Dear Dan:

This man you refer to as a friend, well he is not a friend. A friend doesn’t put a friend down, be it directly or in an indirect “funny” way that is not funny at all, definitely not to the person being put down.

The term “a hole” came to my mind before you verbalized it yourself.

Again, a person does not need to be put down. You talked about a business idea you had in mind- nothing abusive to anyone, or immoral or illegal, I figure- so, if he didn’t have anything positive to say, he shouldn’t have said anything at all.

You wrote:  “to anyone else, it’s just him being him”. To me, “him being him” is not an excuse for him to put other people down, to use others for his stupid jokes. So I would tell him in front of everyone: (Name)- you are an a-hole. You are not funny. So when you joke, keep me out of your stupid jokes!

anita