A few years back met this girl through a friend, and he thought we would get a long great. We hung out for a bit, became close. (somewhat) She had just moved to the city and didn’t really know anyone. Slowly but surely, I started to notice that there was something funny about her.
I brought her to a few of my clients, she met them for maybe 30 seconds. Next thing I know she went on FB searched through my friend’s list and added them as her friends. Noticed she was messaging them regarding business opportunities. Weird I thought, but I brushed it off. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. One day though, my client told me she came in asking for a discount, without me. She didn’t even know the guy. I was livid to say the least, so I brought it to her attention, told her I didn’t appreciate it. She said she understood.
Next thing I notice, she is adding more and more of my friends on FB who a lot are my clients and networking through my friend’s list. I am not sure if she didn’t think I would notice but I did. My clients would also ask what was up with that. At this point, I said nothing because what could I say, anything I would say would sound petty. Brushed it under the rug, then long behold she tricked me a third time.
We take a trip out of town, met up with a good friend of mine, whom she was meeting for the first time. We met up with him at this restaurant where he was meeting with the owner to discuss future business opportunities. As we walk in, he introduces us to the owner. We are at the bar having drinks all three of us, then I turn around and she is gone. Please guess where she was? Exchanging business cards with the owner of the venue.
That is such bad business and is not a good look at all. First of all, I am all for networking but if you really wanted the owner’s contact info then out of courtesy you should ask the person who invited you there. That would only make sense. Apparently business etiquette isn’t so obvious. As soon as I saw that, my whole mood changed, I couldn’t believe that once again she was proving to me that loyalty and business etiquette was not part of her game. Did I say something about it ? NO. Maybe I should have but I decided to forget about it, and decided that she had already shown me who she was and I should have payed attention the first time.
We go back home now, and once again she repeats the same thing. She becomes friends with my friend and totally ditches me. Doesn’t try to make plans with me or call me anymore but somehow she has more interaction now with the friend I introduced her to than me. (Who by the way doesn’t even live in this city) I decided that I am over it, one day I will have a conversation with her about it. I have to figure out how to word it all. Until then I have no time for this friendship in my life.
I have worked really hard to make the contacts that I have, and I don’t think its fair that someone thinks they can just take them and make them theirs. Further more without having any loyalty, respect or business etiquette. I feel that remaining friends with her would only lead to more disappointments. Moral of the story is, in business its important to create your own lane, you can’t try to build who you are by steering in someone else’s lane. Have confidence that you can carve your own path.
Have you ever been in a situation like this? What did you do? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
