I will never host a potluck for my friends again.
By @finnyy · Friends
We do a potluck every month and the rule is you either bring a real dish or you chip in $20 for ingredients/drinks. It's not complicated. This month, one friend showed up with a bag of shredded cheese and insisted it counted as her dish.
The full story
My friends and I have been doing a monthly potluck for about two years. It's a good way for us all to hang out without one person getting stuck with a huge bill or all the work. The rule has always been simple: either bring a substantial dish to share (an appetizer, a main, a side, a dessert) or, if you can't cook or don't have time, just Venmo the host $20 to cover extra supplies, drinks, etc. Everyone has always been cool with this. So this month, it was my turn to host. I'm making a huge batch of chili, getting bread, setting everything up. People start arriving. One friend, let's call her the 'cheese friend,' waltzes in, and when I ask what she brought, she proudly holds up a standard-sized bag of pre-shredded cheddar cheese from the grocery store. Like, the kind you sprinkle on tacos. I just stared at her. I thought she was joking. I was like, "Haha, very funny, where's the real food?" And she got super defensive. they said, "This IS my dish. It's a topping for the chili! It's a dairy component!" I told her a bag of shredded cheese is not a 'dish' and that the rule is there for a reason, so she could just send me the $20. She absolutely refused, saying she had fulfilled her obligation. She argued that her cheese was a key part of the meal and that I was being a stingy and ungrateful host for questioning it. The whole vibe was weird for the rest of the night, and she genuinely thinks I was being a jerk. I think she's a cheapskate who was trying to get away with a $4 contribution. Am I losing my mind?
How people voted
- Totally Cooked — 37% (35 votes)
- It’s Complicated — 30% (28 votes)
- You’re Fine — 33% (31 votes)
Readers are split: “Totally Cooked” leads with 37% — 94 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@kit — lmao
@tate — You are NOT losing your mind. Some people will do anything to avoid chipping in, it's so frustrating when you're the one hosting and putting in all the effort. She was completely out of line.
@maeok — This reminds me of when my friend's dad brought a single, unwrapped block of tofu to a BBQ and just put it on the table.
@jade — soft.
@finnyy — So is this person just uninvited from now on?
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