What’s the Worst Faux Pas Etiquette You’ve Ever Experienced?
All of us – or rather, most of us – live by certain unspoken rules of etiquette that make life a little more civilized and thoughtful. We offer to bring food or drinks when we’re invited to a party, we keep doors open for strangers following us, we say “nice to meet you” after we’ve been introduced to someone new. These standard, accepted norms of polite behavior help us coexist and give us a script for moments of social awkwardness.
And there are people who seem to act according to a different scenario. People who didn’t get the note, who are still somehow immune to the epic rudeness of talking loudly on a cell phone in a confined public space, who still sneeze like adults without covering their mouths, who have never experienced RSVP, who they are not blown away, and who deliberately ignore the presence of their turn signal.
The people who then invite you to eat… make you pay for the food? Here’s what happened to actress and podcast host Amber Nelson , who tweeted, “I was invited to someone’s place for dinner and charged for it… that’s weird, right?” Twitter agreed, yes it was weird. Responses ranged from “I can’t stop thinking about it. Please send me their phone number” and “Charge for the call you brought up” to “Was there any takeaway?” and “If you invite me to your house, offer me food, and then demand that I pay you for it, I will lock your car at the exit.” (And no, it’s not takeaway. It was penne alla’s homemade vodka, and the “master” Venmo subsequently asked for $20.)
Look, it’s practically okay as long as it’s agreed in advance (and legal). If you decide to go to a party with a friend, that’s cool. If you say, “I’ll make you an amazing meal, but let’s split the cost of the ingredients,” great. But what if you invite them to dinner and then ask for cash? As one Lifehacker editor put it, “This is some psychotic shit.”
This tweet got us thinking: what’s the worst etiquette blunder you’ve ever experienced? We all have some doozies. (For example, when the owner of your company brings an expensive bottle of liquor to a white elephant holiday gift exchange and steals it back from an employee.) Because, as it turns out, the rules of etiquette that we think everyone follows? This is not true.
People are peculiar and often do strange things that they consider normal, but everyone around them knows that they are crazy. Tell us about the biggest breach of etiquette you’ve witnessed or been a victim of and we’ll find the funniest and most egregious in a future post.