Let's Dish: What's the Worst Party Foul You've Witnessed?

February 18, 2009

Recently I attended a dinner party that started at 7:00. The hostess was having a culinary student cook the meal for me and 11 other guests. However, he was totally unprepared and I ended up helping in the kitchen the entire night. He chose a complicated menu that wasn't ready until 11:30! While I've been a witness to every type of party foul from one sided introductions to a lack of utensils, this was by far the worst! Having to wait three and a half hours till dinner is totally unacceptable.

Now that I got that off my chest, I invite you to do the same, readers. I'm sure you've seen plenty of bad behavior and ill etiquette, so do tell: what's the worst dinner party foul you've observed?

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68 Comments

DivaDivine 4 years

Worst dinner party I ever went to was a baby shower last year for a coworkers granddaughter. When my friend and I showed up, we were the only ones that bought food (dessert) and waited hungrily for the guest of honor to arrive. When she didn't show after 2 hours, someone was sent out for chips, soda etc. since the food wouldn't be opened until she came. For roughly 80 people, we had 3 liters of soda and 3 bags of cheez puffs and potato chips to share. When she arrived a whopping 3 hours later, the hostess decided to have her paster say a long prayer and have people give her well wishes first. Finally, it was announced that the food would be served and by the time we made it to the front of the line (we were in the first quarter of the line) the group started buzzing that there was already empty chafing dishes that weren't being refilled. After waiting almost 4 hours to eat, I only got a spoonful of rice and salad before we left in disgust.

DivaDivine 4 years

flyowsley 4 years

So, every year my boyfriend and I have a Super Bowl Party. We usually smoke baby back ribs which is a pretty expensive main dish. We tell everyone a week before hand that it is $10 a rack and they can also take home as much as they want. There is never anything left and no one ever has problems with it and if they did then they just wouldn't come. My boyfriend usually gets up at the crack of dawn to start it and I usually do a really good dip and some kind of soup in the crock pot. Everyone else brings a dish and their own beer. This year people brought potato salads, caesar salad, deviled eggs, homemade ice cream, brownies, pies, etc. except for our one guy friend. He is a wine salesman so he decides like usual to bring three to four open bottles of wine and some ruffle potato chips. He is sick so he is rude the whole party and when he leaves he leaves with extra ribs and takes all the wine and the chips with him without giving us a dime for the ribs. We were all betting on the game and he won a stack of cash so it is not like he did not have it with him and if you are sick just stay at home and don't bring the misery to a party. He was the last to get there and the first to leave. My boyfriend was working on the ribs most of the party and when he was finally finished with everything he wanted to sit down and have a glass of wine that our friend had brought. But no he had already left and took his used wine with him!

sham28 4 years

My cousin and I went to visit a friend out of town that we had spoken to extensively about our itinerary for the visit, because we were excited. She mentioned that she did want to take us out to a nice dinner. When we got the bill at her chosen place, she collected some money from her boyfriend, then looked at me with her eyebrows raised. I went into my wallet and said "I only have thirty dollars," and gave it to her. She added it to her pile without saying thank you, obviously not finding it to be a large enough donation, and repeatedly counted the money out loud. I offered quietly that I would 'pay for the next one' and felt horribly awkward. I was baffled by her behavior and still keep her on my mental list of crappy hostesses.

CaterpillarGirl 4 years

wow most of mine involve my MIL: *At my wedding rehearsal, she told me she had it covered and we were just going to order a bunch of Pizzas and hang out and decorate. I had asked her to have it at the church because my parents were divorced, and my father and mother werent getting along at the time and by having it at the church they could avoid having to really be in the same room together (plus we needed to decorate and no one wanted to travel the hour to her house and back and then decorate till the wee hours of the morning!) . We have the rehearsal and she tells everyone that she is having the dinner AT HER HOUSE, oops last minute change!! so my dad didnt go (he didnt want to sit at the table with my mom and grandmother glaring at him) My mom decided to stay to decorate as did my great aunts and grandmother because they didnt want to be there really late, we went to my MIL house , and she had invited total strangers over...and then there wasnt enough food..... * thanksgiving at the MIL house two years ago, told us it was at 1:00, that she had all the food taken care of, we went for a bike ride that morning, then onto her house at 12:30 we thought 1/2 hour early right? get there...whole house is full halfway with people we dont even know (a reoccuring theme cant you tell?) and she says "you are late" and we say "you said 1:00" and she said "well i changed my mind and tried to call you but no one picked up" there was NO FOOD LEFT. so i said "see you" and we went home and then they told everyone that WE WERE RUDE for leaving....

CaterpillarGirl 4 years

wow most of mine involve my MIL:*At my wedding rehearsal, she told me she had it covered and we were just going to order a bunch of Pizzas and hang out and decorate. I had asked her to have it at the church because my parents were divorced, and my father and mother werent getting along at the time and by having it at the church they could avoid having to really be in the same room together (plus we needed to decorate and no one wanted to travel the hour to her house and back and then decorate till the wee hours of the morning!) . We have the rehearsal and she tells everyone that she is having the dinner AT HER HOUSE, oops last minute change!! so my dad didnt go (he didnt want to sit at the table with my mom and grandmother glaring at him) My mom decided to stay to decorate as did my great aunts and grandmother because they didnt want to be there really late, we went to my MIL house , and she had invited total strangers over...and then there wasnt enough food.....* thanksgiving at the MIL house two years ago, told us it was at 1:00, that she had all the food taken care of, we went for a bike ride that morning, then onto her house at 12:30 we thought 1/2 hour early right? get there...whole house is full halfway with people we dont even know (a reoccuring theme cant you tell?) and she says "you are late" and we say "you said 1:00" and she said "well i changed my mind and tried to call you but no one picked up" there was NO FOOD LEFT. so i said "see you" and we went home and then they told everyone that WE WERE RUDE for leaving....

skigurl 4 years

spectra - i, too, was talking about the casserole and the thanksgiving thing you weren't rude in the leftovers story, but your MIL was kinda over the top

skigurl 4 years

spectra - i, too, was talking about the casserole and the thanksgiving thingyou weren't rude in the leftovers story, but your MIL was kinda over the top

plus_2_kid 4 years

Spectra - you still sound rude: 1) You snub your MIL's casserole? "I don't really eat food like that". Wow. Nice of her to offer you somthing else. It's not her fault if she's not a good cook. 2) Were you invited to you parent's house for thanksgiving? Be grateful to be invited and someone else do all the cooking and stop bitching about the company. I hardly think inviting some people from CHURCH to share THANKSGIVING qualifies as a party foul.

plus_2_kid 4 years

Spectra - you still sound rude:1) You snub your MIL's casserole? "I don't really eat food like that". Wow. Nice of her to offer you somthing else. It's not her fault if she's not a good cook.2) Were you invited to you parent's house for thanksgiving? Be grateful to be invited and someone else do all the cooking and stop bitching about the company. I hardly think inviting some people from CHURCH to share THANKSGIVING qualifies as a party foul.

Michelann 4 years

Spectra, I apologize, I got the impression from your story that everybody had already left

Spectra 4 years

@Michaelann and skigurl--I wasn't upset that my mother in law wanted to save the leftover food, I was just embarrassed at how she dealt with it. If she had been a little more discreet about it, it would've been fine. It was just that we were enjoying a nice, formal dinner and my mother in law was making a huge scene (she didn't want to risk the caterers throwing ANYTHING out early). Trust me, I was trying to handle everything with as much poise as I could. I wouldn't have wanted the food to go to waste, either, but there was a fridge there...she could have asked them quietly to put the leftovers in the fridge and she could have gotten them later on after everyone had left.

aimeeb 4 years

Hmmm can't say I have one...

aimeeb 4 years

Hmmm can't say I have one...

jwilliams10 4 years

My husband and I threw a Christmas party for a church group. We had it catered plus I made a few things. It was supposed to be a really nice evening (with no kids around for once)! We were both looking forward to getting to know some of the people better because we were fairly new to the group, etc. Well, one of the couples showed up with their karaoke machine, walked themselves over to our television, helped themselves to hooking it up and starting doing karaoke. They kept pulling people into it to do songs before and after dinner. I was furious! At one point I even said that this party was supposed to be so we could get to know people better...not listen to someone mangle "Brown-Eyed Girl". To no avail...the horror continued.

missbanana 4 years

the only story i have was when my boyfriends "friend" had a "party" which usually consists of poker game, bring your own booze, theres no food to feed you kinda thing.. which is fine, but the funny part was when my bf brought booze for himself and the "host" because i dont drink, and that night i suddenly choked on my gum, so i was coughing away and my bf goes to his friend and asks if he could grab a drink for me because i was choking and i dont drink alcohol and i was driving so i didnt want to, so his friend says ya, and my bf grabs a juice box out of the fridge and his friend freaks out because thats his kids juice box! my bf's like "theres a dozen!" and his friend is like still freaking out and im here coughing to my death, and im like.. could you just get me tap water? and my bf did, and he was more mad than i was about it that he wanted to leave afterwards.. errrr..

skigurl 4 years

i agree that Spectra's stories always seem like she's the rude one ...

Smacks83 4 years

Foxie & Michelann, I was being restrained. My bf and two friends had to rush me into another room to cool off. Trust me it was not easy not to knock this guy in the adam's apple till it crunched. I think it was evil (not even rude, just evil). Maybe I should have had you two in my corner,lol. And Wild, I agree completly. I think he tried to explain to my friend (when she was breaking up with him 10 minutes later) that he thinks veggies are just prissy and whiney and blah blah blah and don't do it for any real reason. I found out that last part bout a week later. What the hell is a "real" reason? Religious isn't the only real reason. I swear if I ever saw that guy again I will end up on the 11pm news.

Smacks83 4 years

Foxie & Michelann, I was being restrained. My bf and two friends had to rush me into another room to cool off. Trust me it was not easy not to knock this guy in the adam's apple till it crunched. I think it was evil (not even rude, just evil). Maybe I should have had you two in my corner,lol.And Wild, I agree completly. I think he tried to explain to my friend (when she was breaking up with him 10 minutes later) that he thinks veggies are just prissy and whiney and blah blah blah and don't do it for any real reason. I found out that last part bout a week later. What the hell is a "real" reason? Religious isn't the only real reason. I swear if I ever saw that guy again I will end up on the 11pm news.

marie-lee 4 years

I've have an aunt who is a fabulous cook and loves to entertain. I'll always ask what she wants me to bring sometimes a bottle of wine, or nibbles or sweets. After making some chocolate truffles for a family Christmas party, which all the guests loved, I make sure if I am asked to prepare something it isn't too good. She reacts badly if other guests ask for recipes or say they've enjoyed what I've bought.

Wild Magelet 4 years

I agree with Foxie too; I would have been SO furious! What a person chooses to eat or not eat is their own business, and it's just common courtesy to respect that. I would never think it was a "joke" to trick someone with religious beliefs into eating pork, for instance, and I don't believe there's any difference in not eating meat for ethical reasons and not eating a food for religious reasons. Besides, what if Smacks had been a vegetarian because she was allergic to meat?

Michelann 4 years

Foxie, I was thinking the same thing. It must have taken a lot of will power not to slap a guy who thinks it's funny to serve meat to a vegetarian. Spectra, it seems like you're the one being rude in your stories. It is not 'cheap' to save leftover food. To simply throw it away would be wasteful. You sound ungrateful.

Michelann 4 years

RunninginBoston 4 years

I must confess, I am a party fouler--especially when it comes to my husband's family or his friends. They always give my husband the information about the party, which he promptly forgets and never tells me. So, we end up in awkward situations like coming in jeans to a nice dinner or empty handed to a potluck. So embarrassing!

doogirl 4 years

Last month my family and I went over to our good friends' house for dinner. Another friend of mine and I both ended up with food poisoning! Truly the worst party foul ever! Also, at my sister's first wedding reception, they ran out of food. It had been catered by a family friend, and three tables weren't able to eat. At my sister's second wedding reception (this one she's still married to!), it was at her in-laws house, and for 80 people there was one deli tray of meat, one of cheese, and a block of cream cheese with caramel and chopped walnuts served with apple slices. Again, not enough food! And on 12 pack of beer. For 80 people! My husband and I stopped at Taco Bell on our way home! Running out of food is a major NO-NO!!!

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