Friends who are arrogant or have low self esteem - pitfalls with these friendships

Many mentioned that arrogance was one of the things that irritated them. It irritates me, too. However, there's a difference between self confidence and arrogance. A self confident person can be humble or empathetic when the situation calls for it. An arrogant person generally never is. I've never had arrogant friends. I guess I've never moved in the right circles.

Another problem lies with friends who have low self esteem. These folks can be smart and have good jobs. Something is off with them, in many cases, and I've found that they didn't make good friends, either early on or after many years.

What I've noticed with people with low self esteem is that they find something is wrong with YOU, as if you are BROKEN, that you would be friends with them. They then act in ways that try to control you, bring you down, or do other things that insult your intelligence. They are often passive-aggressive. They can have addictions of sorts. I've gotten better at spotting them and don't befriend them anymore to spare myself the headache.

Have you noticed this? That people with low self esteem can be just as much trouble as people who are arrogant? Do you have any examples to share?

 

Re: Friends who are arrogant or have low self esteem - pitfalls with these friendship

This is exactly what happened. But it was transparent and she couldn't fool me from early on. It just got worse over time. My reason for being friends was that we did the same type of work and were a month apart in age. Nothing more, nothing less. The manipulation and guilt trips kept coming, and I ignored them or told her off, though the time finally arrived to cut the cord. She added all this negativity and, by the way, was very religious, too. I must have been perceived as being broken such that I would hang out with her and given she would even attempt this. Parts of me are broken in some ways, but I gave her the boot and regret I didn't do it years earlier.