Long’s texting strategy reportedly “saved her friendship.”
After receiving a text that she had originally interpreted as “a little bit bitchy,” sophomore Claire Gilbert reported that all malicious connotations had been removed from the message with the addition of a follow up text containing the word ‘lol.’
“At first it seemed like she was being super passive aggressive when she called me out for not inviting her to hang with us last week,” admitted Gilbert. “It was a huge relief when I saw that ‘lol’ pop up on my screen. For a second there, I thought she was actually mad at me.”
Jessica Long, friend of Gilbert and author of the original text, admits that while she didn’t actually “laugh out loud” while composing the message, she felt the addition of the acronym would allow Gilbert to understand that she “really wasn’t trying to actually be mean or anything.”
Long later reported that she believed that her strategy had been effective. “At first I was afraid Claire would take my message the wrong way,” said Long. “But when she started her rebuttal with ‘haha,’ I knew she understood that I really wasn’t trying to offend her.”
Gilbert later told reporters that she was “glad the situation panned out the way it did.” She concluded by explaining that if they hadn’t been so civil about it, the conversation “definitely” had the potential to turn into an actual argument.
