To find my friends blister excuse pathetic?

[Wintermoons]

Booked tickets for an expensive show a year ago with my friend and her partner. Show is in the city we both live in, roughly 15 min drive / 40 mins public transport to get to venue. Both spoke of our excitement in the lead up, including on the day where we messaged throughout the day about the evening ahead.

40 mins before the show was starting, friend messages saying she cannot come as she has blisters on her feet from new boots she’s been wearing all day and cannot walk. She did not mention her feet at any point throughout the day when we were messaging continuously. The event was seated so would involve no walking once there, plus she lives with her partner who would be the one driving.

Friend suggested l take my partner instead, however it was his first day in his new job which was a commute (which she knows) plus she only gave me 40 minutes notice! My partner was still at work when she messaged. Plus the show isn’t my partners ‘thing’.

AIBU to think my friends excuse is a bit pathetic? I never cancel plans if I can help it, in this situation I’d put on a plaster, thick socks, garner some resilience and enjoy the night I had been looking forward to with a friend for a year!

I would go all out on the concern - oh they must be absolutely awful, I bet you're bleeding. Do you think they're infected? You're going to the doctors right??

That way, when she says "oh it's not that bad" you can drop "so why did you cancel last minute?"

If she was excited about it beforehand, I think you have to assume she genuinely can't make it. Blisters can go from not very much to agony in an instant if the skin rubs off and she may not have any shoes that will accommodate them, with or without thick socks.

She obviously did not want to come. I'd be annoyed.

40mins before the show?! That's is bang out of order in my opinion. Just pop a few plasters and a pair of trainers on . Sounds like the world's worst excuse, for whatever reason, not to go.

What an excuse, absolutely pathetic. Hope you have gone to see the show and enjoy it.

She couldn't even make up a good excuse that's poor

Is she normally flaky? That is really flaky.

I'd of at least tempted fate with a vomit excuse......

Crap excuse. Blisters can hurt but you suck it up rather than let a friend down with 40 minutes notice! I would be pissed and have to say something. Its not friendship ending and i guess if shes never been flaky before you could cut her some slack... but really poor form

Totally pathetic. Put on a pair of Crocs/sandals and just get on with it!

I have times when I only noticed blisters were very bad when I've taken my shoes off and then noticed the pain/skin peeling off etc. If that really was the case, she could have worn crocs or flip flops and just quickly got to her seat!
I too would be dubious, and would want evidence- not that I would really want to see blistered feet! 😬

Thats a late notification, less than an hour. I hope she didn’t ask you for a refund.

I would have agreed in the past, however I absolutely shredded my feet last summer in a pair of new heels and quite honestly was in agony for days. I wore them at a wedding for less than an hour and my feet were cut to ribbons and completely raw. Once I took them off, the raw patches dried and then the skin kind of cracked open whenever I would walk. I was limping for the best part of a week and avoided walking whenever I could help it. It wasn't just like a normal blister where you could pop a plaster on and carry on like normal. So if she's experiencing similar then I sympathise with her. She'll be in a lot of pain.

I’ve managed to rub blisters on the soles of my feet (more than once 🤦‍♀️) but it’s always been possible to walk ‘through the pain’ if I needed to.

It’s when you stop walking that the pain starts ime- being uber generous maybe they really hurt when she was sat down, so she was worried she would’ve been complaining/whinging at you during the show?

Probably too late now but I’d go by myself if I were you- as a regular lone theatre go-er I’ve very rarely noticed anyone noticing me

I thought it could be more likely that she’d had some sort of argument with her partner upon returning home, as she was messaging me all day at work seemingly excited about the evening ahead. Then suddenly cancelled an hour or so after getting home. She’d previously mentioned ‘tension’ in her relationship but isn’t very open and had shut that topic of conversation down since. I would have appreciated some honesty if this were the case rather than a questionable last minute excuse, but lesson learned- I won’t be making non-casual plans with this friend again!

That's not a great excuse! 40 mins before the show is awful too. I think in her ill-fitting shoes, I'd have just gone to the show but made it clear I couldn't do any walking around after (ie no bar crawl or whatever)

Did you go anyway?

I think I would assume that something happened with her partner and she feels to embarrassed or vulnerable or possibly even threatened to tell you. And I would keep an eye out.

Or it could have been blisters.

Or some flakiness.

You’re definitely onto something here about it being to do with her partner. This has nothing to do with blisters. She needs to be a bit more inventive with her excuses, or just tell the truth!

Awful behaviour. I think this would change our friendship forever if it was my friend. I would lose the respect I have for her since she has none for me to let me down in this way ... and so close to the event aswell. Out of.order

Blisters sounds pathetic, but as someone who rarely gives in to aches/pains/illness I did once have a blister that would have probably stopped me going out again that evening. I'd played a tennis match and was aware that it was sore, but didn't think about stopping.

I didn't realise how bad it was until I took my shoe and sock off and it was the entire back of my foot. What had happened was I'd got some sand trapped between the sock and my foot and it had rubbed it off like sandpaper.

After taking my shoe off my foot swelled up and I couldn't have got my shoe back on even if I'd wanted to.

I’d be pretty concerned about her relationship based on what you’ve said here. Sounds like possible DV. She was excited, now she’s suddenly not able to go, she’s mentioned tension… try to swallow your disappointment and maybe just ask her if everything is ok.

I feel like all those debating whether blisters can be that bad are missing the point a bit. She almost certainly didn’t have a blister.

Yeah that's a shit excuse. I probably wouldn't drop her just yet if you mention tension in her relationship. I know I've previously pulled out of stuff last minute and made up excuses when actually it was a controlling partner making me feel I couldn't go. It absolutely doesn't make it ok for her to cancel your plans like that but she might need a friend.

I had plans to go abroad with a close friend. She texted me a couple of hours before I was about to leave for the airport to say she had car trouble and couldn't come. I didn't know what to do so I went on my own and had a lovely time. I hope you still went to the show.

If I was making up an excuse to get out of something, for whatever reason, it wouldn’t be blisters. It would be either sickness or diarrhoea. No one questions that and everyone knows you can’t go out.

I had shocking blisters from some new shoes last year. Long story but they were massive. Easily an inch high by two inches wide of completely raw flesh. I still had to go to work the next day though. Plasters, bandages and thick socks did the trick. Hurt like a bastard but what can you do.

Blisters ? Oh dear, what an excuse that is. Nothing like .. I’m vomitting or have a temp ? That’s weird op