We're starting to track our friend group's hangouts on a spreadsheet.
By @reeseforsure · Friends
One friend in our group chat is convinced he's hosting way more than everyone else. His solution was to create a shared spreadsheet to track 'hosting points' and now it's making everything weird and transactional.
The full story
There's about 8 of us who hang out regularly. For years it's been super casual—whoever's free hosts, people bring stuff, it all evens out. Or so I thought. Last week, one of my friends (the one who, to be fair, does have the nicest apartment for it) sent a link to a a place nearby Sheet titled 'The Friendship Ledger.' He laid out this whole system where hosting a hangout is 3 points, bringing food/drinks is 1 point, and just showing up is 0. His argument is that he's carrying the group by always being the host and wants things to be more 'equitable.' I thought it was a joke at first, but he's dead serious. We hung out at his place on Saturday to watch the game and he immediately updated it. The vibe was so weird. Instead of just relaxing, people were like, 'Did you mark me down for the chips?' My one friend and I think this is the cringiest, most corporate-brain-poisoned idea ever and it's going to kill the spontaneity. But a couple of others are actually on his side, saying it's only fair. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
How people voted
- OP Is Right — 34% (31 votes)
- Both Messy — 35% (32 votes)
- OP Is Wrong — 32% (29 votes)
Readers are split: “Both Messy” leads with 35% — 92 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@edieyy — He's weaponizing his nice apartment to control the friend group.
@vinceyk — lmao
@sagemm — Ah yes, monetizing friendship. A classic.
@yarakindof — I feel like we're not getting the full story on how often he was actually hosting before this.
@wes — nah i wanna see the spreadsheet this is incredible
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