264: Marina's friend became her stalker

Some people are just not able to handle being put in the Friend Zone. It’s a pretty common thing. Two people meet by circumstance. Maybe they’re college students who have a class together, or they could be co-workers in an office. They get to know each other, and they become really good friends. They end up spending a lot of time hanging out together outside of work or school. They develop a close relationship, maybe even confiding in each other and having some deep conversations. Then there’s a problem that comes in. And I know this doesn’t just happen in male-female relationships, and I don’t have any statistics or studies to back this up; it’s just anecdotal. But from what I’ve seen and read, one of the people, commonly the woman, sees the relationship as platonic. They’re just wonderful friends, and there’s no romance involved. But her male friend, thinks otherwise. He’s developed feelings for this woman, and thinks she might have feelings for him too. Eventually he might express those feelings verbally, or maybe he waits for what he thinks is the right moment and tries to kiss her. That’s when things fall apart. She explains to him that she sees him not as a romantic partner, but just as a close friend. She just put him in the Friend Zone. And different people handle this in different ways. He’s gonna be disappointed of course, but what about beyond that? After he declared his feelings for her, can they still be friends? Sometimes they can. But not always. My guest today, Marina, has experienced this. She told this story on the podcast in one of the earliest episodes, back in 2019. She had a friend who actually scared her – because he took things way too far. Show notes for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/264 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: Quince - Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Boll & Branch - get 15% off your first order AND free shipping: BollandBranch.com/WHATWAS Nutrafol - Get $10 off your first month’s subscription, and free shipping: use promo code WHATWAS at Nutrafol.com Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices