When you put a lot of hard work and time into something, it's only natural to want to celebrate your accomplishments.
One woman was so proud of herself for obtaining her Ph.D. that she decided to get all her friends and family together and throwing a lavish dinner for them all at a restaurant.
However a few unexpected guests turned up on the night and ruined everything.
According to the unnamed woman, one of these guests upstaged her at her own party by doing something very "tacky".
Now she feels like she was "cheated" out of her celebration after the evening turned into an impromptu party for the other guests - which she paid for.
The woman revealed all in a letter to Slate.com's agony aunt column, Dear Prudence.
She explained: "I threw an expensive sit-down dinner for friends and family to celebrate getting my Ph.D.
"One of my friends brought her adult son and his girlfriend. Right before I was going to get up to make my toast, he rang his glass with a fork and made an announcement about how much he loved the woman next to him.
"Then he got down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend. I felt like I had been sucker-punched. All eyes were on this couple, and I was footing the bill for their impromptu engagement party.
"I ended up leaving halfway through because I was so upset. Several friends followed me and got upset on my behalf. They wanted to throw the 'brats out'. I told them I didn't want to make a scene."
Despite this, she did send a blunt email to her friend about the son's behaviour.
"I told her it was 'tacky, tasteless and utterly contemptible' for her son to do what he did, and had she acted like a good friend, she should have shut it down," she continued.
"She blasted back that I was cold-hearted and should not be 'jealous of their good fortune'.
"I said I hadn't intended to spend several thousand dollars of my own money on her son's engagement party. If she wanted to pay me back, I would be happy to drop the subject. She never responded."
The woman added: "There are very few events for adults to seriously celebrate outside the life-script events (e.g., weddings and pregnancies). This was a huge achievement for me. I am not sure how to get over this. I know it is petty, but it was my party for crying out loud!"
In response to her letter, the agony aunt said: "I don't think it's pretty to be angry that someone upstaged your own celebration by getting engaged in the middle of it!"
They went on to brand the couple's actions a "pretty shocking display of bad judgement and entitlement" and added that "it doesn't bode well for their forthcoming marriage".
The woman was advised to get in touch with the pals that ran after her on the night to see if they could do another small-scale celebration at someone's house, where they could be sure no one would interrupt this time!
