Woman stood up at 'anti-loneliness club' people rush to support her
There's no definitive handbook on how to make friends as an adult, so most of us are out there winging it. Becoming friends with coworkers can be ill-advised, but often they're the only ones with whom adults spend the most time, so friendships naturally form. But those friendships can quickly sour with office politics or abruptly end when someone leaves the company. It's for that reason, many are told to avoid getting too close to people within the workplace.
This leaves people racking their brains for other ways to meet people they have things in common with. Josie, a woman who goes by the name pastacoma on social media, recently put herself out there in an attempt to meet new people. Things didn't go as planned. Josie saw an event in her area for an "anti-loneliness club" at a local sports bar. The event was shared on Eventbrite, a digital platform that allows people and event coordinators to list events and patrons to purchase digital tickets.
Quiet contemplation at a cozy night café.Photo credit: Canva
The anti-loneliness club was shared on the platform. Josie snagged her ticket, got dolled up on the night of the event and showed up ready to mingle with other 20-somethings who are hoping to avoid loneliness. Except, the server she encountered hadn't heard the sports bar was hosting an event. Undeterred, Josie showed the server the ticket before he went to ask another server about the event. Neither server knew what Josie was talking about, which is when they called in the owner, hoping to get a definitive answer as to when this event was supposed to take place.
The more Josie had to explain she was there for an anti-loneliness club meetup, the more the discomfort settled in. Unfortunately, the discomfort started to morph into embarrassment when the owner shared the news.
According to Josie, he says, "I was introduced to the owner, who asked to see the ticket, and he called it the cruelest prank he had ever heard of in his life. He said that if it was a real event that he would've had to approve it and like he's done events with Eventbrite before and like he would've known if it was real."
Though Josie was now sure the event wasn't real, she decided to stick around to see if anyone else "got scammed" and showed up to the faux event. The owner of the bar sat the woman at a six-top table in the middle of the bar so she could wait to see if any other anti-loneliness club members arrived. They didn't. People in the comments cannot believe someone would do this to someone else and offer her words of encouragement, as well as permission to enter her villain era.
Relaxing on the couch with a phone after takeout.Photo credit: Canva
"Lady you are now the president of the anti loneliness club, and you get to create the club you want it to be! let me know when it's up and running and I'll join you!" one person says.
"I would never trust another event in my life," another writes.
"This should be your villain origin story. And honestly everyone would understand," someone else jokingly encourages.
One person turned it around saying, "Look the worst possible thing happened to you and you survived to tell about it. That’s pretty awesome."
A common theme begins to emerge within the woman's comment section, people want to be Josie's friend. They also are advocating for her to start her own anti-loneliness group with one person sharing, "Hey, you made the initiative and that’s all that matters. If I lived near you I would love to be your friend. You seem like such a fun person with a fantastic personality!"
"This is your sign to start a group, because there ARE people out there who would appreciate you. You are now the president of the anti loneliness club, find your people."