It is natural to celebrate your achievements with your family and close friends. One woman decided to celebrate her getting her Ph.D. with her family and friends. She was very proud of herself and decided to throw a lavish dinner for her family and close friends and celebrate her achievement. But her friend’s son upstaged her at the dinner she arranged.
The woman who wished to remain anonymous shared her story where she felt cheated by the friends she invited to celebrate getting her Ph.D. The woman threw a celebratory dinner for her close family and friends. She spent a few thousand only to feel cheated and get upstaged.
Some unexpected guests turned up at the party and did some tacky things. The host was upset and felt cheated. She felt cheated because she had decided to celebrate her accomplishment with the hard-earned money that she had earned but the uninvited friends made the party all about themselves and the woman had to pay for everything.
The story was revealed by the woman in a letter to Slate.com’s agony aunt column, Dear Prudence. She explained what happened and wrote: I threw an expensive sit-down dinner for friends and family to celebrate getting my Ph.D. One of my friends brought her adult son and his girlfriend. Right before I was going to get up to make my toast, he rang his glass with a fork and made an announcement about how much he loved the woman next to him.”
She further explained: “Then he got down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend. I felt like I had been sucker-punched. All eyes were on this couple, and I was footing the bill for their impromptu engagement party. I ended up leaving halfway through because I was so upset. Several friends followed me and got upset on my behalf. They wanted to throw the ‘brats out’. I told them I didn’t want to make a scene.”
After the party she wrote to her friend via e-mail and told how hurt she was by her son’s behavior. She wrote: “I told her it was ‘tacky, tasteless and utterly contemptible’ for her son to do what he did, and had she acted like a good friend, she should have shut it down. She blasted back that I was cold-hearted and should not be ‘jealous of their good fortune’.”
She further wrote: “I said I hadn’t intended to spend several thousand dollars of my own money on her son’s engagement party. If she wanted to pay me back, I would be happy to drop the subject. She never responded. There are very few events for adults to seriously celebrate outside the life-script events (e.g., weddings and pregnancies). This was a huge achievement for me. I am not sure how to get over this. I know it is petty, but it was my party for crying out loud!” The woman was advised to have a small party with the friends that supported her that night.
