Originally Posted by Wheeljak
Sometimes, taking the time to listen to a mad woman is a good thing.
Back a few years ago, I got IMed by a girl whom I had dated briefly. Even though I was very attracted to her physically, I quickly realized that our differences were too great to make her worth my time, so I decided to end it.
I guess she was upset at being dropped, so one night she started IMing me under a bogus screen name with all these really ugly messages. Rather than show my indignation and give her the satisfaction, I chose to pretend like I didn't know who it was IMing me. She got mad when I wouldn't call her my her name, and she got really mad when I called her by the name of a guy friend of mine, telling "him" that his gag was wearing thin and not funny to begin with.
She went ape, and started billboarding the IM window with obscenities, and I just waited calmly until she had gotten it all out of her system. She logged off, and I never heard from her again. The way I see it, I gave her the catharsis she needed to move on peacefully.