What Are The Signs Of A Bad Friend?
What are the signs of a bad friend?
It’s inevitable that when it comes to friendships, we will run into people who aren’t the best fit for us. In fact, you might meet some friends who will turn out to be bad people! To me, you won’t really get to know someone until you’ve spent a few months with them.
But what are the signs that you’re dealing with a bad friend? Is it easy to tell if they’re going to be good or bad? Or is it something you need to be really intuitive about? That’s what we’ll be discussing today!
In this post, we will talk about the 5 signs of a bad friend you should watch out for.
1. Dishonesty.
The first sign of a potentially bad friend has to do with honesty. Being honest with your friends is such a crucial aspect of a friendship and when lies start happening, then it can really ruin the relationship.
I remember when I was friends with someone who was cool with me in the beginning. But then there was a moment where they weren’t being honest or transparent with me, and tried to lie to me about something. And whenever I tried to bring it up to resolve it, they would avoid the subject and tried to not talk about it. From that point on, our friendship wasn’t the same and I couldn’t be close friends with them for doing that.
When your friend starts to become dishonest with you (either lying or not telling you the truth), then that is a bad sign.
2. Makes you look bad in front of others.
A good friend will never try to make you look bad in front of others. Either they will save face for you, or try to ease the conversation so it doesn’t get awkward.
However, a bad friend won’t hesitate to make you look silly in social situations. And they may do so for various reasons: to set an example of you, to make themselves look better at your expense, or just simply not respect you. A good friend may disagree with you and dislike what you’d say. But whatever issues they have, they’d address it to you in private and not try to humiliate you in front of you.
So if you’re finding that your friend is out there making you look bad in social settings, then that is a red flag!
3. Always arguing with you.
This applies both in a group setting and in private. I’s perfectly normal to have a disagreement or argument with your friend from time to time. But if you’re finding that you are always arguing with them, then something is definitely wrong. In a friendship, you either get along due to commonality or you are able to agree to disagree on some things.
However, if your friend constantly keeps arguing about you about trivial stuff, then I feel that is a potential bad friend. Either they are looking for an excuse to raise conflict with you. Or they simply want to be right all the time and prove you wrong. That is not a good friend, and something you should consider as a sign of a bad friend.
4. Violates your boundaries.
Every person has boundaries they set, and whether they’re your friends or family, they should respect your boundaries. In my experience, the best friends I have will always respect my boundaries, even if they disagree with me. And I’m the same way; even if I don’t see eye to eye with a friend, I will always respect them and treat them good.
Here are some examples of a bad friend breaking your boundaries:
Asking you to take part in things you’re not comfortable with (e.g. doing drugs, lying to another friend)
Being manipulative and doing stuff to get their way at your expense (e.g. blackmailing you, using emotional guilt)
Not respecting your time (e.g. being super late when meeting up, demanding that you spend unreasonable amounts of time with them)
A good friend will always respect you and your dignity and never put their own needs at the expense of yours. If you feel your boundaries are always being crossed by this friend, then that is a red flag.
5. Talks bad about you behind your back.
Last but not least, we have the gossiper who talks shit about you behind your back. Let’s face it; more than likely, you have people around you that are always talking about you. That’s just a fact of life and you can’t control that. But the question is if they’re saying good and respectful things about you behind closed doors. Or if they’re saying really bad things about you, while keeping a fake friendly facade when you are around.
A good friend may talk about to you to others. But they’ll never have anything truly bad to say about you. I do this myself and seen it with other friends; nothing bad is ever sad about one another because we respect each other.
However, I’ve also seen bad friends talking really bad stuff about another friend behind their back. When it gets to that point, then there is something wrong in that friendship. Either there is a conflict in the friendship that needs to be resolved. Or your supposed friend is only around you for convenience. Either way, if you know that bad things are being said about you when you’re not around, then you should question whether they’re your friends or not.
Summary
To summarize, here are the 5 signs of a bad friend:
- Dishonesty.
- Makes you look bad in front of others.
- Always arguing with you.
- Violates your boundaries.
- Talks bad about you behind your back.
And there you have it; 5 signs of a bad friend. I hope you found this post informative. Basically, if your friend is not on your side, they are not your friend!
If you have any questions or feedback, let me know in the comments below.
