I’ve always thought of my ultimate relationships in terms of TV characters. Nick and Jess (New Girl). Blair and Chuck (Gossip Girl). Pam and Jim (The Office). Rachel and Ross (Friends). So much to the point that on my sad days, I’m quick to pop up Season 2 Episode 7 “The One Where Ross Finds Out” to feel some kind of joy about my favorite couple getting back together in the end.
Well, I’m here to tell you the dog days are over and I refuse to ship this couple any longer. “Why?” you may ask, “Ross and Rachel are totally OTP!”. Well, my friends, Ross sucks. And I’m here to pop your 1990’s romance bubble to say that as women, we deserve MUCH better than a Ross/Rachel relationship – and looking for our Ross will leave us miserable.
Reason #1: Rachel Settled for Ross. He was so obsessed with her in high school (to a CREEPY degree) and she was so much prettier than him. Now, I’m not saying that looks matter- because they don’t- but Rachel dated 10’s and when she finally got with Ross, he was 100% a low 6. How could she not be comparing him to every guy she dated? I mean did you ever really LOOK at Tag. He was (1) so cute, (2) head over heels for Rachel, and (3) she was happy with him; sure, he may have been her assistant, but I think that relationship really could have panned out better than Ross. So ladies, instead of settling for a guy that is consistently obsessed with you but is not cute, go for the cute guy that likes you a lot and that you think is cute too! Don’t lower your standards!
Photo Courtesy of: Olivia Waring on Metro.co.uk
Reason #2: Ross was the worst boyfriend to EVERYONE. No man is perfect, that’s a given. We all have issues, but Ross’? Not worth Rachel’s time. We should’ve seen it when he left Bonnie because she shaved her head, or when he refused to let Phoebe believe her dead mother was a cat, but I think the final straw was how unsupporting he was of Rachel when she finally had her dream job. Rachel HATED working at the coffee shop and when she finally got her perfect job, Ross could not stand it. He expected Rachel to drop everything for him to the point where he humiliated her at work. Ross could not let anyone else be happy except for himself and in the end, he always had to get what he wanted. Ladies, let’s make a vow to always put our dreams and passions first and not let some stupid guy guilt us into putting him and his perfect little life first.
Photo Courtesy of Casey Rackham via Buzzfeed
Reason #3: Ross was manipulative and controlling. If any other guy treated Rachel this way you know that the group would have kicked him to the curb. The only reason he got Rachel to keep coming back was becausetheir history. Because everyone, secretly, was rooting for him and Rachel at the end. That’s why everyone overlooked how he refused to annul his marriage to Rachel because he didn’t want to be “that guy”, or when he didn’t believe Rachel could protect herself so he spent the whole day trying to attack her(what??), or most importantly when he SCREAMED at Rachel when she wasn’t ready for his work event. If any of my friends were dating someone who pulled that type of stuff, I wouldn’t hesitate totell them their worth and advise them to kick the dude to the curb. However, if the guy was my best friend’s brother, I would definitely feel conflicted. We tolerated Ross because he was part of the group, but honestly, I would have voted to kick him OUT.
All in all, ladies, never tolerate a Ross. You may think that one ex-boyfriend will be coming back into your life one day to be your last love and that FINALLY, things are going to work out because he has ’grown’,‘matured’, and ‘finally sold his Kia’, but honestly once a crappy boyfriend, always a crappy boyfriend. Don’t settle for a Ross. Find a guy that is much more multidimensional than the one you’d see in a 90’s sitcom.