How do I ask a friend to stop joking about me being fired?

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who is not very perceptive sometimes and brings up something that happened a few months ago.

long story short I was fired from a job (still not sure about the reason tbh) and i shared it with a friend for comfort. Most people i told did not use the word “fired” for more than once or switched it to “let go”.

But this one friend keeps highlighting it casually, saying stuff like even if we try hard at work “we get fired” (but obviously this is in reference to me) or say “they fired you, your experience was worse than mine.”

i told her she sounded way too comfortable saying that and asked if she shared this info with others and she said no, it is my business only and she meant they blindsided me.

it is frustrating, how do i tell her to stop without sounding annoyed?

[HollyK21]

I’m not there to hear the tone but it doesn’t sound like she’s trying to joke or make you feel bad. Saying stuff like “even if we try hard at work we get fired” is just a fact of life. In this case however, I feel like it’s only something you think is being ‘obviously in reference’ to you because you’re taking it personally and have already determined she’s being malicious when that may not be the case. Same goes for her saying “they fired you, your experience was worse than mine”, I mean that’s objectively true if you were fired but she wasn’t.


In any case, I’m sure you’ve already demonstrated your annoyance by basically telling her to mind her business, so just cut to the chase. Ask her to stop mentioning you being fired because you’re trying to move on from that and close that chapter in your life. It’s ok to set boundaries and it’s ok to let people know when they’re bothering you, especially friends.

[Anonymous]

Tell your friend it's not funny.

[Asker]

I don’t think she thinks it is funny it is more so she reminded the incident a lot and i personally would not do that to somebody for anything e. g. if their SO broke up with them or something. You know that i mean?

[Opinion Owner]

Yes, I get it.