Friend price checked my DH's birthday gift to me, in my face

[BigBird100]

A girlfriend googled the price of my DH's birthday gift to me (piece of tech) on the day I received it. She asked me what I received and I mentiined it over coffee and was beyond mortified she googled it and priced it. Who does that?

She’s tacky and rude. I hope you told her so.

I know one of these. I never tell her about any gifts or purchases anymore because she not only price checks them she buys one too.

Console yourself with the thought OP: "There's always one. There's always one."

No, I never mention gifts I receive from DH or anybody else. As an adult I find it crass to probe about other people's birthday gifts and opt to make a cursory remark "did you enjoy your birthday?" My girlfriend and I are both well paid career women who can afford to buy nice things for ourselves.

I thought it unacceptably rude for this friend to ask me what DH had bought me (a high end mobile phone but bear in mind he works in that industry and has access to tech pre release) then proceed to price check the item on her ipad in front of me - and her teenage son - in a cafe and to squeal that is expensive.

She had no interest in buying a similar item and was just nosy. Have we lost all sense of propriety these days that we would judge people's belongings in front of their faces?

I wouldn't care if someone knew how much a phone I had cost. It's a phone not a bespoke piece of jewellery. If she thought it's expensive maybe it is for her. She's not 'judging' you. She's commenting on the price of a widely used piece of tech that everyone owns a version of.

Isn't this the equivalent of the rudies who, if ever they clocked you had something new, their immediate response was "ooh new trousers, how much?" MIL used to do it until I got wiser and started responding with "I paid what I thought it was worth and it's irrelevant to you, as I paid for it with my money not your son's

Well, she doesn't sound much like your friend, to be honest !

None of that is normal unless your general conversation is unbelievably banal.

I got a nice necklace one year as one of my Christmas gifts from my parents. They always give me a few hundred quid and a few small token gifts to unwrap.

I was chatting with friends about what we got for Christmas a few days later, and after they'd mentioned expensive perfumes/accessories (nice, but in the under £100 total range), they asked me. I said, "oh, some cash, this, that, and this necklace".

M friend said with a bit of a smirk, "oh yes, I've got that one, it's, erm, haha, very expensive".

Cheeky mare! I knew it wasn't expensive and didn't care. I didn't mention the figure I got in cash, but it was beyond naff to act like I had been short-changed because they got me something cheap but very pretty.

That is so rude.

Why? Its not an offensive question.

Is your husband usually a tight wad when it comes to gifting you and your friend was merely pointing out how extravagant this particular gift was in comparison to the previous ones?

I agree with this.

I'd wish someone Happy Birthday and possibly ask if they were doing anything special to celebrate. But I would never ask what gifts they got.

Similarly I would never ask anyone what they got for Christmas and I think it's really weird when people ask me and even more weird when they reel off,unasked , what presents they got.

You've overreacted to the whole thing. Crass, unacceptably rude, lost all sense of propriety, mortified. Does your fainting couch get a lot of action?

Brilliant 😁

Have we lost all sense of propriety these days that we would judge people's belongings in front of their faces?

Where does the “we” come into it. Reminder OP: this was just YOUR friend

Being on MN for many years, I have learnt that some people seem to be incredibly nosy and consider that a virtue so that sort of thing doesn’t surprise me

Narcissistic exDP did exactly that all the time. He had a major chip on his shoulder about other people having more money him and having stuff that he didn’t have.

She's weird and lacks manners.

I would have waited until i was home 😅

I mean…the beauty of friends over family is that you get to choose your friends. You’re choosing to be friends with her, OP.

Not rude to ask what you got

thats basic friendship surely small talk

But is rude to google it and say to you it’s costly

This ‘friend’ is way too interested in other people’s business. Worryingly so.

In future I’d be keeping my cards closer to my chest!

Maybe it was her idea of a compliment? It would have been bad if she'd shrieked "OMG what a cheapskate!"

Really? I must be weird then. I will always ask a friend if I see them on their b'day if they were given a nice prezzie. Then they can tell me what it is if they want (they always do).

Couldn't be arsed to google the price of anything though.