Oliver’s post is the first in our series on Forbidden Things – stay tuned for forbidden foods, forbidden places, and surprise forbidden Indy things. Follow Oliver’s advice in “Things to Never Do in a Relationship” and you may avoid painful mistakes with that best friend, pet, or with your mother.
–Instructor Zachik
By Oliver Martinez
Have you ever done something to your friend, or your mom, or your pet—maybe as a joke, or by accident, or on purpose–and then you realize that your loved one kind of hates you for it ? Well, here are seven things never to do in your relationships . . . because who wants to be hated?
Don’t Do This to Your Friends
1. Leave your friend hanging
This is just cruel. Making plans and never showing up is pure evilness. After this, don’t expect to be talking to your friend for at least the next week or so. And, it’s even worse when you don’t give them a heads-up that you won’t be showing up. You just don’t show up at all, and now your friend won’t talk to you.
2. Leave your friend on “read”
What’s worse than leaving your friend’s text message on “delivered”?
When you read their message and decide not to respond.
Now, I speak from personal experience. I have been left on “read” and left others on “read ,” too. And, I can see why it’s annoying. Reading someone’s text and just deciding it’s not worth twenty-five seconds of your life to respond can lead to hurt feelings. Now, maybe your friend won’t stop talking to you for this, but they definitely will point it out the next time you hang out with them.
3. Prank your friend
Now, I’m not talking about those little pranks, like joking with your friends or just messing with them. I’m talking about those types of pranks where you throw their phone into a river or throw eggs at them. Those pranks are the ones that make your friend hate you, and “it’s just a joke” won’t fix the situation. Thankfully, for this one, I do not speak from personal experience. I’ve seen it happen, but it hasn’t happened to me.
Don’t Do This With Your Pets
4. Forget to give them their usual treat
Pets are smarter than they seem. They remember the routine of you giving them their usual treat. And, when you forget, they will remind you. And, by reminding you, I mean they will bark at you until you give them their treat. Here, I do speak from personal experience.
5. Put pet clothing on them
Pets hate when you put clothing on them. During the winter, we used to put a little sweater on one of my dogs because we thought she would be cold. But I guess one day she had enough of the sweater and found a way to take it off. She ripped it to shreds. From then on, we didn’t put clothes on my dog anymore. Besides, experts say that dressing up your dog “could cause painful rubbing against a dog’s skin, as well as causing them to potentially overheat and get stressed” (Prima.co.uk). So, whatever you do, don’t dress up your dog.
With Family Members, Remember, Don’t . . .
6. “Forget” to do your chores
Whether you actually forgot to take out the trash or you were just not feeling like it, parents –most of the time– get pretty mad if you don’t do your chores. I think that what annoys them most is knowing that we can easily do our chores but decide not to because we’re lazy. I would recommend at least giving a valid reason on why you couldn’t do your chores.
7. “Forget” to clean your room
This one technically comes under the umbrella of “not doing your chores,” but it’s such a problem that it’s in its own category. Are you ever just relaxing in your room and then your parents walk in and realize it’s a mess? Well, I know this has happened to the vast majority of us. And, parents get really upset when our room isn’t clean and tidy. I understand why they get angry, but at the same time, does my room really look that bad if I forget to make the bed one day? Or if I have two or three water bottles in my nightstand? Well, the point is, clean your room to make your parents happy.
Truth is, it’s impossible to keep everyone happy. At a certain point in time, you will say or do something dumb and your friends and family will briefly hate you for it. Best thing to do is to just make the mistakes and learn from them.