If you could 'block' someone in real life would you?

I thought that was called “cutting ties”. I’ve done it, kind of a lot.

As in, if I started to ignore and/or avoid the person? ... I have done this several times in real life… So, in the spirit of oversharing (I’m feeling verbose today):

A boy had a crush on me in high school… long story short, after I rejected his asking me out I didn’t speak to him again. This was a bit difficult since we shared a class period, and since he kept calling/texting/facebook-friend-requesting/trying to speak to me at school… I was going through some stuff of my own, but it was still a pretty lousy move on my part. The icing him out confused him and hurt him more than I realized at the time.

When I switched schools part way through high school, I stopped returning the calls of the people I used to hang out with at my previous high school. I got together with one of them once, several years later when she tried again… we met at a coffee shop for a couple of hours… she had been doing really well since we last saw each other. She seemed hurt that I had ignored her for so long, but when we said goodbye it seemed more final. That was the last time we saw each other.

A friend from my studio got sick at the end of her final year at the studio. When she recovered from the illness she tried to get back in contact with me, but I never returned her calls. We ran into each other randomly at a coffee shop a few years later (me and coffee shops, apparently). We caught up briefly, though again the distance between us was more noticeable, and we haven’t seen each other since.

Oh, I also blocked my dad for five-ish years. Stopped talking to him in 8th grade when he did something unforgiveable. Eventually the anger went away and the guilt became more pronounced. We talk now, but it’s strained.

Going back, I would do things differently. I would be more direct in telling the boy no, I would spend the time and effort to find some friends to “hold onto” rather than just being with a group because it was convenient, etc… I’m less sure how I would handle the last one… But still, next time around I wouldn’t block anyone…

Here are two reasons why:
– It really hurt the people I “blocked.” Both friends alluded to so much in some comments they made, and the boy wound up posting an elaborate diatribe online describing the pain he felt through that school year, until that pain became anger towards me and eventually faded. And I could see the pain it caused my dad.
– It really hurt me. That sort of ignoring requires the development, I think, of a certain coldness. I barely knew the boy, but I was applying the same coldness for him as I was for someone like my dad…. Maybe this is just my singular experience, but many years later, that coldness is still here. In a new environment, with so many people I don’t know, I find it easier to keep them at that nonresponsive arms-distance than to engage in any meaningful way.

Probably I’m exaggerating what all happened, probably I’m making it into something too extreme. But this question managed to hit a nerve. Recently, my closest friend made a comment about how rare it is for me to share anything about myself with her… how happy she felt when I did share something, some tidbit, some morsel. A couple of professors have remarked on how reticent I am. And I have several more examples to that effect. Probably not all of this is a result of the “blocking,” but I think much of it is informed by that habit. Probably blocking a coworker doesn’t carry the same emotional investment as blocking several people simultaneously from several different social spheres… but I think it still comes from the same initial place, a place I wish I hadn’t found in myself.

Yes. I’m not going to name names.

Not without honest discussion as to why.
Always take the high road ..do the right thing.
Be honest and tell them in a gentle way.

When I retired, I was able to reduce the number of assholes in my life, but a few are still lurking.
I would love to somehow remove my crack-whore niece from my family’s life, but it’s impossible.

I find it easier to block someone in real life than I do on the internet.

In real life you can see them coming, and gauge their mood and intent. Dodge them, or cut them off.

On the internet, on a forum such as Fluther, you have to wait until they appear and then read enough to know they’re trying to piss you off.
The last Q&A site I was active on had a “block” feature. I only used it on one crazy old man, but it made my activity so much more pleasurable.

In real life there are just so many options for not interacting with someone that I don’t think a ‘block’ feature would be really useful to me.

“Shut up. And get away from me.”
As a last resort, remove all ambiguity.

@DancingMind – you have a lot of class. Speaking about it all makes anyone reading understand, as much as able, because you have hit on something all have been a party to at some point in their lives. You are just more astute to it’s existance. And that factor alone puts you ahead of many. Figuring things out, let alone understanding them, is tough while having to swim upstream at the same time. Good for you. That is such a difficult pathway to undertake. You made it and came out on the other side. Sincerely, nice job.

No, not after watching the newest episode of “Black Mirror,” the insanely good futuristic sci-fi series on Netflix. The episode is called “White Christmas.” In it, murderers are punished with an extremely inventive and awful type of blocking. I won’t tell you more—you’ll have to see it for yourself. I urge you to watch all episodes of “Black Mirror.” Best thing since the original “Twilight Zone!”

Yep, and I too have it done many times and am currently in an working situation with someone that I am having to work hard to keep letting go of repeated encounters with their obnoxious, drama mongering and domineering ways. In a few months I will be be in a position ( I am hoping ) where my contact with them will be more limited and while I don’t plan on burning any bridges I have strongly identified the fact that I simply do not like this person and our affiliation has no chance of ever deepening and will forever remain a casual ( on my behalf ) working relationship.

This has been a work related situation but if it were not I’d tell them how much I loathe their personality and be done forever. Toxic people are, well…toxic.