Texting Me Back Three Days Later Without Acknowledging It Is Not Okay

Guys can be such a mystery, but something I’ll never understand is why one might think it’s okay to respond to my text three days after I sent it without even mentioning how long it’s been. I didn’t get an apology or an explanation—he just replied with the answer to the question I asked and assumed that we could just pick up where we left off. Wrong!

  1. Just… what?! This is my reaction when I get a text three days later from a guy I’m seeing who doesn’t even mention the fact that he’s a whole 72 hours late in responding. He just continues on the convo as if no time has passed and that’s just SO nuts to me. When I saw that text pop up, my jaw hit the floor. What is he even doing and does he really think I’m going to be cool with that?
  2. He’s trying to play games and that’s so annoying. If this is his idea of playing “hard to get,” he’s taking it way too far. I mean, yes, of course not texting me for three days straight will make me think that he’s hard to get, but it’ll also make me think that he’s SUPER weird. Everything else that comes after that stunt is going to be really suspicious to me.
  3. If he was texting his friend, he would apologize. Look at it this way—if my friend texted me and I didn’t respond for three days, even if it was by accident, I would acknowledge it in my reply and at least say sorry for missing the text. The fact that this guy doesn’t even apologize makes me feel disrespected. I thought that he was into me, but obviously not enough to treat me like he gives a crap.
  4. No one is ever too busy to send a text that takes 10 seconds to write. I don’t care what kind of job you have or what kind of life you lead, EVERYONE has at least 10 seconds to spare to send a quick text. I remember asking my friend why a guy would wait three days to text a girl back and he said that the guy was probably just busy, but I don’t buy that. Being too busy for a phone call is fine, but too busy for a text? That’s highly doubtful.
  5. He’s just trying to have the upper hand. The real reason he’s doing this is so that he has control over the communication side of things. He wants to make sure that I don’t think it’s okay to text him a million times a day—I get it. He just wants to set a precedent, but he could do that in less than three days. I mean, seriously?
  6. The “three-day rule” doesn’t apply to texting—why doesn’t he know that? The old “3-day-rule” is completely obsolete now that texting has hit the scene, and it’s totally weird that he doesn’t know how to use a technology that’s been around for more than a decade. I’m not going to think that he’s “cool and mysterious” if he doesn’t text me back—I’m going to think he’s playing a game and that he’s immature and then write him off as someone who doesn’t know the rules of modern dating.
  7. Did he die and come back to life or something? Seriously, where did this guy go? It’s almost like he got amnesia for a few days and then suddenly, boom! He started remembering again. Maybe he went to a silent retreat for a few days or maybe he’s on a mountain where there’s no reception. Whatever the excuse, he should still have said sorry for taking so damn long to respond.
  8. “Guys can’t multi-task” my ass. Whenever a guy uses the excuse that men have a “one-track mind,” I just have to roll my eyes. If that old adage really were true, then my ex-boyfriend wouldn’t have been able to play Candy Crush while eating a bowl of Froot Loops. Guys can multitask and if he uses that as his excuse for taking so long to text back, I’m going to permanently delete him.
  9. It’s kinda eerie. When I received that text none but 3 days later, the ‘X-Files’ theme song went off in my head. I just know that he’s up to SOMETHING, I just don’t know what. It could be a silly pickup artist tactic he’s trying out or he could be almost at the end of a relationship and is keeping me engaged until the breakup is finalized. Or, maybe he just straight up FORGOT about me, which is just as bad as the other two. I lie awake at night trying to crack this case, but I should really just forget him and start doing something more productive with my time. It really stresses me out.
  10. He’s basically letting me know he doesn’t like me. I’m not so naive that I think this guy is actually interested in me. If he was, why would he risk never seeing me again by being MIA for three days? Plus, why even talk to me if he’s not interested in dating me? I wish he’d just leave me alone and stop confusing me with his sporadic texting habits.
Jennifer is a playwright, dancer, and theatre nerd living in the big city of Toronto, Canada. She studied Creative Writing at Concordia University and works as a lifestyle writer who focuses on Health, B2B, Tech, Psychology, Science, Food Trends and Millennial Life. She's also a coreographer, playwright, and lyricist, with choreography credits for McMaster University’s “Spring Awakening,” “Roxanne” for the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, and “The Beaver Den” for The LOT, among others.

You can see more of her work on her Contently page and follow her on Instagram @jenniferenchin.
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