People who expect you to drop everything when they make last-minute plans

[MaggieTheCat]

I had a couple of friends like this back in Wisconsin, but one who really stands out in my mind. Here's how a typical weekend night (and sometime week night) conversation would go with him.

*phone rings*

"Hey Maggie! We're going to a movie tonight, you wanna come?"

"Sure, what time?"

"It starts in 10 minutes!"

"Sean, it's 6:00, I just sat down to dinner, I'm not going to make it in 10 minutes."

"Well, hurry up and eat and then get down here!"

"NO, Sean, I am not going to come on such short notice! Maybe if you'd plan these things, I dunno, an hour ahead of time, I'd consider it!"

And replace "going to a movie" with "going to dinner," "going to a bar," "playing D&D," etc. He had a real knack for pissing me off with this shit, 'cuz I always felt left out because most of time, I couldn't come on such short notice 'cuz I already had plans.

[powerboy]

I had a friend like that. It was always short notice with him. Never mind the fact that I had a Girlfriend at the time. Maybe, just maybe I wanted to be with her. Nooooooo. He would call short notice with plans. Then I would also feel left out because of it.

[BroomJockey]

I've actually known a person or two to pull this, and I've a theory as to why some people do this.

Some are self-centred, but those aren't the ones I'm talking about.

The ones I'm talking about are the ones who actually know you've got plans, and only ask to "fulfil obligations." They don't reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaally want you along, they just want to make you THINK they do.

[TehShush]

Thankfully, there are more than just those two kinds, BroomJockey.

I have a few lazy friends who realize last minute that they completely forgot to mention plans to others, and then proceed to do so last minute. I suffer from the same problem, so I don't think too badly of them when they do it to me.

Example: Tuesday- "Oh, I gotta remember to call my sis and see if she wants to do dinner this weekend."
Wednesday - "Hmm, I should probably call my sis soon, maybe we could do dinner this Saturday?"
...
Saturday - "Oh crap, it's 6 and I completely forgot to call my sister!" *calls* "Oh, it's too late for you to go out to dinner? Yeah, sorry about that, I had forgotten to call you."

I put things off because I become caught up in distractions, and end up lonely on Saturday. I feel quite guilty, and I know that I've likely upset my sister for not having called her sooner, but it's sadly a bad habit of mine that has been repeated for years,

I hope that it is only a bad habit, Maggie, and not him/her being purposefully rude to ya.

[MaggieTheCat]

I don't THINK he's being purposely rude to me, but sometimes it's hard to tell because he seems to get a lot of other people to go when he does this. So either he gives them more notice but forgets about me, or nobody else ever has plans and can go last-minute.

[BroomJockey]

Thankfully, there are more than just those two kinds, BroomJockey.

That would be why I said "some" are one, and "some" are another. I didn't feel like enumerating all the commonly known reasons, but wanted to put forth the theory I'd come up with based on some of my own experiences with people pulling the last-minute shit.

Hell, there are people that do it that aren't selfish, inconsiderate, or any other reason, they're just that spontaneous that they literally came up with the idea, and are trying to hammer it in to reality at that moment. However, since this is the "Things I hate" section, I decided not to focus on that, or the other groups, but instead the related group that I hate.

[Rageaholic]

Oh man, I have a friend who would pull that shit all the time. He would be kind enough to call hours before the movie, but when he would decide a time, he would call like 5 minutes before hand, expecting us to be late because he doesn't want to see the ads (and I like seeing the ads for upcoming movies). Luckly, he was understanding of the fact that I didn't want to rush to get to the movie, but still... it's annoying. I don't even like going to movies much because they're so over priced, but that's for another rant.

[Aethian]

I was known as a ice bitch around school for this type of thing. I would get invited out to something starting in 15 or so minuets...when I lived over a half hour away from town and the rents would say absoluty no to late night driving to a place I'm not really sure as to where it is. And Mom wondered why I was a loner.

[blas87]

My boyfriend's brother constantly does stuff like this. Although we try not to take it too far to heart because of his "issues", sometimes it's very difficult.

He has promised many times to take my boyfriend and I somewhere or he's promised to join my boyfriend for some event, and fast forward to that day, he locks himself in his bedroom and won't answer the door.

There's been some things that he's promised his parents.....and I really don't see why my boyfriend's dad doesn't just take that door off of its hinges and make him deal with what he promises.

I don't excuse ditching normally, but it's one thing to blow off his brother because he got scared at the last second and didn't want to go, it's another to promise his parents (who are letting him live there for free!) that he'll do something or go somewhere with them, and then to pull that crap on them.

Speaking of which, he promised us he'd join us on a double date this Friday. I told my boyfriend last night that I wasn't going to make my lady friend any promises.

[Slytovhand]

Well, there certainly are people who have lives such that they can do the 5 minute thing (such as myself... ah, the life of the single person!)

But although I may occasionally do such things (happened a few times of late here.. "hey, what you doing for dinner? I'll meet you at the gate" - but that's pretty normal here...), but if they do it all the time, then I think they have a serious problem with thinking outside themselves. Also, if they think you're the one with the problem, then I think they've just made it worse!

(and I'm hoping 10 minutes is an exaggeration... how on earth does anyone expect you to be somewhere with 10 minutes notice???)