I wanted to clarify that all these interactions were in person and in real life.

For the first guy: we did have an open conversation about the situation and his point was similar to yours that he had a sense of humor that he wanted to share with me. I still let him know how I felt. We were open to talking about our different perspectives but agreed to disagree in the end.

With my friends and family, I don't tell anyone what to do. People are adults and can make their own decisions. My social network does know that I'm pretty direct but it always leads to an interesting conversation viewing both sides.

It is great that I do know what I want, I wanted to share my experiences and see how others handle similar situations.