What Kind of Charleston Friend Are You? Let’s Find Out

A few of you are beginning to read this while posing the question in your head, “Are there really different types of Charleston friends and beyond? There are a remarkable number of friend categories and consciously or sub-consciously, most of us fit into one of these bucket. Let us take a few moments to describe each of the friend types and see where you fall.  This is an eye opening exercise.  Some will laugh, some will roll their eyes, but we will all agree we know “That Friend” and most of us will say we are “That Friend”.

Friend Categories:

• Text Friend – This is the friend that consistently “text message” communicates with you.  Whether it is just to say hi, a deep emotional exchange or a bored conversation exchange, this person chooses text over any other form of communication.  When you call them, they will not answer, but rest assured, you will get a text back very quickly saying “What’s up”.  This person will spend time with you in reality, but it is few and far between.  You need unlimited texting and a lot of extra time to meet the needs of the text friends.

• Facebook Friend – The Facebook friend is very similar to the text friend, but much more visual.  They provide more visual aides around their life including video and pictures of their daily escapades.  You most likely will only be included in these pictures on big group special events.  If you are lucky, they may also include you in Vine, Instagram and SnapChat.  You could get a little overwhelmed in the social world with this friend.  This individual will also “like” and “comment” often on your page.

• Respectful Friend – The respectful friend is one of the worst kind.  Whenever you call, text or message, they will always respond to you quickly.  They are genuinely nice people, but they always put the catalyst on you.  This person will never initiate a conversation or try to make plans with you.  Any time you want to talk or hang out, you have to contact them first.  This can get frustrating at times because the relationship can feel very one-sided.

• Social Friend – This friend is always on the go.  If there is an event, festival, happy hour, concert or flash mob, you will most likely see them there are very nearby.  This person will send a mass text invite or online invite to come and party.  One thing to know about the social friend:  They do not have a concept of calendars or planning.  Most of their outreach is very last minute.  Be prepared to jump in your car or hop on your bike at the last minute to spend time with this friend.

• Clingy Friend – The clingy friend does not have a lot of close friends to call their own and many do not have busy professional and social lives.  They cling onto anyone that gives them much needed attention.  They are very flexible and accommodating as they don’t want to risk losing you, so they will do whatever you want to do and compromise their own interests.  They thrive around others and do not do well alone.  These friends require patience, because often times you have to push back on them for your own needs.

• Emotional Rock – Most people have only only one or two friends that fall into this category.  This is the go to person during confusing or difficult emotional times.  If you have a bad break up, learn of an unexpected death or have an unsettling feeling, this friend will drop everything and meet you at the bar at midnight to talk to you and listen.  They never judge no matter how neurotic or irrational you get.  They are a vital part of your life and should never be taken for granted.

• BFF – The BFF is the cool friend.  You rarely go a full day without talking.  The BFF will go to a rock festival and dance in mud with you, run through a fountain, ask someone out at a bar for you or sit up all night drinking on the porch.  You can take to them about anything, but most of the time, they are the happy friends that you don’t get too deep with.  They make life more fun.

• Mutual Friend – This is a friend that values respect and mutual exchange.  They call you as often as you call them.  You make plans together to have dinner or lunch and catch up.  They call once a week to let you know what is going on in their lives and they attend all your special events.  This is a good reliable and trusting person to have in your life.  You don’t see them everyday, but you never go a long amount of time without talking to one another.

• Professional Friend – These are friends you met in college or professional networking circles.  You tend to share similar skills, backgrounds and industry experience.  They are great contacts and usually good for a coffee or lunch when you are in town.  If you hit a milestone and it is witnessed online, they will congratulate you.  Unless you are in the same town at the same time or one is in need of a favor, they are normally in the distance and do not surface.

• Gaming Friend – Whether it is Call of Duty or Words With Friends, this friend is always good for a game or a thousand.  They are obsessed with online gaming.  Sometimes they will stay up until 4 AM so they don’t miss a game in China.  They develop relationships through their games and often will exchange small talk in chat areas to strengthen and develop the gaming relationship.  Once a gaming friend, always.  This can also hold true for the binge watching friend that DVR’s 5 episodes of Walking Dead and then picks a long Sunday night to drink, eat popcorn and watch all the episodes at once.

There you have it Charleston, the 21st Century version of the “Friend”.

Some make fall into more than one category, so don’t feel you are pigeon-holed.

What kind of friend are you?  We would love to know….

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