Is a friend really a friend when that friends lies to you and doesn’t respect your time or feelings?

Probably not.

In today’s story, one friend gets revenge on another friend after missing the “surprise” at a surprise party.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

My always-late ex-friend made us 30 minutes late to a surprise birthday party, so I sent her to an expensive restaurant with an empty gift card to prove a point.

A few years ago, I (22f) had a friend, “Alex,” (24f) who was always late.

She was also the kind of person who would tell you “I’m on my way!” when she was not, in fact, on her way.

That one trait of hers caused me quite a lot of inconvenience.

She decided to go to a surprise party with Alex.

One time, we both were invited to a surprise birthday party for our mutual friend.

Clearly written on the invitation was something along the lines of “Be sure to arrive at 6pm. Do not be late, or you will miss the surprise!”

Come the day of the party, she and I had agreed to meet at my house and drive over together. Around 5pm, I asked her when she would be at my place.

She told me she would be there around 5:30, which was great because the party was about 30 minutes away.

Alex arrived late, and they missed the surprise.

At 5:30, I called her to ask where she was, and she told me she had not even left yet. She then promised that “[she would] be there in 5 minutes!”

I figured that was okay because she lived fairly close by.

Long story short, she ended up getting to my house at 6. I was mad.

We left immediately and made it to the party around 6:30. By that time, the surprise had obviously taken place and the party was in full swing.

Alex didn’t seem to care that she was late or that she had lied to her friend.

I mentioned to her that I was really bothered that she had been late. Not only that, but she had strung me along and lied to me and prevented me from being on time.

She responded by saying things like, “It’s not that big of a deal,” and “We were only 30 minutes late,” and “Don’t be so dramatic.”

At that point, I was sick of her being late and her attitude. Being late, lying, and downplaying someone’s feelings are all rude.

She gave her friend a gift card as a form of revenge.

So, I went to a nearby steakhouse and took a gift card without putting any money on it.

I wrote “$30” on the card and gave it to her a few days later, telling her it was a random gift for being my friend.

A few days after that, I got a text from her asking if I was sure I activated the card.

I told her yes, I was sure, and asked her why she was asking.

She responded by saying she had gone to the restaurant with some friends without her purse and tried to use the gift card, but it wasn’t working.

She used Alex’s words back at her.

It was at that point that I gave myself away by responding with, “Oops! I guess I was wrong,” and “It’s not that big of a deal,” and “You’re only $30 short.”

She immediately picked up on what I was doing, and I proceeded to receive a few very angry texts about how embarrassed she was and how rude and disrespectful I was for doing that. “All of this just because I was a few minutes late?” blah, blah, blah.

Alex got the point, but it also ended their friendship.

I simply responded with, “So you’re saying if I tell you one thing then do another and it directly impacts your life in a negative way, that is disrespectful? And if you get mad at me for it and I downplay your feelings, that is rude? Am I understanding you correctly?”

She didn’t respond. I found out later that none of her friends were willing or able to cover her dinner, so she had to stay about 30 minutes later for her parents to rescue her.

We didn’t talk much after that. Hopefully, she learned a valuable lesson!

I sure had a great time teaching it!

It doesn’t sound like Alex has many real friends considering none of her friends at the restaurant would help her pay her bill.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

This reader shared what she does to prevent her husband from being late all the time.

Another reader also lies about the time to prevent her family from showing up late.

This reader shared a story about friends who are late.

Yet another reader shared a story about family members who are always late.

This person shared a professor’s thoughts on people who are late.

Being late all the time really is rude and disrespectful.

Hopefully Alex learned her lesson.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.