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  • #1

    Who Is Suckier Here?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-30876360

    Plenty of suck on both sides. Parents accept invite for their child to a birthday party with an off-site activity, then the child doesn't show and no one calls. Parents of the birthday child send a bill to the parents of the first child, threatening small claims court if not paid! Then father of the first child complains about the bill to the papers, with a lame excuse for the no-show and no apology...
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  • #2
    How about C) they BOTH suck?
    "Crazy may always be open for business, but on the full moon, it has buy one get one free specials." - WishfulSpirit

    "Sometimes customers remind me of zombies, but I'm pretty sure that zombies are smarter." - MelindaJoy77

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    • #3
      Parents of the birthday child, far and away.

      The amount involved works out to just over $24 at the current exchange rate. Filing the lawsuit probably costs more than that.

      And a child accepting an invite to a party and then not coming and not RSVPing may be annoying but is hardly a crime. It happened to me once when I had to miss a classmate's birthday party because I was throwing up the night before.
      Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

      "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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      • #4
        By going to the Small Claims Court this reduces the cost as you do not need to have legal representation (you can if you want), and the cost of filing the claim can usually be recovered from the debtor as well if the court rules in your favour.
        ludo ergo sum

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        • #5
          I have to disagree with the consensus. When you make a social commitment, it is a COMMITMENT. Not showing up should only happen if you are sick or there is some other true emergency. Changing one's mind, getting a better offer or just shrugging it off is not acceptable. The way I heard the story, the kid decided he'd rather do something else, leaving the birthday kid's parents on the hook for his share of the entertainment. This is rude.

          If he really didn't want to go, his parents should have called to say he wasn't coming and offer to reimburse the hosts for their out-of-pocket expenses (that the no-show guest would not be using but they still had to pay for). That's just courtesy.

          Small claims court, though, is going above and beyond. If I were part of the host family and the no-show's family refused to reimburse me, I would write them off my guest list for all future events and call it a day.
          When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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          • #6
            The guest did a social suck in not sending their regrets. Ms. Manners would not be pleased. The host sucks big time for that stunt. Ms. Manners would be totally appalled. The article I read pointed out that as there was no contract, no non-compliance clause, no penalty for non-compliance, etc., thus no contract violation occurred and any law suit, small claims or not, would be tossed out on that technicality.

            ETA: Besides, 5 years old kids cannot enter into contracts.
            Last edited by Ironclad Alibi; 01-20-2015, 04:36 AM.
            "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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            • #7
              Unfortunately both kids are going to be the one's suffering for this mess. I strongly suspect that any invitations to Birthday Boy's future parties will be instantly rejected due to the other parent's fear of being sued, and he won't be getting invites to other kids parties for the exact same reason.

              No-show kid's dad is a complete flake with a lame "it wasn't our fault!" story that makes him sound bad as well. I don't see his kid getting any more invites to any more parties seeing as they would be suspected of RSVPing and then not bothering to show or call again. And I suspect any future parties they throw will be poorly attended with attendees doing the same back to them - RSVP and then neither show nor call..

              I truly wish these idiot "parents" would stop and take a careful look at the situation. They would see what it's doing to their kids and the awful position they're putting them in. Then do the right thing and clean this mess up in private...

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              • #8
                http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...FB_mirror_main

                The mother of Birthday Boy gives her side of the story.

                She doesn't really help her cause IMHO...

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                • #9
                  My kids get invited to birthday parties ALL the time. Since I have two of the little darlings who are the same age--in the same school--with many of the same friends, I have to choose which event Thing 1 and Thing 2 will attend. It has happened that Thing 1 gets invited but Thing 2 does not....or Thing 2 gets invited but Thing 1 does not.

                  In those cases--I call the parent and explain the situation. I offer to pay for the uninvited Thing to attend the childhood social gala of the millennium. There have been instances with the hosting parent explains that an additional child cannot be accommodated...to which, I politely decline to have EITHER Thing 1 or Thing 2 attend the gala event because buying a gift AND paying for child care is a little over the top.

                  My take away from the story is that if planning a party is a financial hardship...plan something less extravagant and more reasonably priced OR <gasp> plan a simple family affair and forgo the hype all together.

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                  • #10
                    No contract signed? Nothing owed, if a no-show was THAT potentially damaging financially, get a contract/insurance ahead of time.

                    No direct physical harm caused? Nothing actionable. Your butthurt, no matter how awful, entitles you to nothing.

                    You're acting LESS mature than the kid.
                    - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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                    • #11
                      Totally inappropriate to invoice the parents of the no-show, and that sunk SO FAR DOWN, I need scuba gear to even read it.

                      That said, asking the child if he'd rather skip on a social commitment to do something else is the WRONGEST lesson. He said yes, so he should go. See the grandparents another time. This is the kind of stuff that results in not being invited anywhere anymore.

                      This is the friend who invited you to see a movie, then flakes at the last minute.

                      The person who would love to join you at dinner, but suddenly found someone else to eat with.

                      The sure I'll attend your wedding if I can't find anything better to do.

                      Awful, awful manners in the making there.
                      "For the love of all that is holy and 4 things that aren’t but feel pretty good anyway" ~ Gravekeeper

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                      • #12
                        Over here, the focus wound up being shifted AWAY from the whole "who was suckier" thing to basically looking at how hugely elaborate kids birthday parties have become and then bitching at the Birthday Boys mother because she'd opted for some large event and couldn't recoup the costs (allegedly).
                        The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                        Now queen of USSR-Land...

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                        • #13
                          No, of course a kid can't enter into a legal contract. This was a social "contract". It's bad manners to blow it off without a good reason. If birthday kid's mom was willing to pay for each invited kid, it's understandable that she'd be miffed if one of them doesn't show. But it's still not the end of the world.

                          I totally agree that kids' parties are getting out of hand. I keep seeing letters in various advice columns from people throwing fits because someone didn't take their kid's first birthday party seriously enough to suit them. WTF? A one year old kid has NO idea what the fuss is about!
                          When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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