Cutting ties with a toxic married couple
While I attended my last synagogue, I had made friends with a married couple and their kids and we did a lot together for a while where I would go to their house for dinner. We even had some good times. That said, they were not the most supportive friends either.
1. Whenever I talked about something I was angry about, they kept preaching at me about "Getting offended" and that I needed to change. The wife even told me that she felt like I seem to think everyone is "Out to get me" and that I think everyone is my enemy. What?
2. The husband turned out to have an abusive side and loses his temper rather frequently with his wife and step-daughter and puts them down all the time because they don't do things "His way." He eventually began yelling at me and making me walk in eggshells around him
His stepdaughter ran away from home and he had asked us not to contact them during her entire disappearance. So I waited until they got her back. I put the ball in their court by sending one text to him and his wife each. He wrote back and texted "STOP" in all caps but didn't communicate with me.
One when I was looking for work, a job opportunity fell through on him and I tried to be nice and encouraging and all he did was throw a fit. "You're making this worse" which made me cry
3. He even started cutting me down
"You're a problem is, you don't know how to socialize because of your autism." I know that's not true even though I am autistic but very well rounded.
"Your the last friend dumped you because I am sure you kept on doing things that they found annoying and asked you to stop and didn't know how. I know it's harder for you because of your autism. However, stop doing the Jesus thing and forgive and own up to your mistakes."
Then I left that synagogue and they seemed to brush me off after having me over for dinner one more time. During that last interaction, he criticized me about everything in a nasty and aggressive tone. Then when his wife and I were having fun before she was going to take me home, he shouted at us to LEAVE in loud voice. After they stopped communicating other than a few texts with me and I have never been invited back since.
I got a text out of the blue from the wife yesterday with picture of her with a storm trooper at a hunger walk. I asked if that's where she was. I got no answer. That being said, I had been doing lots of thinking that if she contacts me again to let them know I don't think we are a good trio. I wrote her an email today in letting her know that next to mentioning that I was not happy with the way he talked to me the last time and that I felt the friendship was just going to continue to be toxic.
@Summershy I hear you shy and I am sorry your experience was rough with them. I guess you taking the right decision to keep yourself away from a friendship that could become toxic and affect each other's life.
We all are here with you to support. Sending hugs.
@ASilentObserver
I feel terrible about cutting them from my life and I love the wife to death and think she has good qualities. On the contrary:
1. She is married to a husband who is extremely abusive and I can't be the one to solve her problems or save her and her family from him.
2. She also has an abusive side towards her teenage daughter in the form of verbal and mental abuse, in addition to the abuse she receives from her step father.
3. When she texted me a few days ago out of the blue, she sent me a picture of herself and a stormtrooper and said "Look at this picture of me with a stormtrooper." There was no "Hi, how are you? I have not heard from you in a while." etc. I replied and she took forever to get back to me but when she did text, I had already sent her the email in letting her down. So I just ignored her texts and deleted her contact information.
It's also funny too because just hours after letting her know that I am cutting them from my life, I got a message from her mother, who goes to my old synagogue that her teenage granddaughter is going through another hard time. Though I feel bad, it's best not to get involved. Especially someone who grew up in an abusive home myself and being around lots of other abusive situations, I think I would get hurt even more.