A Pregnant Woman Ruined My Birthday Party, but I Got My Revenge

My birthday was yesterday and my husband invited his best friend, Matt, and his best friend’s pregnant girlfriend, Jane, out for a BBQ. They live 2 houses down from us. It was only us, our 3 children, and them (along with their 3 kids).

I spent about $90 on hamburgers and hotdogs. Matt also showed up with 2 lbs of meat for hamburgers. While the guys cooked, I went swimming with all the kids in our pond. Jane sat near the guys on her phone.

Around 5:30 the guys called the kids over for food. My middle child (9) and I weren’t hungry yet, so we kept swimming. We spent a good 40+ extra minutes in the water on our tubes. I wasn’t paying any attention to anything that was going on near the grill.

Around 6:15, my husband said that he was going to make a store run, so I told my son that we should probably go eat now. My husband and Matt were gone by the time we got up to the grill, and so was Jane. Well, when we got up to the grill, the food was gone — all of it.

I called my husband and asked him where all the food was, and he said that it should be on the grill. I told him that everything was gone. There was a long pause before he said, “Jane asked if she could take some for leftovers, but I didn’t think she would take all of it.” He then told me there were at least 8 burgers and 10 hotdogs left, as well as macaroni salad, when he left for the store 10 minutes prior.

I told him to call Matt and see where all the food was. He did. He then called me back and said that Matt claimed Jane only took “a few” and that they had already been eaten. But my oldest son (13) straight up told me that he saw Jane walk off our property carrying the entire dish (one of those extra large tin foil BBQ dishes).

Anyway, I was pissed at this point. Neither I nor my son had eaten anything. My husband was also irritated, but he just grabbed for my son and me something from the store instead of making a huge fuss. I didn’t really blame him (both he and Matt work together, so it is what it is).

Anyway, much to my surprise, Jane and her kids came back over 45 minutes later and asked if they could have some of my cake. I told Jane that her kids could, but she couldn’t. She asked why, and I said, “I’m pretty sure you’ve eaten plenty, considering you took off with my entire BBQ dinner before my son and I could eat anything.”

She tried arguing that my husband told her she could have it, that “half of it was hers” (because they brought 2 lbs of hamburger meat) and she “didn’t realize” my kid and I hadn’t eaten (she was beside the grill the entire time). I just shrugged my shoulders and walked away. She told her kids, “Let’s go,” and they left without cake. At this point, I felt like maybe I’d been a jerk. No one has said anything since, but I know there’s tension.

• “If the party is still going on, there aren’t leftovers yet, it’s just food. Why would she leave and then come back? That’s just weird.” cassowary32 / Reddit
• “She left on purpose to take the food home. She felt like it was theirs, and she was still hungry and didn’t want to keep eating in front of everyone. That’s a lot of food and selfish to not leave anything for your hosts.” RavenLunatyk / Reddit
• “It’s not even considered ’leftovers’ until everyone has eaten. So really, she just took all the food.” LadyBug_0570 / Reddit

• “I wouldn’t even have a second burger/hotdog or a second food item full stop until everyone else has had their first serving.” ridik_ulass / Reddit
• “People see ’free food’ and think they can just take what they want.” Gallifrey912 / Reddit
• “She knew she was stealing all the food and came back after cake.” Heavy-Quail-7295 / Reddit

• “2 pounds of meat for 5 people and then has the audacity to say half was hers.” unotruejen / Reddit
• “She used your party as an opportunity to feed her family the next day.” cheemzpleamz / Reddit
• “I don’t buy the ’I thought you’d eaten’ line. Even if she really didn’t notice at the moment, it would not have been that hard to put 2+2 together from the number of leftovers and the fact that you and your son were swimming.” hard_tyrant_dinosaur / Reddit