Imagine being invited to your friend’s birthday party at a restaurant. You want to go, but the restaurant is in a bad part of town.

Would you feel safe going to the restaurant by yourself as a woman, or would you decline the invitation?

In this story, one woman was in this situation, and she suggested having the party at a different restaurant.

Keep reading to see how that suggestion went over with the birthday girl.

AITA For Not Wanting to Attend a Dinner in a Bad Neighborhood?

I F44, live in a city known for it’s high crime rate.

Since the pandemic started the amount of break-ins, muggings, car jackings, etc have risen exponentially.

Some neighborhoods are worse than others and I typically avoid going to these areas at night by myself as any reasonable person would.

The issue is a friend’s birthday party.

While trying to pick a restaurant for a friend’s birthday the person we are celebrating picked a restaurant in one of these rough neighborhoods.

This has happened in the past and while walking to the car in the dark l have been followed, harassed, etc.

I am tired of dreading these outings and have been working on my extreme people pleasing ways.

She stood up for herself.

I decided it was time to advocate for myself and ask that we pick a place not across from boarded up buildings and a vacant lot however, I understood if this was what the group wanted, I would gladly drop off a gift at a later date, and politely decline the invite.

I did express this to the group via text.

I was more than polite about it but I stayed true to the boundary I set.

Her friend isn’t very understanding.

I was met with anger by the birthday girl, reminded that we have picked similar places in the past.

One in particular I selected was in a historic building in the downtown area that my former employer owned. This area has been recently re-developed and has droves of families with children flocking to it all hours of the day. The safety aspect has been much improved.

At the time I also offered for my husband to drive us all to the place so no one parked/walked alone. They all declined.

AITA for not wanting to take unnecessary risks, as a woman by herself, when there of thousands of restaurants in our city in safer neighborhoods?

She was honest, but her friend pushed back. She can decline the invitation. Nobody should feel obligated to go somewhere they feel unsafe.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person thinks it’s fine if she skips the party.

Another person doesn’t think she did anything wrong.

This person is on her side.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who finds his parking spot at a hocket game in jeopardy from a rude driver.

Another person would make the same decision.

The choice is up to her. She doesn’t have to go just because her friend is upset. Her friend also doesn’t have to change her party plans. It’s okay for different people to make different decisions.

Good for her for setting boundaries.