The new year brings new seasons as we say goodbye to the previous three hundred and sixty-five days full of memories. Good and bad experiences we learn and grow from. We only have the time and resources available to us to handle the occasional issues, yet we do the best we can. We endure, confront, overcome.
As the season's cycle on, I can't help but to relate the simple concept of people being seasonal in everyday lives. The friends that bring you thoses summer days of fun and are there to carry you through out those cold nights of winter loneliness.
All of that.… Totally not what I am referring to in this post. Merely a simple statement about the pros and cons of being the "friend" who can bring others together to enhance the experience we all have come to know as life.😉
I'm the sort of person who fancys himself as a social extrovert, often leaving others with a positive experience after conversation. ( if not with a business card) Sometimes the conversations lead to information about where to secure certain elements And I, being so well verses in social interactions as it it, am able to insist in granting them what they want.
Yet lately there is a confusion about my "role".
I've never considered myself the middle man, the connect, the "guy who can get you what you want". Like a character out of a Stephen King novel(Redemption reference). My voice isn't nearly as smooth as Morgan Freeman's for such film narration any way.
Just a buddy that knows and help when asked. Some might try to say enabler but those people have options like everyone else so it's useless in debating that title.
What I present is the question is a friend a friend when that's the only reason they come around.
Let's break this down.
A connect is:
Normally available to make to make the "move" when needed. Day or night.
Always getting out of the deal regardless of their financial input either from the customer or supplier.
Alone unless they are throwing or attending a social event in which case people tend to rely heavy on their connections to come through.
Often considered and labeled "cool" upon introduction of new people and always asked about the quality as If their word is gospel.
Has more than one supplier.
Often thought to be a lab rat to people who are unwilling to test their own product (which is a awful way to conduct business in this trade)
And last but not least... A connect is never the one that has the source of the supplier only the resources to ....well... Connect.
This is what I have come to see what people expect. A on call thankless job often forced on the friend who might simply want to just hang out.
Right now you might be asking" But we do hang out when I go by, doesn't that count?" The answer is NO.
That person could have be busy with a whole other thing before you put your request in. Suddenly they have a task need to be handled outside your abilities.
My opinion, be more considerate. A person could start to feel used or even worst foolish if they see the friendship only circles arond that certain task you need.
Don't get me wrong. If your normally have a reliable source that isn't available, do whatever you gotta do. Just make sure you don't let the friendship grow in a toxic one.
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