Genuinely unsure if AIBU

[Waytooearly]

It's all blown over now, but I thought my friend was acting strangely last night and I got uncharacteristically angry at her.

She lives in a certain village that's pretty far from me. We haven't seen each other in a while due to general busyness. I found out this weekend that a work errand would be bringing me close to her village n Monday night (last night). I told her and asked her whether she would be around after work.

She wasn't sure so we left it that we'd see closer to the time. I wasn't entirely sure when I would be done anyway. I finished around six yesterday and sent her a WhatsApp message with my location saying, 'You free or should I head home?'

Here's where it got weird. I waited a bit then set off driving. She rang so I pulled over, missed the call, saw that my stupid phone was at 4% charge (and charging really slowly in car). So I texted her, 'Sorry was driving. Phone on really low charge, should I come to yours or you busy?'

Waited a bit, started driving again, she rang again! This time I tried to take the call on hands-free but charge ran out. I pulled over, waited for phone to charge to like 2%,then texted' No charge, should I come to yours?'. Waited a bit, then texted, ' It's okay I think you're busy, I'll head home and see you another time.'

I started driving again, phone managed to charge up a bit more, she kept ringing. I pulled into a services and saw that she'd texted me,' Where are you?'

I said I was on way home. I confess I was a little fed up so I said, 'I don't know why you keep ringing. If you're not free just say so.' She said I'd put pressure on her and she'd run home to meet me but I wasn't there. (?)

Is it just me or is that weird behaviour on her part. Should I have done something different?

A bit of context: she is going through a hard time at present and part of my plan was to see if I could cheer her up with a visit. So that worked well.

It's not weird but it IS annoying. It sounds like something a lot of people have done to me.

WHY can't they see that they only need to say "Busy sorry!" if you've clearly stated you're almost out of charge.

My DH does this sort of thing all the time. SO annoying. But I do think some people aren't great at reading and inferring what's being said...

You or I would read that first text and understand the subtext...which is "Send me a short, definite answer right now"

Others wouldn't.

I would say it was 50/50. Why wasn't your phone charged up so she could speak to you? I could see why you were both annoyed.

Yeah, my phone wasn't charged up because I had been using it all afternoon for work and it's an old phone. I think she felt bad for being too busy so wanted to say it over the phone rather than text.

If it's relevant, she's not British, from another culture where hospitality is a big value, so maybe harder for her to come right out and say, 'I'm too busy to see you' and I should have taken the hint.

The low charge on the phone thing would have stressed me out no end. There's some things that bring out the worst in me and someone trying to call when I have no charge and no definite plan is one of them. Not your fault, not her fault. Just stressful circumstances.

I blame the phone!

Why didn't you try calling her back and actually speak to her?

Because my charge was low!!! Crispbutty are you the friend?!

Seems like a misunderstanding more than anything.

She may not have realised that low charge meant you were unable to call back; after all, you could text, so she might have assumed you would manage at least a brief call. I certainly can with a few %.