Oh, you can bet they won't be invited to any out-to-dinner type thing ever again. EVER.

Anne beat me to it.

As much as it is challenging sometimes, my motto is, "You can't be angry with people for exhibiting perfectly predictable behavior."

The fact that they SHOULD be polite...or at least not grossly, ridiculously rude...may be true, but it isn't relevant when there is so much evidence that they are who they are.

Bless my family, they taught me a long time ago that wishing people were better sadly does not make them so.

Along the same lines, I finally had it out with my frat house neighbors over the 4th of July debacle this morning.

They had obviously noticed how stand-offish I have been, since I've always been friendly and chatty with them. But, I was afraid I would say something I would regret.

In the end, I was able to say the important stuff. They may or may not have heard me, but at least I can move on from here.

The offending party hid behind his sister, who I am arguably closer to, thus solidifying my realization that I cannot trust them to not be stupid.

So. Next step is to be in touch with their landlord. No more Ms. Nice Guy...which makes me sad.

Oh, you can bet they won't be invited to any out-to-dinner type thing ever again. EVER.

Man, I wouldn't invite them to ANY anything. If they happen to be invited by someone else to a party/dinner/whatever that you're at, then so be it, but I would not invite them to a damn thing henceforth. Not a dinner, not a bible study, not a yard sale.

That is some straight up bullshit.

I never learned entertaining protocol, dinner parties and such were not part of my youth. Dining in company rather than just family was more than likely a church social, where the kids were segretated in someplace easy to clean until you were a teenager, when the girls became kitchen and wait staff and the boys did heavy lifting. Well, kitchen staff insofar as you were told "Stand there and stir that, then chop these." The ladies of the church did the cooking.

Okay, but if you go out to dinner with friends and run late, you don't just eat their food and then not pay for it, right?

Right, that's standard. Stealing food off people's plates without permission is generally grounds for the back of a teaspoon across the knuckles.

Maybe on the next evite you should add "no freegans."

These are not friends.

Okay, but if you go out to dinner with friends and run late, you don't just eat their food and then not pay for it, right?

If you were raised right. Sadly, so many are not.

My biggest problem with stuff like this used to be suffering in silence, waiting for someone to realize their bad behavior and fix it. Never happened.

Also, as a non-drinker...and a self-employed person in a sea of highly paid professionals...I finally had to put my foot down with my usual supper group around having to subsidize the six margarita pitchers I never touched.

Somehow group behavior seems to just amplify individual's bad behavior.

These are not friends.

Sing it.