'AITA for telling off a friend when she charged us for dinner AT HER BOYFRIEND'S MULTIMILLION MANSION?'
"AITA for telling off a friend when she charged us for dinner?"
I hang out with a group of friends, and in which one of them is rather boastful influencer. She would talk about her wealth, trips, cars, boyfriends etc non-stop. Usually, the rest of us would just listen and not really take offense because she was just rattling off about herself.
Recently this friend snagged an extremely rich boyfriend and she proceeded to move into his multi-million mansion. She was so excited and posted pictures of the pool, jacuzzi, etc. She invited us to her new house and specifically said, "i want to invite all of your for dinner at my new house with my BF!"
The rest of us accepted the invitation and came to the house. All the wealth she told about really existed and her BF was nice. He didn't stay throughout as he had paperwork to finish in his room. Soon it was dinner time.
We were all hungry as it was quite a long drive to the mansion and suddenly my friend took out her phone and said, "Okay I'll be ordering food and drinks from a nearby mart. Tell me what you want and I'll get it delivered here."
I thought it was strange that she was "ordering food" only then instead of having food already prepared for us guests by the numerous maids there. No drinks was served but we had to order them as well. The food came, it was cold and I just ate and didn't think much of it. The rest of the night was pretty much normal.
After we left, the friend proceeded to send us a text of the detailed break down of the cost of the à la carte dish and drink that we each ordered with a firm reminder to quickly transfer her the money. The first thing that came to my mind was annoyance!
She gave us the impression that she would SERVE US DINNER AT HER BF's MULTIMILLION MANSION but it just ended up with each of us paying for our dinner! What sort of hostess was she?
I felt that her invitation was misleading. I wasn't expecting a 10-course dinner, but social convention would imply that at least some simple food and water would be served for the GUESTS and GUESTS would NOT BE CHARGED.
We transferred her the money and then I sarcastically texted in the group chat saying, "Oh wow, if I knew we were all paying for our individual meals, we could have met at a restaurant for dinner! I guess all that wealth in the house was just for show!" Then I left the group chat. Since that incident, I never hung around much with her. AITA?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Comfortable-Focus123 said:
NTA - When you are invited for dinner at someone's house, it is assumed you will be served dinner. If the host is ordering out, they should inform you prior that you have to pay for your order.
sinfulvixxenn said:
Honestly, if I wanted to pay for my own meal, I'd just invite myself to my own kitchen. NTA all the way!
Briiiiiiyonce said:
NTA. I wouldn’t have paid her either. Do you think her boyfriend knows that she is inviting people over to his house to show off and then charge them for food that I’m guessing she’s using his money for?
Call me petty but I would have said something to the both of them about it and not just her. Inviting me over to your boyfriends house and being a terrible host and making me pay for cold takeout food? Heck no. She wouldn’t have gotten a dime from me.
AgnesVibrant said:
Nah, you’re not the AH. She invited y’all to dinner at her luxury mansion and then hit you with an invoice? That’s some next-level scammer energy. If she wanted a potluck or split-the-bill situation, that should’ve been clear upfront. You didn’t sign up for BYOF (Bring Your Own Food) at the billionaire bachelor pad.
TheNovaSpark said:
Yeah I'd be annoyed too. It's one thing to order in but not even having drinks or snacks ready? Super tacky. NTA.
AZDarkknight said:
NTA - If you invite someone for dinner it is clear than you are offering them dinner, not for them to have to order and pay for it themselves.