Hahaha! You missed my rant in the '4 Words Only' thread.
The dinner party is a semi-regular, rotating event with a different person hosting each time. We get together, on average, every other month so it's usually 14 months or so before it's someone's turn again (4 couples, 3 singles).
Back in February, the person hosting, invited a new couple he works with and they , unfortunately, weren't very well liked- very abrasive personalities, rude, constantly fought with each other- so they weren't invited again.
They showed up last night, out of the blue. Not positive how they found out, but I've got a pretty good idea.
Anyway, these dinner parties are for the adults only. We all found sitters for the night but they showed up, uninvited, with two kids in tow (a 4 and 6 year old).
To condense the evening, I'll just hit the high points- the kids screamed and chased each other all evening. The parents just yelled profanity at them instead of actually stopping them. One couple, dear friends of ours, left before dinner. The kids threw food at each other and other guests. They spilled pop all over the place. The woman complained constantly. The guy disagreed with every opinion discussed ('Now there, boy, I'm gonna tell you why you're wrong...' That's an actual quote and he said it more than once)
The dinner parties usually break up around midnight or so, but all the other guests were gone before ten, except this couple. They wouldn't freaking leave.
Just before 11, my wife started yawning and went up to bed saying, 'You need to come up soon. We've got an early morning tomorrow.' We didn't, but she was hoping they would take the hint. They didn't.
I tried to make a big show of cleaning up hoping that would work. Nope. He just sat there channel surfing on TV with his feet up on the couch. Meanwhile, his kids were digging in drawers and cupboards, throwing things on the floor. His wife walked around the house pointing out everything she would have done differently in decorating.
Cleaning, I picked up his car keys and took them over to him- still didn't take the hint. Finally, at 11:30, I told them they needed to leave. To be honest, I think I said, 'Ok. It's time to get out.'
As I was 'walking' them out, he asked when the next dinner was.
I just shut the door in his face.
I know all about the dangers of expectations, especially when other people are involved, but we all look forward to these evenings. A lot of money was spent, a lot of preparations made, a lot of work done and to have it ruined by a couple of clods is very disappointing.
I feel bad for our friends whose night was ruined.
I'm usually pretty good at letting go of my anger, but it took hours for me to calm down and, truthfully, I'm still upset.
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