He Was Excited for His Dad to Visit — Then His Dad Left After Sending Just a Few Texts

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Imagine being really tired and forgetting to set an alarm. In the morning, you accidentally sleep longer than you intended.
What would you do if you realized a family member had been texting you trying to get ahold of you? Would you consider it your fault for sleeping too long, or would you think they should’ve called you to get your attention?
In this story, one person is in this situation. He knew his dad was coming to visit him, and he was really looking forward to it. However, he overslept and didn’t hear his dad’s texts.
He’s still thinking about what happened and wondering if it really was his fault or if it’s actually his dad’s fault.
Keep reading to decide.
AITA for sleeping through my Dad visiting?
Just before Christmas, the state border restrictions lifted here and my Dad planned to come up and visit me on the weekend.
We live about 2 hours apart.
I was looking forward to seeing him for weeks.
But he overslept.
The night before, I was drinking a little and went to bed without setting an alarm.
This isn’t something I usually do.
I usually set multiple alarms especially if I have something important to do.
The next morning… well, afternoon, I woke up at about 1pm and saw I had some texts from my Dad.
Here are the texts.
10am – I’m here early!
11am – Still early!
11:30am – I need to use the bathroom
12:30pm – I’m going to go find a toilet
His dad didn’t really try all that hard to let him know he was there.
He hadn’t knocked on the door.
I didn’t have any missed calls from him, only texts.
I immediately text him that I was awake and ran outside but he replied “That’s great mate but I’m already on my way home.”
I called him and apologised then asked “Why didn’t you call me?”
I don’t find his answer very satisfying.
He replied “Why weren’t my texts enough to wake you up?” and then hung up on me.
I also sent him an apology text explaining what happened and tried to ask politely, not wanting to start an argument, “Next time instead of returning home, could you please call me to try and wake me up?”
He didn’t reply and didn’t talk to me all week.
He talked to his dad’s girlfriend.
I was getting worried that he was so mad at me that it might upset our plans for Christmas, so I called his girlfriend to check in.
She said when he returned home he was so furious that he wouldn’t talk to her about what happened and he was in a bad mood for a couple of days.
About a week and a half after it happened, he finally answered when I called to talk about Christmas and he pretended like nothing happened. (It didn’t matter anyway in the end because the borders closed again and I couldn’t see my family for Christmas)
I know I’m in the wrong for being irresponsible and not setting an alarm and I know it’s incredibly rude that I wasted Dad’s time like that, but AITA here and was his anger justified?
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It sounds like his dad could’ve tried harder to let him know he was there. A text is great, but when he didn’t respond, knocking on the door or calling would’ve been a reasonable next step instead of just heading home.
Let’s see if Reddit agrees.
This person thinks it’s all his fault.

Another person points out how much time his dad wasted.

This person doesn’t think he should blame his dad.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a sister who held up her end of a college savings bargain only to be ripped off by her scheming older sibling.
Everyone seems to agree that he messed up.

While I agree that if you’re expecting company you should set an alarm and prepare for their visit, I can also relate to forgetting to set an alarm or sleeping through a text. Heck, I’ve slept through my alarm quite often.
So, it seems like they both could’ve handled this better. He should take some responsibility for failing to set an alarm and wake up on time. His dad also could’ve tried harder than just sending a text. If I had been in that situation, I would’ve tried calling and/or knocked on the door.
At least it seems like his dad’s over it. He should do better next time, or perhaps next time he should be the one to make the drive.
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