Welcome to Friend-Zone!

The new zone in town, have you heard about it? Well, I'm sure you have. Got an idea what I'm talking about? The Friend-zone! Does it ring a bell? Only if you tell me that you've never been there or done that, I can understand that it could well be an alien zone.
For those who have been a victim or victimized others, you must have a clear picture of what it feels like to be friend-zoned or to friend-zone someone, respectively. A sweet slap, that's how it feels. Ouch! It hurt.

As much as I have observed, there are two common cases of people ending up in the friend-zone. You won't be surprised to know!
One, where someone asks the other out and is rejected for the reason that I-never-imagined-us-like-that-and-we're-just-good-friends. This is the scenario where you can't see yourself being asked out by someone who you thought was good enough to be the 'friend in need' but never the 'friend in bed'. But, know what? Karma is coming after you, son!

 

The second case would seem somewhat like this:
Let A and B be a girl and a guy, respectively. These two people of the opposite sexes get along well, understand each other fine, do shit together but hey, either of them was friend-zoned by the other in the very beginning. Why? Because he or she thought it was the right thing to do at the time. Unless someone made an effort to hit on you, how can you friendzone them without knowing their intentions? Assumption, bro. That's the thing we do or worse still, the mistake we make.
Friend-zoning a person just because you didn't want to send across any 'wrong' signal or seem interested in them, is outright stupid. You know what it does? It makes the friend-zoned person automatically seem desperate because you played safe. It makes them guilty for a mistake they haven't even committed. It hurts the shit out of them to come across as a desperate lad, especially when they're not even close. In some instances, it might even prevent them from befriending a person of the opposite sex because they're afraid of being in the same situation, again. It makes them think twice before saying anything in order to not sound desperate. Every single text, every word of it, every emoticon is placed carefully so that he or she doesn't think you're trying to cross the line that was drawn. 

If you're avoiding a romantic indulgence, you can be open about it and discuss your intentions without raising the need to take the person in a land of no return. Well, it's true that a friend makes for the perfect partner but it's also true that a friend-zoned person, in most cases, doesn't make for the perfect friend!
In addition to these two cases, the third kind of friend-zoning that is not so rare, arises post break-up where one of them proposes to be friends after the relationship has come to an end. "I don't think it's working anymore but we can still be friends." Who are you kidding? It's like demoting someone from boyfriend/girlfriend to friend because I'm-not-too-hungry-to-eat-the-whole-cake-but-I'm-only-little-hungry-to-eat-a-slice-of-it. Get my point? 

Sometimes, things are too obvious and other times they are less so, but that doesn't mean you act as per your convenience. Today, the friend-zone is a prison for some. Someday, when you think they've served their term, you might want to release them but it also might be too late then. You can still turn people down without zoning them, you can still be friends without zoning them. That's how relationships worked until some jerk invented the most unnecessary zone ever. I fail to understand the need to do so. Maybe, someday I will know.

P.S. I hate Friend-zone.