High-maintenance

Friends happen.  You don't always pick them.  Sometimes, however, these friendships that were not by choice end up being the closest and most intimate friendships.  They could also be the most involved and labor intensive.  You could put a lot into it, you could bend over backwards to accommodate your friend, you could try to compensate for your friend's shortcomings, but still find that it never gets easier - much like a thankless job.  Some people are just high-maintenance while others are erratic and unpredictable.  After all, these are the friends we did not consciously choose but nevertheless ended up with because of family connections, an affinity group, common interests, a chance encounter, etc.  Given that you did not voluntarily choose them, it is not all that surprising when these people come with a whole host of issues that you end up having to help them through.

Most people are apt to give it up after putting in a lot of work only to have it go seemingly unnoticed and unappreciated time and time again.  Others will just keep soldiering forth and will continue to tolerate the difficult and burdensome ways of their involuntary friend.  In other words, they will treat this person like family - someone you stick with no matter what just because you deem it to be the right thing to do.  Sticking with this kind of friend could seem like an unnecessary burden so it is certainly understandable that most people would just make a clean break and move on.  But those that stick with such a difficult friend are likely to consider this: "as hard as it is for me, how much harder would it be for them if I were not there for them to share the burden they did not choose but were given anyway?" 

Mark 6: 30-34