, stopping at a spot near his house and talked even more.

Then, it started raining again.  This writer was kicking himself for not getting home before the storm picked up again, but the rain was still light.  He had every intention of getting home before it kicked into full gear.  That's when you-know-who said his piece.  "Come on, it's not raining that hard.  Why are you being selfish.  Just give me ten more minutes."

This writer, half-yelling, said, "It's raining and I've given you three hours on a day we don't normally meet.  And we're supposed to meet again tomorrow.  How much freaking time do you need?"  At this point, this writer rode off, dreading the thought of the next night.

In short, you should shed time leeches as soon as possible, but you don't necessarily have to.  You can successfully be friends with a time leech as long as YOU control the time.  Like a bartender serving drinks, know when to cut them off.  Once you've hit your limit, just start walking away, maybe with a goodbye.  Make no mistake, though.  It's best to rid yourself of them, as that's the way of the least stress.

Until next time...