Friday Confessions: I have a "dead to me" list, and it includes family members, co-workers, and a whole lot of others.
I know it's Saturday, but I still have to make my weekly trip to confession
Forgive me fellow D-Gens for I have sinned. It’s been a week since my last confession.
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I have a “Dead to Me” list saved on my iPhone. The list is filled with people who have done me wrong several times, have done those I care about wrong, or simply got on my nerves one too many times.
The idea for the list started when I saw that Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, had a “Current list of people I hate.” When I saw that, I thought it was genius. So my “Dead to Me” list has been growing ever since, and it’s actually a sad thing. I hate the fact that I have the list in the first place. I hate the fact that there are people who are legitimately “dead to me.” But what I hate most of all is why and how they got their in the first place.
The identity of those on the list will remain confidential, at least for now, in order to protect all those involved. I am willing to share some general stats though. Currently, there are three family members, 21 former co-workers, four current co-workers, four politicians by name (although I hate about 99.9% of all politicians), and about 13 different sports teams and players. There’s also lot of random businesses, people, media outlets, etc., that have made the list.
But just because you are dead to me right now doesn’t mean I’ll hate you forever. There are ways to get off the list.
You can die. If you die, you won’t just be dead to me, but you’ll actually be dead. This isn’t the best way to get off the list, and those seeking to get off it should seek another option.
You can apologize. This strategy will only work depending on my mood. I don’t like to think I’m a vengeful person, but I am. So I may accept the apology, but I may not.
Apologize to my family member that you did wrong. I rarely put people on the list for things they’ve done to me personally. I have think skin and can take a lot of shit being slung my way. What I can’t take is rumors, lies, and malicious actions being taken against my family. Especially my immediate family. So apologizing to them can go a long way. I they accept the apology, I likely will as well.
Another sure fire way to get off the list is to you become irrelevant to me. This will happen over time when you truly become dead to me because we have little to no interaction. I will stop caring, and will eventually delete your name from that list. There is no time to waste on irrelevant people. Life is too short.
So to wrap it up: I have a “dead to me” list, will continue to have one, but I’m not happy or proud about it.
And it’s not me…it’s you.