Should I bother pursuing a friendship here?

I have a colleague that was in my year at school, over a decade later we've found ourselves back in the same small town and now work at the same place. We did similar degrees but current jobs aren't related to them at all. He works on personal projects during lunch hours at a cafe in town and complained on a staff night out that none of us would join him. He's very talented and I thought this would be great to bounce some ideas around, get some software tips off him (he seemed very enthusiastic discussing things on the night out). Also, our town is quite dull and most of our school friends have since moved on so it seemed nice to have something to do for once!

He suggested going for coffee on a separate occasion but nothing materialised, so when I had time off last month I messaged him to ask if he was free. Apparently, he was away all week but said we should "definitely find time when he was back". Left it in his court to let me know a time. Since we've been back at work I've barely had a hello from him. He only does three shifts a week!

Should I just wait and see if he approaches me? All this was suggested on HIS end, why do that if he was just being polite??

This is the second flakey 'friend' I've dealt with this year, who seem to suggest doing specific things instead of "catch you later". It just seems very alien to me!

/rant!

Should I just wait and see if he approaches me? All this was suggested on HIS end, why do that if he was just being polite??

 

 

Yes, wait for him to approach you. I've come to realize that when people genuinely want to catch up with you they will make an effort to follow up on the suggested catch ups. Don't take it personal as he might have other priorities in his life and you are not one of them. Just be friendly when you do see him and when he does say we should catch up sometime just play along because from my experience I've noticed that people don't like to be pulled up on the fact that they don't follow through. Just my personal experience and opinion.

 

He is really not worth your time and you don't want flakey friends anyway.