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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AITA for not helping a friend?

158 replies

RWat378 · 18/11/2025 17:47

I need to know if I’ve been unreasonable with my best friend…. 3 weeks ago, my she called me at 10pm. I don’t usually pick up at that time but her dad has been quite poorly so I was concerned something had happened. She asked if I was in bed and I said yes. She then said there was a big spider in her bathroom and asked if I would come and get it out of the house for her. We’ve been friends for 20 years and I’ve gone every time she’s asked me previously, however, my toddler had been poorly for a few days and me and my husband had barely slept. I get up at 5.30am for work, and she lives a 15 minute drive away, so it’s likely it would have been 45 minute round trip and I wouldn’t get back until around 11pm. I asked where her cats were (they’ve been handy at getting spiders for her the last couple of years) and she said “they’ve gone to bed for the night”. I asked her to get the cats out of bed to try and get the spider, if that didn’t work and she was still desperate, to call me back and I would go over. I didn’t hear anything else that night.

I messaged her the next day to ask how she got on but she sent a “fine” response. I messaged her again a few days later and she said she was really upset with me for “fucking her off” and also said “I’ve never felt so alone in that moment”. I apologised and explained to her why I was so tired that night, so asked her try something else before getting me out of be, but she didn’t want to hear it and stopped responding to my messages. 3 weeks later, she still hasn’t been in touch. I’ve tried to see things from her POV but I guess I just don’t understand how she’s fallen out with me over this! I hate the silent treatment and find it cruel and manipulative but now I’m wondering if I really have been unreasonable?

OP posts:
Oohh · 18/11/2025 17:48

Yanbu she is being ridiculous

WhatNoRaisins · 18/11/2025 17:49

I'm no fan of spiders but I'd never do that to a friend at night.

IsntItDarkOut · 18/11/2025 17:50

I am terrified of spiders, always have been. I have many times had to deal with them and take them out of the house (and down the road so they don’t come back in). It’s awful but it’s one of those things as an adult you have to get over.
If I was really desperate I would Hoover it up. I’d never ask anyone to drive at night to deal with one.

Talltreesbythelake · 18/11/2025 17:50

Has she ever got out of a warm bed to do you a favour?

QueenClinomania · 18/11/2025 17:51

Utterly ridiculous.
Don't entertain this ridiculousness.
Leave her to her tantrum.
When she stops sulking send her a link to spider catchers on amazon.

BillieWiper · 18/11/2025 17:51

It's a spider. Presuming you're in the UK they can't hurt you in any way. Of course you shouldn't travel miles in the middle of the night to remove it. I'd just catch it in a glass and release it, or you could spray bug spray at it. Not very nice but if you're scared at least that way you could be at a distance.

Ridiculous that she could expect that of you.

WrylyAmused · 18/11/2025 17:53

You would have been an asshole if she'd had really bad news about her dad and you wouldn't go over.

For a spider? 100% she's the asshole. And as an adult, it's time she learned to deal with them herself. And also time she learned to deal with her emotions better than a toddler would.

RWat378 · 18/11/2025 17:56

Talltreesbythelake · 18/11/2025 17:50

Has she ever got out of a warm bed to do you a favour?

Not that I can recall. She’s absolutely been there for me over the years in different situations but I’ve never asked her to get out of bed for anything.

OP posts:
Pineapplewaves · 18/11/2025 17:57

Your friend is being ridiculous - expecting you to get out of bed in the night because she’s not willing to wake up her cats! Tell her to go and buy a spider catcher so she doesn’t need to call next time.

In fact, for Christmas buy her a spider catcher for every room in her house!

Arregaithel · 18/11/2025 18:01

@RWat378 Christmas is coming

CornishTiger · 18/11/2025 18:02

What on earth did I just read?

Seriously? Come on @RWat378 you know you aren’t being unreasonable. Let her sulk and never catch a spider again for her!

Keepthecat · 18/11/2025 18:13

A SPIDER??? What a tit.

DoYouReally · 18/11/2025 18:14

She is being absolutely ridiculous.

She wasn't alone anyway, she has the spider to keep her company! Although pointing that out won't be helpful!

You aren't responsible for her inability to deal with adult situations. I would text her "saying sorry you feel that way but if my inability to be there to deal with a spider if making you feel like this, you really need to get some professional help with the fear of spiders. I'm a good friend and help when I can but I can't always be there"

Douchey · 18/11/2025 18:19

Tell your friend she is a grown woman and she needs to start acting like one. Jesus!

Ddakji · 18/11/2025 18:20

She sounds ridiculous.

NovemberRedHolly · 18/11/2025 18:21

She’s probably taken it to heart if her partner has been unwell and she felt she had nobody to help but I still think she is unreasonable to ask.

TomatoSandwiches · 18/11/2025 18:23

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

TomatoSandwiches · 18/11/2025 18:23

She's a bloody loon and like fuck would I have EVER left my house in any circumstances let alone when already in bed have gone to her house to get rid of a spider.

Think yourself lucky she's done the hard work for you and has taken herself off.

Ddakji · 18/11/2025 18:26

TomatoSandwiches · 18/11/2025 18:23

She's a bloody loon and like fuck would I have EVER left my house in any circumstances let alone when already in bed have gone to her house to get rid of a spider.

Think yourself lucky she's done the hard work for you and has taken herself off.

So true you had to say it twice 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

ThejoyofNC · 18/11/2025 18:29

What a joke. I can't believe you've actually done this in the past. Hasn't she got a hoover?

Arlanymor · 18/11/2025 18:31

I totally get phobias, but adults have to find mechanisms to cope with them so that they don't impinge on other people. She is massively unreasonable and immature to (a) ask you in the first place and (b) to give you abusive silent treatment because you didn't go and do something that she could have dealt with herself. I honestly don't believe some of the stuff that I read on here - is she always so entitled and self-centred?

Catsknowbest · 18/11/2025 18:32

She's being absolutely ridiculous and completely unreasonable.

magpie234 · 18/11/2025 18:33

This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read and to be blunt I would have zero interest in entertaining her presence in my life.

Arlanymor · 18/11/2025 18:33

PS. If she's “never felt so alone in that moment” then she has lived a charmed life. It's bollocks of course, she has definitely felt more alone in the past... and she'll be feeling a lot more lonely soon if she emotionally manipulates her friends like this.

Smartiepants79 · 18/11/2025 18:33

What have I just read?? Your best friend, of 20 years, is pissed off with you be sure you didn’t want to get out of bed and do a 45 minute round trip to sort out a spider. I wouldn’t even get out of bed and walk next door for that. She is being beyond ridiculous and this nonsense would have me seriously questioning if she is in fact a friend at all.
Would she have done the same for you?