A woman who was hoping to go ‘somewhere nice’ in Liverpool to celebrate her 50th birthday has been left disappointed after her husband booked a restaurant where staff are ‘intentionally rude to you’ 90 minutes away.
After asking her husband to cancel it, she claimed he then branded her a ‘spoil sport’. Feeling exasperated, the woman aired her feelings on Mumsnet’s ‘Am I Being Unreasonable’ thread to ask others for their opinions.
The woman wrote: “It’s my 50th next Saturday. DH told me he’d book a nice restaurant and I was really looking forward to it as we rarely ever eat out. I was expecting to go somewhere nice in central Liverpool, he knows I love the waterfront so I was thinking he’d book somewhere around there.
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“Today he’s revealed he’s booked a place in Sheffield (which is annoying enough in itself, 90 minute drive for a meal and it won’t be relaxing at all) which is a novelty restaurant where the staff are intentionally rude to you and it’s all part of it. He’s booked it for the teens as well. I asked why on Earth he’d booked that and he said because he was curious about it and thought it’d be fun.
“But it’s not me at all. I’m very self-conscious and even though it’ll all be a joke the thought of the staff verbally abusing me makes me anxious. I’ll end up taking something to heart and getting upset. DH is annoyed I’ve asked him to cancel it and says I’m a spoil sport, but it’s my birthday dinner.”
Her situation certainly sparked a reaction, with more than 500 people replying to her post and many reassuring her she was not being unreasonable. One said: “If he wants to go...let him go. By himself. Say firmly 'I am not interested in that so I won't be going'."
Another added: “Just say it really isn't your thing and if he wants to go some time, fine but for your birthday you'd like a place you can relax.”
A third replied: “He can go another time with the teenagers. You want a nice, civilised, grown up meal not an 'experience'. I'd feel the same as you.”
And a fourth commenter said: “I’ve learnt never to let my OH [other half] book anything after one year he suggested we go to the local town museum for my birthday. Say you can go for his birthday, but his yours!!”
Many others shared suggestions for how to handle it. One person said: “Just tell him to cancel and book Pan Am or Gusto or somewhere.”
Another added: “It sounds like he's tried to please the teenagers. I’d make him cancel. Then book a nice restaurant and the golf place in Liverpool ONE which is amazing, that way you can have a relaxed, fun night without having your appearance ripped to shreds.”
A third said: “I wouldn't take it to heart. Just get him to book somewhere else for your birthday and then the whole family could go to the gimmicky place another time. Your choice to take offence when you know none is intended and it is part of the show-is just that - your choice.”
And a fourth person said: “Blimey, that sounds a bit errrmm different! I was thinking could you do that and another night do Liverpool waterfront. But if it will make you uncomfortable on your actual birthday then def cancel.”
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