The Screenshot The Girlfriends chime in about the ultimate petty trump card

I eagerly tag my posts hashtag Petty Betty, and any meme featuring Cookie from Empire just screams “hellooooooo” to my ratchet alter-ego. Side eye is my go to look and salty is my favourite flavour. But when I meet someone pettier than me you must understand why I need to bow down, because as bad as I can be there are quite a few things on the “How to be petty” list that I have yet to master. Saving the screenshot - for future mayhem and surefire destruction - is one of them.

I have a friend whose Google drive is not filled with work presentations, scans of important personal documents or any of the typical normal things people use their online storage for. Not this Queen my darlings. His drive is filled with meticulously filed by date and name, screenshots of what’s app conversations, Facebook status updates, tweets, online chats and the list goes on. Why does he do it? Just in case. Just in case of what you ask? Just in case he needs to pull out the petty trump card – the screenshot - which when presented can be the destroyer of arguments, friendships, relationships, reputations and yes even careers. Trust me, in 2016 you don’t want to be caught on the wrong end of a screenshot, so be careful what you type, because if the internet is forever then the screenshot is foreverer!! I got the girlfriends to chime in and break down the detrimental effects of the screenshot below.

Rors: oh lordt Jebus

Staci: Drake said it himself… all he fears is head shots and screenshots and lemme tell you screenshots can sinkkkkkkk you. You definitely don’t want to be falling victim to the screenshotters who will save that sh*t for a later date, to most certainly be used for evil and no kinda good! None none none.

Rors: Soooo, every gay man ever?

Kimba: To me, you have to be real calculating to save thing from however long and bring it back. You really holding people in mind boy!

Staci: I don’t know if allyuh remember a few months back a chick made a distasteful comment about gays on Facebook and she went viral, but not in a good way? Well she had a screenshot of a comment I made about her post where I may or may not have mentioned her missing her dose of crackhead pills. She stalk me for about 2 hours in a party the other night before she finally asked me if I remember making that comment... Now mind you I don’t know the chick BUT! screenshots don’t lie… and she had it in Technicolor on her phone (which she shoved two inches from my face) so I could be sure it was me…sighs. Now remember I said that her original comments online went viral? What I was dying to know was whether she has screenshots of the hundreds of not so flattering comments from other people and what her plans were for confronting all these folks?!

Ronz: So wait nah, she stalk and confront you to give you an ethics lesson?! This is de greatest story ever… Rors: I remember that incident. SHE deservvvvvvvve to be called all the names she was called, her comment was vile and disgusting, she was talking about gay people deserving to die dred…

Staci: Now that incident got me thinking. Will I ever use a screenshot against someone? Now don’t get me wrong I am quick to screenshot something and share it in the group chat for mostly giggles, you ladies know that, but I have also emailed screenshots of convos to myself already because the situation had the potential to become a legal matter and I wanted evidence of exactly what was said should it come to that…

Lis: I have screenshot psycho conversations but never confronted the person with it... just shared it with my girlfriends to find out if I was imagining their psycho-ness.

Rors: My ex left her phone home once, I went through looking for evidence, and got a double dose.

She was cheating on me with another female friend of mine AND a male one. I screen-shotted everything and sent them to myself. I then called her office, told her coworker to tell her I had her phone and not to worry, I was taking messages. Well boy she ran out the office and flew to my house. I loved being able to directly quote her throughout the argument, it made short work the immediate breakup.

By now we should all agree that it’s hard to deny the influence of social media and the way it’s affects our interactions both online and offline. There are countless examples where comments made on an individual’s “private” online account that have gotten them immediately fired in real life. Like the publicist who tweeted a joke about getting AIDS before takeoff on a flight to Africa. While she was in the air, her tweet went viral and by the time she landed, she was the number-one worldwide trend on Twitter and was fired soon after. Even if you work for yourself you should still be careful of what you say online, getting fired isn’t the only fall out that can come your way Take for example this local media personality and seasonal entertainer. His social media accounts be popping usually with tons of self-promotion of whatever his latest projects are. Of late a quick peruse of the Twitter-verse and one would find several eyebrow raising posts directed to a beautiful model that is NOT his wife. This homeboy thought his shenanigans would be safe as his real wifey didn’t use this social media platform so over a matter of days he felt confident enough to post these declarations of love while @ ing Ms model. Sighs, when will people learn? It WAS only a matter of time before those tweets twittered its way into the Mrs’ inbox, in the form of… you guessed it – several screenshots! Good luck finding him anywhere online now.

The Girlfriends is a group of 15 women between the ages of 26 - 45 who are willing to give an unadulterated look into their own experiences. Some names have been changed for privacy