Well, I have been wrestling with myself on whether I should be writing it or not but here it goes. It may be a long read as its not just the dinner but a weird overnight stay we had at a (then) friend’s place.

It’s a long read so be patient. Would love to hear your opinions afterwards.

This was quite a few years ago (10+ to be precise) and our daughter was a few months old. We were living in a different country than our own hence didn’t own a car either so commuting with our little one was a challenge.

We were pretty good friends with a couple we had met earlier and had quite a few overnight stays with them over the past year (all at our house as it was tricky for us to travel without a car with my wife’s pregnancy and then with our little daughter).

However, this one time they really insisted on us coming to their place for an overnight stay. We were hesitant as commute to their place meant taking 3–4 modes of public transport with a pram to boot (Taking a cab would have set us back by 100+ GBP, something we could ill afford). Ultimately, in the face of their insistence, we agreed.

So we made the way to their place (2 train rides and 2 bus rides away) and for good measure carried a gift with us as well (small box of chocolates and a bottle of wine). Reaching their place they were polite but distracted. Anyway, no major alarm bells. However, it soon became more than an hour of waiting and some trivial conversation and we were not even offered water so we started feeling a bit unwelcome. At that time a bell rang and we realized they had invited another couple to their house as well. Those people arrived pretty late and as soon as they arrived our hosts and the new guests started talking in their local language (which we did not understand) and were conveniently ignoring us.

Finally they came up with a plate of potato snacks which looked like this:

For six adults it was six pieces. We assumed it was for starters and had one (it’s pretty small). We were ravenously hungry by that time and had one each. However it turned out that it was all they had for dinner! Trying to make out from their conversation (in a foreign language of course) it seemed they were light eaters and their guests had had something before coming there.

It keeps getting better. After this ‘dinner’ the host handed out a beer can to each one of us. My wife, being a nursing mother at the time couldn’t have it so was left at the mercy of water. All of this time the four of them were having conversation and laughs in their own language and we were left wondering what was going on.

Eventually, around 11 PM we lost all hope for any more food and asked where we were to sleep. We were shown a small bedroom with a really small bed with metal slats and the thinnest mattress imaginable. It was so uncomfortable that we slept on the floor (as the metal slats were digging badly in our backs).

Next morning we were up early (easy as we had hardly slept the night :)). For breakfast they had just a bowl of lasagna prepared. My wife was busy feeding our daughter and by the time she came to the table the whole table was cleaned up and the lasagna was gone! I could see she was getting livid by now but we still kept our cool. I opened up their fridge and took out some bread and butter and toasted it for her.

Shortly, the host announced they were taking all of us out (their other guests had also stayed overnight) for lunch. Yay! Finally some food in sight. The place we walked to was a local and incredibly cheap eatery (no offence to that guys, the food was always amazing there) and after we all had eaten the tab came pretty low (around 25 GBP for all of us).

Now here is the best part. As soon as the host received the bill he brusquely announced: “Guys it will be 8.5 bucks per family and it will be good if we can settle it right now”. Whoa! We were taken aback by his tone and at that point we almost snapped. Still, maintaining my composure I put 10 bucks on the tabla and said plainly “That’s our share. Don’t bother with the change. We shall be heading off now”. Saying this we walked out of the eatery (lucky we had packed our overnight bag from their place and carried it with us). This time we did take a cab to a train station and came back home confused, bemused and richer with a weird experience.

Guess the people did realize later that their behavior was somewhat off and called us many times after that. They never apologized or made an excuse but we could guess they were trying to make up, offering to pick us up from our place or to make plans for the weekend. However, we really had it and politely declined their invitations.

A few months later we moved out of the country. That time also, these people called and really wanted to meet, however we again politely declined. Perhaps it was a bridge too far for us to cross.

Still don’t understand to this day what led those people to behave the way they did. They were always very well-behaved on all occasions bar this. also, they were doing extremely well for themselves financially and had never shown any penny-pinching behavior before.

Thanks for reading. It’s a relief pouring it all out here :)

Edit: Thanks for all your views, up-votes and amazing comments. It’s pretty overwhelming!

To clarify on some comments raised:

• It was indeed 6 Pieces of the Potato snack and nothing more :). Some comments indicate its hard to believe but then it’s not something I really need to convince others on. I do understand people do find it shocking as generally it’s basic manners to feed guests properly but this experience has taught me otherwise. My only hope is they don’t find themselves in such a situation.
• On the question of how we survived; Well, being a nursing mother my wife was always pragmatic and packed a few Granola Bars with her wherever she went. She had to rely on them in the night. As for me, it was just the one piece and a can of beer offered which I had to subsist on.
• On whether we still are in contact with them: Pretty much no. We didn’t call them after this incident. They did call us multiple times trying pretty hard to make amends without apologizing but we politely declined any further meeting with them. We were proud of the way we had handled ourselves in the entire fiasco but were absolutely sure we would give those people a piece of our mind in we ever came face to face with them hence it was best to keep our distance. It anyway became easy as we moved from UK to Australia in a few months after that hence we didn’t have to be in the same physical space anymore.
• Some people are wondering if it was a form of payback they delivered: That’s pretty implausible. We are in the habit of preparing excess food and always have leftovers after guests (I love leftovers so it’s not a problem) . It is ingrained in our psyche that guests are to be fed well and we make sure we remove food from the table only after the guests have removed their plates.

Thanks again for all your inputs.