Woman Outraged Friend Took a Slice of Birthday Cake Before It Had Been Served

A woman is upset that a friend ate a slice of her “beautifully decorated” birthday cake before it had officially been served — and she’s asking the internet if she’s overreacting. 

The woman detailed her story in the “Am I Being Unreasonable?” forum on Mumsnet.com, a place where women can go to get advice on interpersonal dilemmas. In her post, the woman said she recently threw a birthday party for herself.

“I invited all my favorite people, plus a friend who has been behaving oddly and has been rude and abrupt recently,” she added.

The original poster (OP) explained that a buffet dinner was scheduled for 8 p.m., followed by music and dancing.

“At 8:45 p.m., the band played ‘Happy Birthday.’ I blew out the candles and took out a knife to cut the (huge and beautifully decorated) cake,” she said.

However, that’s when the OP said things went awry.

She said she “went to fetch some napkins to serve the slices on,” and when she returned, she saw that the friend had already “[picked] up the knife and [hacked] a big triangular slice for herself from the front,” before taking the slice to her table.

“We were all astonished and have been trying to understand why she thought this was appropriate behavior,” she added.

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The OP continued, “For [background], she is 70, a highly educated professional, but socially awkward. She has been becoming increasingly impatient and anxious in cafes and hotels at meal times, wanting to get in as soon as the doors are open and wanting to be served first.”

“AIBU [am I being unreasonable?],” the woman asked at the end of her post, before wondering if she should be “compassionate” or annoyed that the friend acted like a “greedy toddler.”

Commenters almost unanimously told the OP that they thought she was overreacting — especially since the birthday song had already been sung and the candles blown out.

“I would do the same [as the friend],” one woman said, adding, “Wouldn’t expect the birthday girl to stand there for ages serving her own cake!”

“As it seems that she took the slice after ‘Happy Birthday’ had been sung, and when it was about to be served, I’d struggle to do more than laugh it off, to be honest. It doesn’t seem like a massive deal, really,” agreed someone else.

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Another person said, “I thought you were going to say she took cake before it had been shown off and the singing malarkey done, which would have been rude. But you’d already done that and the candles, so I can’t really see an issue. Pretty normal at buffets for people to help themselves rather than wait to be served.”