Reader submitted topic: "Adults acting like high school students by gossiping and acting jealous of others"

Adults acting like children. Wow, we ALL know these people. I like to call them "frienemies" They are not truly friends, and yet not truly enemies. They are somewhere in the middle, will lean more in one direction than the other depending on how happy they are with you at any given time. They are the people who are so miserably unhappy with themselves, that they can work themselves up in to acting like a child. The behavior that they display is usually a direct result of not getting their way in some way.

The frienemy will gossip about their friends, family, coworkers, the Walmart greeter, anyone can be a target of this gossip. As with all people who gossip, they take one small piece of truth, and twist in to a fairy tale of lies. by the time this gossip is repeated enough times, it is nowhere near what was originally said and is now a rumor. These adults who gossip also spread rumors, all to make other people around them look bad. This can be anything from "I heard that guy used to deal drugs" to "She is a prostitute out of her kitchen while her kids are at school". These rumors have the potential to cause real harm. The frienemy does not care about this, the frienemy only cares about getting their way, because that is how they are.

The frienemy also has a tendency to be extremely jealous of those around them. It can be everything from a job someone has, to a relationship, to financial standing. We have all had at least a small stab of jealousy at some point in our lives, but most of us can contain it. It does not matter to the frienemy whether or not you have worked your ass off round the clock to build your business up, or have truly met your soulmate and married/started a family with them. A jealous person does not see reason, they only see something you have, that they want. The frienemy will smile to your face and tell you how happy they are for you, yet they are thinking to themselves about all the ways they can stab you in the back, because it's just SO UNFAIR. why should YOU get to have this when the frienemy can't?

The frienemy does all these things as a way of seeking attention in some way. The more they do these things, the more attention they feel they get when people ask if these things are true. They feel they are winning, however, they do not realize it is only a matter of time before thier "frienemy" status is discovered, and all these things they have been doing to gain attention will blow in their face.

Ironically, even though these adults act this way, they scold their children relentlessly to not do them. How can they do this, you ask? My thought is they know exactly what they are doing, and have been doing it for so long they can't stop themselves but they don't want their children to grow up to be this way.

There is no reasoning with the frienemy. People have tried and failed through out history.