A woman was left sobbing in a restaurant after all her family and friends cancelled on her birthday celebrations over a period of two hours – only to surprise her in a different way
A woman was left “crying” after her family and friends pulled a stunt on her birthday.
“I have been crying for hours yesterday and today, receiving texts on how I am ungrateful […] I am trying to see the good intentions, but […] I don’t see any,” she penned on Reddit’s ‘Am I The A**hole’ forum.
She explained she’d decided to have a birthday dinner, telling guests that if they kept their meal under $35 (£28) she would pay for it as she didn’t want “conflict” about the bill.
She invited 12 family members and friends, and they all said they’d be able to attend. However, when the day came, the woman “waited two hours” and kept “getting calls from people” explaining that “they were running late”. Eventually everyone cancelled – and she was heartbroken.
“The waiter felt so bad because I was crying while I was on the phone with someone I considered to be my friend […] even though I didn’t order a meal, he gave me a free birthday slice,” she wrote.
When she was on her way home, her mum called her to ask whether she could pop round to her house as she wanted to give her a present, apologising for not coming to the restaurant as she felt “extremely unwell”.
She ended her post by writing: “I go to her house, and I open the door to a surprise, and people see that my face was messed up because I had been crying, so someone says, ‘Aww, she thought we forgot her’, and I look at the 12 people that were invited to my dinner and am just disappointed that they traded what I wanted for my birthday for this.
“They left me stranded and humiliated at a restaurant for hours. I left the surprise party after 5 minutes and just told my mum to keep her present to herself.”
In the comments, people reassured the woman that she wasn’t the one in the wrong. One wrote: “You planned what you wanted for your birthday. Your friends and family completely disregarded that, lied to you, and left you feeling ignored and unwanted on your birthday. They may have had the best of intentions, but that paves the road to hell.
“In the end, it is not intentions that matter, but results. Had they done this any other day, things would have worked out well. Instead, they left you alone and feeling unwanted. In no way, shape, or form are you to blame here.”
“I just don’t understand how they thought this was going to be a good idea,” another added, with someone else writing: “IF they had wanted to truly give you a nice surprise, your mum could have asked you to come by her house to pick up something BEFORE the dinner at the restaurant.”
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