Do I really care about you buddy?

I hate networkers. Now this may seem pretty stupid and simplistic. Stupid because there is no way you can truly avoid them. Simplistic because the term ‘networker’ itself is subject to myriad interpretations.
Networking in a nutshell ,according to me, is the building of relationships (or more correctly, contacts) leading to a desirable situation of ‘You-scratch-my-back-and-I-scratch-yours’.
Now I would like to put my first comment into perspective. I say I hate networkers. The reason I say this is because I feel that I find such people to be extremely self-centred, ruthless, opportunistic, extremely manipulative and inherently untrustworthy. I find them untrustworthy simply because it is very difficult to guage the true motives of such people. Personally, it is very difficult for me to like a person I cant trust and who I know will put his/her self-interest before everything else.
The worst variety I feel are the people who just want to use you for some current/future wants but pretend to be your friends who genuinely care about you. Now it is still acceptable for most of us to maintain a purely business-like relationship certain people that we might meet (cant be best friends with each person in this world can we?) but to be fooled into a friendly relationship and and purely serving as fodder for consumption at a later date is a bit too much to digest.
There is an interesting thing that I noticed. Networking as a phenomenon seems to increase exponentially as we move towards a career in the corporate world. Think about it. Most of us would have been dismissive of people we dint like in school or even during graduation but something holds us back as soon as we enter the rat race.
Now, lets look at the other side of the coin. Nobody can be classified as a distasteful person simply due to him/her having good networking skills. In fact, I have met all types.
1. Friends who are good networkers
2. Networkers who pretend to be good friends
3. Pure networkers.
People in the first category should not really be in doubt. Infact, they may actually turn out to be quite helpful!
With people of the third variety, atleast you don’t risk any heartburn and can very well maintain a cordial relationship with them.
In fact, it is desirable to have good socialising and networking skills. It really leads to a situation wherein you have a network of people who can pull you out of any sticky situation you might find yourself in. The trick is to never find oneself caught in/caught with the second category type.
The idea is to be able to discern who is worth what.