Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Stage 5 Clinger.

Yep, I have one. My very own FRG groupie.

She calls about 6 times a day. She then proceeds to tell me about every second of her life, even if she already went through the bulk of it when she called two hours earlier. Then she calls again because she forgot something. And worse, it's clear from our conversations that she has some mental health issues.

I'm all about supporting spouses and being open to folks calling when they need something. But is the implicit meaning that I'm going to be someone's new best friend? That I'm the person they should be calling to vent about how long it takes macaroni to boil? I don't think so.

I have no idea how to gracefully extricate myself. Bleh.

2 comments:

.... said...

Okay.....so do you all have key callers there? People who are responsible for calling the spouses? If so I would direct her there, I would also gracefully explain to your groupie that you are an FRG leader and while you are there to help out if there is a problem that can not be handled by any other means, your position requires an enormous amount of your spare time and if you were to spend the amount of time you are spending with her on all the spouses you would not have any time for your family. That you understand her plight, but it might be good for her to get involved in the community, to reach out and make connections to other outlets so that she has other ways by which to make friends.....OTHERWISE if you do not extricate yourself from this situation it is going to get worse, she is going to start SHOWING UP AT YOUR HOUSE, mine this deployment did not get it on the phone and she skipped the company FRG and headed right to the BN...and then thought my house was open to her simply because our kids played sports together.....when it gets to this point you are in trouble. I put an end to that real fast, I explained to her the ins and outs of why our relationship had to be a certain way, no matter how hard it was, it did not take her long to understand the ramifications of what I was telling her ... I was also able to keep anyone else from doing the same thing, not to mention I got my freedom back and I was able to answer the phone again without the fear I was going to be on it for hours.....

Unknown said...

give her a time limit to start with. and when the little egg timer goes off... "gotta go"..

Then check with the chaplain. This person may need some professional help!You could offer to go to it with her (For the first one) and then let the counselor take it from there.

LAW