The Depressed Facebooker

...is not me. I've got a FB friend (and I use the term "friend" lightly, since she is just someone I used to work with, more of an acquaintance) whose status updates make me want to kill myself.

Here's a selection of her last few updates (copied and pasted, so any errors are hers.):

"I am totally burnt out."
"...feels like hammered crap."
"I have just had enough the past few months of the worlds crap is chucking at me. I'm just over it universe I have has enough all ready of ur shit."
"Life total blows"
"Feels like I am getting sucked in to a black hole of debit. I love the way life continuously finds fun new ways to suck every day."

I'd really *like* to be able to say that this person is just having a hard time at the moment, and that she's really struggling, and blah blah nicety-nice-nice stuff...but here's the thing, her life updates have been like that for the entire time I've known her. As in, way BEFORE facebook, when you met in real life, it was all about how everything in her world was absolutely shit. All. The. Time. It's damn exhausting, knowing someone who is as negative and glass-half-full as she is - because at some point you run out of sympathy, run out of "there there" platitudes, and simply are unsure as to how one responds to that much negative stuff. (And as an aside, she's no fun to work with, either. You cannot hide that kind of attitude, it shows in your food. Really.) Sure, I have my "life is crap" moments too, but I simply cannot fathom the amount of energy required to be that negative, that much of the time.

In a fabulous twist of irony, she and I once attended a party where there was a psychic giving free readings. She went in to have her fortune read and it was all about how she was destined for a career in the wedding cake industry, in specific making wedding cakes (which I believe is actually her main area of interest.) She came out of the psychic's tent all atwitter with the news of her future and how perfect it all was and how true it was all going to be. At the time I seem to recall laughing on the inside, because as far as I knew this girl had done SFA to actually advance herself in this career (where I, on the other hand, had already started the biz.) Not to mention, if I was a bride, the very last person I'd want to meet was someone who made me want to die right there during my cake consultation. Weddings = happy occasions, not weddings = meds.

In the intervening time she attempted to apply for a job with me. And by "attempted" I mean she expressed interest, but when I asked for a resume and portfolio of work she disappeared totally. Not entirely surprising.

So fast forward a couple of years and I recently ran into this girl again (in real life). Big surprise, she was as horribly negative in person as I'd remembered her to be. In our very brief meeting, I learned about how her current job was shit, her last job was shit, everyone we'd ever known was shit, and frankly life was just shit. At this point, I literally had to kick her out the door because I simply could not handle the black hole of depression I was falling into just by being in her presence. She sucks the life force right out of the room. You know what? It's just occurred to me, this girl is a REAL LIFE DEMENTOR. (Go re-read your Harry Potter if you're not sure what that is.)

I don't get it. I really, really don't. Does she not have people in her life who have the balls to tell her, "YOU NEED SOME ANTI DEPRESSANTS!"?. Have the people around her just not noticed? Are they maybe *all* like that, so another one doesn't seem to make much of an impact? Either way, I'd love to delete her from my FB friend list, but I can't. Why? Because then where would I go to lift me up when I'm having a bad day? She's living proof that no matter how shit your life is, somewhere, someone's having an even shittier time than you. Lucky for me, that "somewhere" is on facebook.