you know what sucks mightily?

Friends who decide not to be honest about something because they've made a judgement that it would hurt your feelings, but who fail to take into account that the thing in question is something that cannot come to a natural conclusion unless you find out how they (or someone else that they're covering for) really feels. Now I find myself in the situation that I have acted for months on what I thought was the true information, and am now embarrassed at not understanding the real situation and hurt at not being trusted to deal with the truth. Fabulous.

Sorry I'm being vague ~ the situation isn't worth going into in detail. These particular two friends just have a long history of not saying how they really feel, in spite of the fact that whatever they bottle up never fails to eventually come to a head in some awkward and hurtful way. It tires me out ~ not only the crap to deal with but also their paternalistic decisions on my behalf.

Edit: I decided to grab the bull by the horns and just phone the people in question. Explained that I had been told the truth of the situation, apologised for any misconceptions I had acted upon and said straightforwardly what I thought the new solution should be. This was well-received (and rightly so, give that it is now based on accurate information) and it seems the whole thing is mostly sorted. Yah for pro-activity!