The term friend zone absolutely should not exist. If a particular individual doesn't see someone as the other sees them, they had best suck it up and accept that that is their decision and nobody else's. Some perceptions are selfish, some perceptions are misguided, but constantly trying to influence someone to perceive one the way one wants to be perceived fits a number of timeless sayings. It's a waste of time, since in the end, it's their perception. You can change your world, but you cannot forcibly change another's.
I've been rejected twice. But you know what's funny? I'm still amazing friends with those individuals. Why?
You aren't going to get the very first person you develop a crush on.
I have rejected people many times in the past, myself. I have said "I'm happy to just be good friends, though." So I have been on the other side of the coin. For me, turning someone down doesn't feel all that great. That person went out of their way to approach me, and they have all these feelings or just genuinely dig me, and I have to tell them no, and admit that even with those feelings it's not going to get me. I know I may have made them feel pretty down, and I don't like the idea of something I did making someone feel down, or seeing people feel down at all. That's why it hurts, because I care about everyone. So these people whining and bitching about being rejected should understand that there's a chance that, just maybe, the other side disliked rejecting those people just as much as those people disliked being rejected. And hell, that rejection may not at all be permanent. So maybe if those people stopped whining about being friends and just went with it, they might just get a second chance and get asked by the person who rejected them once.
People are just immature and stuck up, sometimes. It kinda pisses me off, but I have to follow my own advice and understand that you cannot force anyone's world to change, they have to, first, accept the possibility of change.