Day out friends..they left to go to diff restaurant on their own

[TFICoffeetime]

Met up with close friends yesterday. We live opposite sides country. We picked scenic village, countryside & meal at a nice country inn.
We were 40 mins late (it's 2.5 hrs for us) 1 hour drive for us & got caught in traffic then stopped once to let DD go to the toilet & stretched dogs legs so she'd wee. All communicated with friends. We arrived, had lovely stroll, river swim and meal at nice country inn with great views. They had booked the meal...we thought lovely place. But when we got there they said they had to leave at 5.30 to go to another restaurant (just them and child). They are starters and went. They said they hadn't realised this place was a fave restaurant & was close to their home. (So why go today). So we were left. It felt v awkward & like punishment for being late maybe. It had been lovely day and ended on weird vibes.
We finished our meal on own then went to another beautiful inn for pudding. After this I feel perplexed. AIBU to think their actions rude & far ruder than been late. We weren't intentionally late & just how it goes with traffic & teenagers.
I don't understand why we couldn't enjoy the meal together as planned. They booked it on the day (it felt like because we were late). We avoided confrontation but left sour note. Our children were perplexed. Just odd & awkward. This friend doesn't like confrontation even if it's "we were a bit sad you changed to go elsewhere" so she wouldn't discuss if I did. But I'm left feeling am I wrong. I just can't see myself having issues if they had longer to drive and was late & I would not change plans on a meal that was meant to be spent together. Xxx

I do think this was a crucial detail. Because it shows it probably was nothing to do with the OP.

From their answer, They’re pissed off.
Yes I suspect that’s because you were late.
But they don’t want the confrontation.

Best guess?
If you were as dismissive when you rung them as you have been in your OP, they assumed you just didn’t care about being late.

If they were annoyed why spend three happy hours with them walking and swimming.
They were not late for the meal

"should of". Should HAVE. Explains why you didn't actually read that they were diverted from the motorway though...

No need.

That would have been a blessing by the sounds of it.

1. Read the thread.
2. You’re projecting.
3. Doubtful you know much about politeness.

Shame there isnt these emojis on here 🤬🤬👊🏻👊🏻

It's not that the other family couldn't afford the restaurant - THEY BOOKED IT.

And no-one is going to convince me that someone being late (while travelling much further than you, and keeping you informed) warrants this behaviour. If they had a problem with the lateness, they had all afternoon to say so.

Op your posts make perfect sense to me!
Your friends sound very rude.

I suspect them leaving early was nothing to do with you being late. They have double booked themselves and had other people to meet.
There are no other reasons to have two dinner bookings in different restaurants for the same night.

I wouldn't be arranging to meet them again in a hurry.

Goodness me. You are very rude and spiteful. Personal attacks aren't allowed on here.

It's pretty funny that many of the people being really nasty to the OP, particularly about her posting style (which is due to her dyslexia) have really poor spelling and grammar themselves. Obviously, they have absolutely no self awareness.

And there are lots of us who found the OP's post perfectly easy to understand. Which rather suggests it's an issue with those posters reading comprehension.

And your next message “Shame there isnt these emojis on here 🤬🤬👊🏻👊🏻”

You posted some really awful comments here yesterday (?), really bad ones. You yourself used the fist punch emoji repeatedly to one poster.

Please don’t then turn it around and get angry for people doing what you did.

Nutshell.

And yet, your posts have frequently been deleted on this thread.

“ . . . you mentioned a dog with you and it sounded like they were a couple with a child. Maybe they don't like eating with a dog around? A guess but it's another option to add to the possible why they didn't eat with you. Personally I don't like eating with a dog next to me.”

OP asked the friend if they wanted them to bring the dog or leave her at OP’s sister's house. The friend said their daughter wanted the dog to come.

My guess is that the other family had double booked for dinner and were embarrassed to tell you, so spent the afternoon as planned then tried to pretend that cutting the dinner short didn't matter because they did not want to explain that they were meeting other people for dinner elsewhere. I am speculating but my money is on the DH set up the other meal without consulting with DW and she refused to smooth it over with you since it wasn't her mess - and he avoided it.

That scenario might tell you more about the way my mind works than what actually happened but it does make it all make sense.

I can’t read all of these comments, they’re making me mad at how rigid & intolerable of u forseen circumstances people are. I really don’t like lateness but most of the time you can discern who of the people in your life are disrespectful & always late & it doesn’t sound like you are one of them if this is the first time you’ve been late for a meet with this friend. I often leave early etc to make sure I’m not late but when you’re 2 & a half hours away you can’t predict traffic. If there’s an accident you can do absolutely nothing about. I don’t think 40 mins late is that bad considering how far you had to come & you had to probably weave your way off the motorway through some crappy country roads to get back to your route. I once drove to Birmingham from Manchester to meet someone & it took me 8 hours to do a 2h drive - motorway at an absolute standstill, completely out of my control! can’t understand why no one has any empathy!! It’s happened to us all at some point or another & I'm a serial early comer!
This family were completely weird & rude & I’m
not surprised you were dumbfounded & didn’t say anything at the time. What they did makes no sense other than to be passive aggressive arseholes. I’m also fed up of people saying that a teenager should be able to “hold it”! if you were a teacher denying someone toilet privileges there would be uproar! if you need the bathroom, then you need the bathroom at whatever age! You stopped & quickly killed two birds with one stone making sure the dog was relieved too. I don’t understand what people expect here 40 mins is fuck all when you’re driving that far. I wouldn’t be making any other plans if you can’t have a frank conversation with your friend though… all that way for them to piss off early with no warning!? No thanks! How awkward!!

This thread has really gone off track because the OP is blaming herself for what happened because she was late, but that really doesn't seem to have anything to do with it.

Here’s what it sounds like happened: the other couple booked a restaurant, went there with the OP and her family, ordered and ate a starter, and then announced, “We don’t like this place as much as this other restaurant,” and just left to go to the other restaurant.

That’s completely batshit behaviour - surely everyone can agree on that!?

It's almost as if there's a competition going on in this thread to see who can make the most ridiculous nasty and unpleasant comments about the OP, who sounds to me like a perfectly reasonable and pleasant person, unlike several of the commenters...

Absolutely agree ❤️

I need the toilet.

FYI

Have you asked them today what happened OP?