Nothing but Crickets

So a couple weeks ago, a former classmate PM'ed me on Facebook. Asked me if I wanted to go out for drinks. I hadn't seen this person in a while, and I'm pretty isolated due to job schedule, so I said yes. I asked them if the following day would work.

No response.

The day I suggested getting together, I PM'ed them, and said, "are we on for drinks tonight?"

No response.

The whole thing makes me wonder if the exchange even happened, or if I, in fact, don't exist.

It's getting so I don't approach people anymore, not even my friends, and ask them if they want to do stuff anymore. I've been invited and blown off so many times, that the only people who keep appointments with me are my therapist and job interviewers.

I'm socially awkward, but I'm beginning to catch on to certain things. Such as, "hey, do you want to get together for drinks" actually means, "I haven't seen you for a while, and haven't talked to you. I still don't want to, but I'll ask you to get drinks/dinner/see a movie because it's the socially polite thing to do. Then, I won't respond when you say, 'sure, sounds cool.'"

The Iranians have a custom of making polite promises they have no intention of keeping. It's called "taraf."

Here in the U.S., it's known as bullshitting.