'AITA for kicking people out of my party for wanting expensive drinks and gluten free food?
"AITA for asking people to leave my dinner party?"
Worldly-Wave-9310 writes:
My wife and I live in a tiny little town with one restaurant and a gas station that serves food. There isn't much to do, and the nearest "bigger" town is about 80 miles away, which takes at least 1.5 hours depending on traffic.
My wife is extremely social, and living here doesn't exactly suit her, so we compromise by having friends and family over way more than I would like. It's give and take. We host weekly (sometimes biweekly) dinners. I help prep food, cook, clean, and try really hard to be a gracious host.
Because there isn't much to do, we aren't very strict about people who are invited bringing someone else. At this time of the year, we usually grill things at weekend gatherings. We buy frozen "homemade" hamburger patties, assorted sausages, kebabs, etc. from a local butcher.
We buy tons of stuff that he typically sells to restaurants. Everything is frozen and vacuum-sealed in small packages. It's not a huge deal to pull out and cook a few more kebabs or whatever.
So, this past weekend, our friend brought one of his girlfriends (we've met her before) and her adult daughter (we've never met). Another friend brought his fiancée's brother (Mark). We know the fiancée, but she wasn't there.
Mark went inside to use the bathroom and saw my liquor collection. My wife and I aren't big drinkers, but we usually put out some mixers and standard liquor. If you want something else, bring your own. However, I do have a rather nice collection of very top-shelf liquor that I've collected over the years.
Mark came out and started loudly commenting/complaining that we keep "the good liquor locked up" and serve our guests "trash" liquor. He didn't just say it once, but multiple times.
Then, the adult daughter (I didn't even get her name) started very rudely questioning my wife about what was gluten-free. Well, we really don't know. We buy the meat, and I really don't know if the spices added are gluten-free or not. She said, "So you just feed people random stuff without knowing what's in it? That's just great."
She looked at my wife, rolled her eyes, and said, "Get me a bowl. I guess I'll just use this lettuce to make a salad. I can eat the bacon and tomatoes, I guess." She grabbed several slices of bacon and shoved them in her mouth and said, "I would ask you for some salad dressing, but you probably don't know what's in that either."
The lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, grilled onions, and cheese are meant to be burger toppings. It is a pet peeve of mine when people start grabbing them and eating large quantities of them plain. Why would you think it's okay to go to a party and eat half the bacon or half the cheese? If you take all or almost all of something, what's everyone else going to put on their burger?
At this point, I had enough of Mark and his complaints about the liquor I was providing for free. I had enough of how this woman was speaking to my wife. I kicked them both out. I told them that they were rude, ungrateful, ungracious guests, and they both needed to leave. Which they did.
My wife hasn't said anything, but I feel terrible that her gathering was ruined. I don't think I did anything wrong, but I want to know what you think.
OP responded to some comments:
Tdluxon says:
NTA. They were guests in your house, and not even friends or people that were invited, and they chose to act rude and obnoxious. Also, if you have dietary restrictions (gluten-free, allergies, etc.) you should let the host know in advance so that they have an opportunity to prepare (if they choose to). They can go find their own booze and gluten free dinner.
OP responded:
I’m not big on accommodating dietary restrictions. We do enough. If you are picky or allergic or whatever bring your own food.
OceanBreeze_123 says:
NTA. Did gluten free's mom and mom's bf stay? And Mark's future BIL? The gathering was ruined by the obnoxious freeloaders, not you. Your friends should've been embarrassed they brought them and apologized. At least you're rid of those two duds your two friends are permanently stuck with them.
OP responded:
Mark’s future BIL left to drop him off and came back. Alex (gluten free’s mom’s bf) dropped mom and daughter off and came back.
tequilitas asked:
Did they apologize for their rude guests?
OP responded:
No. I did privately tease Alex and tell him to bring a different girlfriend next time. Mark’s sister did text my wife and I to let us know that she understood why we asked Mark to leave and to reassure us that she wasn’t upset with us.