I have lost a few pen pals in the past few months for different reasons. I feel this is probably down to the idea that if things are not likely to continue they will usually end themselves within the first 6 months of writing. None of the reasons that we stopped were particularly unconventional, just a disconnect or different reasons for wanting a pal I suppose you could say.

Well, none were unconventional apart from one that was a little more odd. I just thought I'd share this story and see if any one else had any stories behind reasons their penpal relationships may have ended
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I was in a stage of sharing a little bit of my past with this particular pal. I was trying to explain that while doing a different job, I looked very different as this job required it. To explain the point, I put a picture of me and a couple of friends that I had worked with into the letter (I always think stories are better with pictures). Well, the pictures I print into letters aren't of amazing quality but they serve the purpose.Anyway, this picture was from about 5 yrs ago and the people and company are long gone from here, so I didn't see the problem with them in the pic too.

Next letter I get back .... the pal accuses me of somehow faking this 5 yr old picture. I had put 'myself' into a picture with 2 other people or somehow put a head on another body or something equally bizarre!?
Ok, so I thought this was a little strange. I imagine it would probably have taken some kind of Photoshop skills of epic proportions to achieve such a task, which was so minor in terms of conversation. a) those are skills I don't have and b) why would someone bother lying about such a thing??

The picture was hardly flattering, I had my eyes half closed!! Besides this, he had seen at least 5 or 6 other pics of me and should be able to tell the body type was the same you'd think??

So, I write back... "Truly I have nothing to prove one way or another to you. I believe that to write to one another, at least a little bit of trust is required, and I can hope you can see that I have no reason to lie. If I at least had the skills to fake such a thing, I'd make sure my eyes were open!!"

He writes back that I am a liar and a fraud and he is not a clown to be played with. He got quite aggressive pointing out a lot of things about the photo which just seemed really strange. Like seriously, how much can you over study something that was printed on a bad quality printer?? At this point I thought it was reasonable to end correspndance with this person. I wrote back that it wasn't something worth getting into an argument over, believe me or don't believe me, but if not, I think we should end this. What can I say, never wrote back!

Seems funny to me to go to the trouble to look for penpals and then get weird and lose them for such minor things though. It was a very over the top and disproportionate reaction it seemed like. Made me think maybe something else must have been up with him.

Anyone else have anything a little out of the ordinary???

Who the heck cares? I mean, really, if it's only a picture then why was he getting his knickers into a twist?

As long as you were honest and explained it was an older photo, I dont see what the big deal is. Generally the inmates only have older photos themselves. It just seems like he was looking for any excuse to be angry. Next!

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

That's what I thought, Asha, I could be completely off here, but it seems to me somebody pissed in his cornflakes and he wanted somebody to get angry with.

In my experience it's best to give babies who throw tantrums a pacifier and send them to bed.

LOL. Yeah. Prison isn’t exactly conducive to people being in the best moods but still, he doesn’t need to have a pen pal or he's not mentally stable enough is what I’m thinking.

As far as other stories about cutting off relationships with inmates, I don’t have any that really stand out as unusual situations. I started off with 4 pals and just seemed to click more with the one so the letters between him and I became more frequent and the other three kind of tapered off. I found it really hard to respond to their letters.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

How long you been writing to this pal?

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I need coffee

Having to prove this would be impossibe, its only a copy of a pic nothing serious here.
Think he has other things or issues going on and picked this myself?

Some pps we drop due to issues, some they drop us due to issues, and some unfortunately pass, as two of mine did from natural deaths. Sad.

All part of writing I guess.

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Lulu- we had been writing for about 4 months

Peanut- I know, that's what I thought... and you want me to prove this how?? lol. He did ask for other pics to try and prove it, but I wasn't interested by that point.

Sarah Rose Bee- I thought "issues" too...like looking for someone to take it out on, really at the end of the day, who cares ?? Just thought it was a rather odd story.

Asha- Too right!! The pics I've had of him have been really old and some were really really blurry, copied on the computer. I had to bite my tongue when he was accusing me of sending blurry pics lol

LOL, he just sounds like a butthole. I mean I dont know how else to describe him. Why is he so hostile and judgmental to a woman he barely knows who picked him out of 100s, maybe thousands of online ads to write. Gosh, prison or not, he's a very foolish person. I think maybe he just didnt want to write for some reason (no money) and instead of just explaining this like a normal person, he had to come up with some reason not to write you and claim its all your fault. He sounds crazy to me.

My personal feeling on photos (doesn’t have to reflect what anyone else thinks of course) is they should be something that you send when you feel comfortable enough to do so. If you choose not to, then this should be discussed with the pal so he or she understands why and is okay with continuing the correspondence without photos. Some inmates feel that they would like to have at least something because they had one posted on their ad initially for you to see. I chose to respect that and sent photos of myself. If photos are old, that should also be explained. Beyond that, I don’t see why this man needs to be so silly and create such an issue out of it.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

Fromdusk~ yea, this dude sounds a little crazy...I had to laugh a little in your thread though...who could imagine sending someone a photoshopped pic of themselves with their eyes closed?? Who does that?? Because, yes, the half closed eyes are a very attractive look, huh?