Is A wrong or B?

Yes thank you. Are you?

Are you okay?

Ann should get a dementia screening

Both are being unreasonable. Ann for being an entitled brat but Bev for giving her friend lifts for donkey's years.

It was fine for Ann to ask Bev to pick up the item for/with her; it's the kind of thing Bev has said she is willing to do in general. But in Ann's place, I would have (1) called Bev BEFORE buying the item to see if she could come now and based my purchase decision on that and/or (2) asked the shop if I could pay for the item and pick it up later and then arranged a time with Bev, knowing that it might not be that day.

Is there any other backstory here - like Bev has said "call me any time for a lift, I'm always home"? Or perhaps Bev gave a reason why she couldn't come that seemed trivial or mocking to Ann? Or Ann got the impression that Bev was angry or surprised that she asked?

Also, is the taxi THAT huge a deal? Was it an expense Ann genuinely can't afford? If not, she should be able to put it behind her quite easily as a "lessons learned" kind of way, whether the lesson is "give more advance notice if depending on someone else" or "don't ask Bev for rides". Ending a friendship of many years over this one incident, if it truly is only that and not a "last straw" kind of situation, seems like a loss of perspective.

Ann sounds hideous.

And she should have got a taxi in the first place.

I guess Ann was super excited by the opportunity and new bargain furniture. She mistakenly didnt think it through.

Bev was caught on the back foot being asked.

Ann was caught on the back foot being refused.

Ann should just say sorry and thats that.

No one knows what kind of day Bev was having. She sounds like a nice friend and hanging up was maybe out of character.

Shame for them to fall out.

Another vote for Ann... in case there was any doubt.

Ask for the lift, but be prepared for a No and have a back up (taxi).

Don't moan that you got a No!

Of course ann is a cf, that's what taxis are for

@MeowCatPleaseMeowBack what is with you?
why did you post????
its a forum where posting results in various responses....ffs

Ann is wrong.

Bev can't hang about with her car keys all day waiting for Ann to need a lift - that's what taxis are for. After all Ann does not need to pay for a car, petrol, insurance, road tax etc. etc. so should have some cash freed up for the odd taxi.

I can't drive but I'd never expect any of my friends to drop everything to give me a lift although I'm grateful when they offer but don't even then always accept. In fact I HATE asking for lifts - I think I've asked twice in my entire adult life - once to get DD to a party that was in a venue off a motorway and the taxi ride each way would have been over £50! The other was when I asked my neighbour to get DS to A&E as the taxi was taking ages and then cancelled .

Is Bev the indentured servant of Ann?

If not, Ann is wrong.

Ann is weird to expect B to pick her up at the drop of a hat. It was fine to ask, I think, as B may have been able to do it but A was rude and entitled to expect B to just turn up and then be pissed off that she had to call a cab.

Would there be any milage in asking Ann in the future when she won't see this as an attack on the driving issue in what ways she offers a 'if she needs XX service/help (not driving) then just call her? If she doesn't for anything then that says something about reciprocation. IF she does then for whatever it is she does offer help then gently point out it wouldn't always be an unequivocal and immediate and without reservation offer she meant.

Ann is in the wrong. What if Bev was waiting for a hospital appointment??

I couldn’t be doing with the likes of Ann, I’m afraid.
Poor you, having to deal with her!

Ann needed to call Bev BEFORE she made the purchase.

A is wrong and surely the garden centre would have kept it for her to arrange a pickup later when B might have been available (and willing), otherwise then get a taxi or whatever @MotherOfOlafs

Ann. She is being totally unreasonable, should have phoned Bev first to check. If not, been prepared to get a taxi. Hopefully she'll realise this and apologise to Bev, otherwise she should lose her lifelong friend.

A member of my family has similar tendencies (ie it's all about her) and over the years she's fallen out with everyone in the family, doesn't have any friends and only a couple of neighbours who speak to her.

Poor Ann, she was overcome by the bargain she had spotted and didn't think it through. She may becoming more convinced she's right because actually deep down, she knows she is wrong.

Reminds me of when my mother (mid 70s at the time) wanted to attend the memorial service for a distant relation - someone who she'd not actually ever met - because she was told of it by another very distant relation she happened to run into...

She expected her younger brother and his wife (who it turned out didn't even know this relation existed) to cancel their plans for that day, purely so they could drive her about 4 hours there and back to it - like Ann, my mother has never learnt to drive. Using public transport was not an option.

My mother was so horrified that they had the 'cheek' to say no that she went full no contact with them...this brother is her last surviving sibling out of 9. That was about 7 years ago, she is still full no contact with them.

She still doesn't get that they were well within their rights to say no.

As everyone else has said, Ann is hugely unreasonable. “If you ever need a lift” is British speak for “please don’t feel you can’t ask and I will try to help if convenient”. A bit like “come anytime” doesn’t mean at 3am/for Christmas dinner etc. Ann needs reminding a) of social niceties and that b) if she needs a taxi she should call one - Bev is not a cab driver!

A is a big C.

This.