There are so many things to love about Friends, but if you watch the show enough times, you’ll start to pick up on things that you previously wouldn’t have even looked twice at.
Phoebe Buffay is one of the six main characters in the show and she’s also one of the most popular. However, in our eyes, there are a few traits within Phoebe’s character that are a little bit more annoying than viewers first realize. Today, we’re going to run through a few of the anecdotes that have left us feeling a little bit more uneasy regarding how we feel about good ol’ Pheebs.
Immediately Dropping David
Phoebe and David kept dancing around each other for the better part of a decade, mainly due to David being over in Minsk. In addition to kissing David when she was in a relationship with Mike, Phoebe took things to a whole new level when she got back together with Mike in Barbados – right in front of David, who she knew was about to propose.
While she did go with her heart, she seemed to move on from David’s devastation insanely quickly, and we never really heard from him again.
Trying To Seduce Ross
When Ross discovered that Carol was a lesbian and had seemingly begun a relationship with her friend Susan, he was obviously heartbroken.
As opposed to just standing by his side and being his friend, though, Phoebe wound up making a move on Ross on the pool table before the awkwardness of the situation caught up to them. Things didn’t really go any further, and they never came close to partnering up after that, but it just seemed as if her morals weren’t really in the right place in the heat of the moment.
Bursts Of Anger
From shouting at Mike’s girlfriend, who she was helping him break up with, to pulling the hair of Rachel and Monica, to getting angry at Joey when he was trying to learn French, one thing we came to learn about Phoebe was that she had a bit of a short temper.
Those bursts of anger often came out of nowhere, and it caught a lot of viewers – alongside the characters themselves – off guard. She was always a feisty character to have around, but this was the definition of taking things up a notch.
Constant Upbringing Talk
It clearly wasn’t easy for Phoebe growing up courtesy of her mother passing away and the fact that she had to live on the streets. However, while it was intriguing to hear her talk about it during the first few seasons, that novelty soon wore off.
It sounds a little bit heartless, but eventually, it got to the point where she was seemingly using this information to her advantage. Given the fact that she wound up becoming pretty successful in the heart of New York City, it’s still a success story, but not one we enjoy.
Ross & Chandler Dilemma
It’s understandable that Mike wanted people that he was close with in his wedding party, but what many people never really came to understand was why Phoebe hadn’t thought to tell Ross and Chandler they weren’t in the wedding beforehand.
These three had all been through an awful lot together across the previous ten years of the show, and it felt like a bit of a plot hole at the time. There were ‘positions’ that they were eventually able to fill, but she probably should’ve thought about it all in advance.
Things Don’t Match Up
When Phoebe wears a fur coat that she considers to be beautiful, even though it goes against pretty much everything she believes in, fans found it pretty hard to swallow.
That would be fine if she didn’t wear the most glamorous outfits out of all six main characters, with more jewelry on than we can count. It was just ever so slightly hypocritical of her. Then, across pretty much all ten seasons, she’s positioned as someone who doesn’t really focus too much on material objects and would rather live in the moment.
Ursula
One of the only people that made us like ‘Pheebs’ more was Ursula who, of course, was her twin sister. Ursula just didn’t seem to have a compassionate bone in her body, and as opposed to being the sort of sibling that can provide the audience with a bit of comic relief, she was just a little bit mean.
Her relationship with Joey where she just dropped him in the blink of an eye offered up proof that while Phoebe may have been annoying, she was the golden girl when compared to her sister. That being said, without Phoebe on the show, Ursula wouldn’t have been there.
Trying To Keep A Baby
The act of giving birth to the triplets for her brother and his partner was applauded by many fans, and it helped to paint Phoebe in a great light.
Unfortunately, there was an issue with the fact that she actually wanted to keep one of the three babies, as she revealed to Rachel. It was something that was simply never going to happen, with Frank and Alice obviously wanting to keep all three of their children together.
It was probably a heat of the moment sort of thing, but she still should’ve known better.
Playing The Guitar
There are some parts of Friends that are charming, and there are running gags which we enjoy, but one that always seemed to fall a bit flat was Phoebe playing the guitar. It was established fairly early on that she wasn’t exactly the best guitar player in the world, and they went all-in on that storyline.
Smelly Cat went from being a fun part of her overall narrative to being driven into the ground, to the point where it’s one of the only major things that people take away from her character arc.
Work Etiquette
While she could be picked up on for many errors during her working life, we picked out three examples of when Phoebe wasn’t quite up to scratch in her career as a masseuse.
Firstly, she allowed Ross to give Arthur, one of her older clients, a pretty weird massage – and while you could argue she didn’t do it on purpose, she should’ve been prepared for such a situation upon moving into a new apartment. Secondly, she made out with a client who turned out to be married, and then finally, she worked with a corporate chain that went against pretty much everything she believed in.
