UNFRIENDED & BLOCKED

"I don't know if what I did was the right one. Pero mas ok na siguro yun para di ko MAKITA mga PAGMUMUKHA nila sa FB wall ko. Hahaha...buti nga unfriend lang, di ko sila BLINOCK hahaha..."

My attention was caught by this status post while I was checking my Facebook news feed. I thought kung merong naging kaaway sa FB ang may-ari ng post na ito. For whatever reasons, may malalim siyang pinaghuhugutan kung bakit siya nag-unfriend ng isang tao sa kanyang Facebook circle of friends.

This reminded me of an incident that happened between me and a former teammate. But in this story, I was the one who had been unfriended and blocked for the rest of my Facebook life.

Hindi naman kami masyadong close ng ka teammate kong ito since hindi naman kami madalas na nagkakasama sa shift kasi magkaiba ang aming work schedules.

Tuwing meron lang mga team meetings, mga once everyweek, yung chance na nakakahalubilo ko siya. Pero for most of the time, sa mga meetings din na iyon, either day-off, naka-leave, or wala lang talaga siyang schedule for that day.

Hanggang sa lumipat na ako ng company. After a year, nabalitaan ko na lang sa Facebook through a series of posts, photo uploads, status and profile changes na napromote na pala siya as Quality Analyst sa company na iyon.

One time, he posted a quote on his FB wall. Hindi ko na lang matandaan kung ano iyung eksaktong quote na iyon. Basta, parang isang motivational quote yata iyon.

I remember making a comment about the spelling of a particular word in his quote. "Mr. QA, ganito po ang spelling ng (word)..." was what I said if I still recall it correctly.

I was just being candid about my comment regarding his post at that time and I had no ill intentions of embarrassing the person in our little Facebook community.

After a few minutes, nabasa ko ang kanyang reply. Hindi naging maganda ang kanyang timpla sa aking feedback. He took my comment as an offense.

Bago pa man ako makapagreply, I found out that I was already unfriended and blocked by him. Hindi na ako nakapagtype pa ng aking explanation. It was already late for me to send my apologies.

That day, I lost a friend on Facebook.

I was eager to make amends with him. I wanted to clear and straighten things out between the both of us regarding this feud that happened on social media. I posted an apology statement on my wall hoping that he would hear me out at umaasa ako na mababasa rin niya ang paghingi ko ng paumanhin.

One of his closest friends read and responded to my post. He acted as the mediator between the two of us. Sa kanyang best friend ko pinaabot ang lahat ng aking sorry, hoping that he will be able to listen to my sincerest apology.

Kaso lang, I never heard anything from him anymore.

After a long while, I searched his profile again on Facebook. Nasa online community pa rin naman sya. I wanted to click the send friend request button but I was hesitant. I don't know if he was able to move on after what happened and if he was still willing to include me on his friends' list.

Being rejected by people more than twice was more than enough for me. It was unbearable for me. I clicked the next page. I thought that I'd just have to leave things the way they were. Nangyari na ang nangyari and I already did my part.

Minsan, naisip ko na sana he could just have unfriended me instead of blocking me out. At least if someone unfriends you, it's like a polite way of saying na "Hey, sobra ka na...nakakainis ka na...tumigil ka na...foul ka na..." Parang break it to me gently - sabi nga ng song - ...try to spare my feelings...at least leave me with my pride. When a person blocked you on their account parang ayun na, dead end na, and definitely friendship over na in your face. 

There are times that we become thoughtless and tactless in dealing with people online regardless of how good we think our intentions are. At times, we let our emotions and our mindlessness take over our interactions. Sometimes it pays to just stop...think...and wait a minute before we point, click, and send.    

What if nag-send na lang ako ng private message to him instead of making a direct comment sa kanyang post. Maybe that way, hindi siya napahiya sa mga ibang friends niya sa FB. Maybe friends pa rin siguro kami until now.