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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How would this behaviour from an old friend make you feel?(maybe more a WWYD)

75 replies

SherryBaby11 · 31/03/2018 22:00

I've been friends with this person (C) since we were young teens and we're both in our thirties.

He's not a very sociable person. Doesn't go out/do much outside of work. We meet up once a year but speak at least once a week via text or call and have done for many years since I moved away. I've since moved back to live nearer to him.

Anyway yesterday I had a different friend visiting and we planned to go out for a pub dinner, have a couple of drinks/game of pool OR just stay in and play games and I'd cook, basically planned a bit of an evening.

My partner (whom I live with) usually works Friday nights so we decided to do something. I told C about it and invited him, my exact words were 'do you fancy hanging out with us tonight not sure what we're doing though?' and he said yes to which I was surprised as he doesn't usually want to go out and do things but I was pleased.

I picked him up, and me and my other friends were just sort of deciding what our plan for the evening was.

Anyway, he did advise me he'd been drinking , and I know he likes a drink, wasn't too bothered about that. It was more that when he'd been at our house half an hour or so he did the following;

-said 'Are we going out I'm bored' to which I said yes we'll go out if you like, what does everyone else want to do and then we decided to go out and I went to get ready, he then said 'cant go out I've not got any money'. I offered to lend him some but said if you'd rather stay in that's fine? He said if we went out he'd go home. Then changed his mind again said he'd borrow some £ and we'd go out.
-when we got to the pub, he said it was boring can we go somewhere else. I said yes, but we've ordered food so not yet. We ate and got a taxi somewhere else had a few games of pool

-kept saying people were looking at him and it was because he stands out and saying loudly to them to 'eff' off (he's a nondescript looking person and I am sure they weren't)!

-Played pool with my partner and repeatedly said how men were better and was quite aggressive about it, hard to explain just making subtle jibes and saying 'yeh I'll effing beat you' sort of thing.

  • we then went somewhere else and again kept saying he was bored-he said he was bored in each place several times! We were all just chilled, having a couple of drinks, admittedly not a wild night of partying but I didn't say we would, I just invited him to come and join us for the eve.

His demeanour was just aggressive all night. He then had a go at my partner and said he could 'Take Sherry off you anytime you know that' (VERY untrue btw) and she was getting quite annoyed at this point and said she had totally changed her opinion of C who she had previously quite liked. He was aggressive with the taxi driver on the way home, and when we got back we played a card game and he repeatedly said how competitive he was and how he'd definitely win...he was just very unpleasant. He stayed over last night, and both yesterday and today he's told me my laptop is 'shit' and I need to get a new one, our TV is shit,my 'phone is 'shit' too and I am such a calm, rational person but I was thinking these things our adequate for our needs, I'm not much into TV or technology and have no desire to have top of the range stuff.

I value friendship a lot, and my other friend is fine and wasn't bothered by him, my partner is a little miffed but okay no real harm done. I guess I am just disappointed, with what should have been a nice evening.
However, C is naturally very shy and I am wondering if 'dutch courage' got the better of him. We all had a few drinks last night but none of us were anything more than somewhere between sober and tipsy. I am not sure whether to forgive and move on or say something to C.

OP posts:
SherryBaby11 · 31/03/2018 22:02

*are not our adequate!

OP posts:
Tistheseason17 · 31/03/2018 22:12

Or Dutch courage showed you what he really thinks? Not a real friend, me thinks!

Pigglesworth · 31/03/2018 22:15

I'd say something - e.g., "You seemed a little off last night, is something wrong?" If he denied it/seemed confused I'd give examples of his behaviour and how it made you feel. I'd proceed from there depending on his reaction (mortified/apologetic vs. dismissive). On the face of it this is negative and condescending behaviour I wouldn't want in a friend. I'd wonder if the usually quite limited/controlled conditions under which you usually interact (most contact via technology, only meeting once a year) may have hidden the fact you're not very compatible as friends anymore?

MsJudgemental · 31/03/2018 22:32

Sounds to me like you’ve moved on and he’s stuck in the teens / early 20s lifestyle and may have MH issues. Reminds me think of certain people from my past who went on to have, sadly, dysfunctional and chaotic lives, usually exacerbated by substance abuse, and alienated from their friends and family. Sounds bleak, I know, but If you want to continue the friendship then be prepared to see him on a more 1-to-1 basis and look after your own emotional health while encouraging him to do the same. Flowers

InspMorse · 31/03/2018 22:47

I'd call him out.
'You didn't seem yourself last night -are you feeling ok?' Followed by ' You were pretty rude, I really didn't like it'.

SherryBaby11 · 31/03/2018 22:57

Thank you all who've replied. It's a bit of a shock to me but you all make sense.

OP posts:
cocopopo · 01/04/2018 00:32

Was he possibly on something other than alcohol ?

Bobbiepin · 01/04/2018 00:38

@cocopopo I was thinking the same. Sounds like he was on coke OP.

Quietlife1979 · 01/04/2018 00:41

Still waters run deep.

Hes a very angry individual and I’d swerve him m future.

KeepServingTheDrinks · 01/04/2018 00:47

In this situation, it sounds like 'C' needs you more than you need 'C'. If this is the case, you can do no wrong.

So call C out on it: "you were rude and out of order last night, because of ( your OP). I expect you to get a grip and not do that again, or next time, we won't ask you along"

PyongyangKipperbang · 01/04/2018 01:12

He's in love with you.

Ok, maybe not but that was my first thought.

Lacucuracha · 01/04/2018 01:26

I would refuse to spend time with him again if he has been drinking.

And if behaves badly without drink, I would still refuse to spend time time with him.

ReanimatedSGB · 01/04/2018 01:40

It sounds like he has some issues. Either drink, drugs, or mental ill health - because he was behaving like an utter dick. You could have a word with him in a day or two about whether he's all right or not but, if he continues to be dickish, just take a step back. He is not your responsibility. You only see him once a year or so. You don't owe him time or attention if he's going to behave badly.

Juiceylucy09 · 01/04/2018 01:41

Red flag. He sounds jealous and spiteful. Some antisocial people won't mix 3 friends it is a crowd.

Iwould limit contact unless he has a good reason and an apology for his behaviour.

ElderflowerWaterIsDelish · 01/04/2018 01:54

You said you meet up once a year, but speak by text/call at least once a week...so the person you remember being friends with as a kid may not be who he is now,

If he has been drinking I'd be likely to blame the drink on his behaviour...could he have a drinking problem?...as others have suggested could he have taken drugs and that affected his behaviour?

Try calling/texting him when he is sober and see what he says about his behaviour

Puffycat · 01/04/2018 02:05

Fuck you hang out with some shite

Fatandfrigid · 01/04/2018 02:08

Sounds like he was on something

Chrys2017 · 01/04/2018 02:41

Coked up.

MOOPied · 01/04/2018 03:23

I’ve had this situation with a “long term friend” who I saw once or twice a year in person?

I think lots of long distance matey emails and texts (in which we felt fairly close intellectually) concealed the fact he was actually, deep down, fairly unpleasant/difficult company IRL?

Nothing explicitly terrible but just gradually revealing himself as more and more needy and a user (not in an overdramatic way but in a subtle way)

and trying to manipulate me so every weekend we spent together I’d be (1) subbing him (2) catering to his every whim

Every time we met up he’d sort of “push the boundaries and my patience” a little further.

Eventually I went NC.

The reality was I hardly knew him. I did note that he seemed to have similar situations with other friends ie they’d just stop wanting to spend time with him after a while?

He’s fairly charming and intelligent and personable IRL so I don’t think he struggles to get invited to stuff?

What summed it up for me was that any time I sent him a (rare) email along the lines of “I’m struggling emotionally” there was no acknowledgment, because it was all about me meeting HIS needs.

Some people are just born users/takers who like to suck the joy out of others.

despite us having similar financial situations, levels of support, etc, he saw me as “owing him” something and resented time

I’m definitely working on being less of a doormat in future! Due to toxic family I tend to cling to bad friendships longer than I should.

Also, the “danger” of socialising with weird aggressive needy people is that you get tainted by association?

So nice normal people get put off socialising with you because they don’t want to get into overdramatic shit with your “long term friend”

kentgirl1 · 01/04/2018 03:38

I've since moved back to live nearer to him.

Why is this??

DarkRoomDarren · 01/04/2018 03:48

Yeah, I reckon coke.

Weezol · 01/04/2018 04:10

He carried on being obnoxious the next day. I'd be pulling back.

Cavender · 01/04/2018 04:51

To be honest if a friend of mine behaved that way it would be the last time I’d ever ask them to spend any time with me.

Rude, manipulative, aggressive and ungrateful all while expecting you to find it.

There’s absolutely no redeeming features that would make that behaviour worthwhile.

daisychain01 · 01/04/2018 04:51

He sounds a deeply unpleasant person and I'm not sure why you'd want someone like that in your circle of friends but then I have a very low threshold for arseholery.

daisychain01 · 01/04/2018 04:52

And I agree, my first thought when reading your OP was drugs.