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3 Times the "Friends" Were Terrible Friends

The Timeless Tale of Six Friends Who Are Endlessly Awful to Each Other—and Three Examples of Times That They Were

By Lizzie RobinsonPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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I remember hearing someone say that Friends defined a decade, and maybe that's true. Maybe this show will live on long after age has rendered us incapable of using Netflix. It's fun, it's hilarious, and people are still debating whether or not "We were on a break!" is a valid defense.

But.

Part of the humor of any sitcom, really, is the result of characters being awful to each other. Not only are the characters from Friends no exception, they're also classic and perfect examples of people you just probably would not what to be friends with—and not just because they think dinosaurs are boring. (Seriously, who thinks dinosaurs are boring?)

So, here are three—of many—examples of times that these friends were actually pretty terrible friends.

1. The Time with Rachel and the Shaved Head

It's perfectly normal to be coping with a breakup until you see your ex with someone else. Or even to be totally fine with your crush not liking someone else until they do like someone, and that someone isn't you. But we hope, as civilized pseudo-adults, that people will allow the object of their affections to be happy even if they are jealous.

Rachel doesn't tend to follow this logic, so much. Oftentimes it seems as if she likes Ross only when he is unavailable, or that she's only happy when Ross is unhappy. A perfect example of this is the time when Rachel just can't stand to see Ross happy with girlfriend Bonnie and, as such, encourages Bonnie to shave her head.

This is, of course, just one example of Rachel being awful to women that Ross is dating. She was endlessly cruel to Julie, after all. Resorting to getting a woman to shave her head is a shining example of selfishness, though. Not to mention that it highlights a certain, um... shallowness. Rachel encouraged Bonnie knowing that Ross would be disgusted, and Ross was disgusted. Pretty soon after the head shaving, Ross and Rachel are making jokes about Bonnie's five o'clock head shadow.

Bonnie's probably going to be happier being somewhere that's else.

2. The Time with Chandler and Kathy

Now, I totally get why we as an audience let this one slide. Chandler and Kathy are more suited than Joey and Kathy, after all, but it was still some pretty bad friending on Chandler's part, there.

Rife with "wow what a terrible person" fodder, Joey's not exactly the best example of how one might respect women. But that aside, it's still rare for him to be in a committed relationship. We can only assume that Kathy was pretty special, right? But that didn't stop Chandler from having what Hermione might refer to as "the emotional range of a teaspoon" about the whole thing (for those times when one can't think of an original joke) and kissing Kathy anyway.

It's established that Joey would have stepped aside if Chandler said that he liked Kathy. So, really, what we've got here is another case of one of the friends being so incredibly unreasonably childish. And this is if you ignore the fact that Chandler quickly gets jealous and possessive when he is dating Kathy, who looks like she has a cheating streak anyway.

Everyone in this show is wonderful.

3. The Time with Phoebe and the Guitar Lessons

Hey, remember that time that Phoebe and Mike gave money to charity and then... took it back? Not to make any out there claims about good and evil or anything, but that's... not okay, right?

Well, that’s not what I’m talking about today—though it is a great example of the friends sucking. Today, let’s remember that time that Phoebe promised to give Joey guitar lessons and then proceeded to... actively sabotage his attempt to learn?

Sure, alternative methods are one thing, but this “turkey leg don’t you learn the real chords” thing was perhaps a step too far. Maybe she didn’t want to be faced with the fact that she didn’t have the knowledge herself, but either way she was chasing Joey away from that knowledge.

In the end, Joey’s guitar is taken away from him after he’s only just been allowed to hold one at all. And, really, it’s so cruel to discourage someone from wanting to learn a new skill. It’s like she straight up killed his passion for it.

No wonder he never mentions the guitar again.

+1. The Time I Still Enjoyed the Show

The more we watch the show, the more we who love it question the events that happen throughout. But hey, you know what? It's still a thoroughly entertaining show. And it will be around to pick apart forever, and you have to love that.

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About the Creator

Lizzie Robinson

Writer, blogger, and creative and professional writing student. they/them.

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