Why do we have friends in our lives? Firstly, they are interesting to be with. Secondly, they are always ready to support us in difficult times. And thirdly – and this is perhaps the most important thing – who else but friends will politely but relentlessly pull us up short if we start to cross some boundaries in our behavior?

But sometimes friends believe that this status allows them to criticize you indiscriminately or make you the regular target of their humor. For example, as it happened in the story first told by the user u/AcidentalPhilosopher. And in such cases, it’s probably worth considering – could it actually be called friendship at all?

More info: Reddit

The author of the post likes to cook, and recently he spent some hours prepping a special meal for his friends

Image credits: Zen Chung / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, but one of the friends started making snide remarks about it right off the bat

Image credits: AcidentalPhilosopher

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels (not the actual photo)

The author first tried to laugh it off, but the guy didn’t stop with his digs

Image credits: AcidentalPhilosopher

And so the host ended up kicking him out of the party – but the other guests said he overreacted here

The hero of today’s story is 27 years old, and one of his biggest hobbies is cooking. No, the original poster (OP) isn’t a professional chef, but he loves to stand at the stove. And for a recent party at his house, he spent several hours carefully prepping a special meal for the guests.

The author tried very hard, and all the guests, apparently, liked it. Okay, all but one. This guy, “Mark,” a year older than our hero, literally from the very first minute, started making sarcastic jokes about this meal. Sarcastic and, let’s be honest, offensive.

At first, our hero tried to good-naturedly laugh it off, but Mark didn’t calm down. Joke after joke, remark after remark – the OP began to get irritated. And Mark’s phrase that even a frozen pizza would’ve been better than the meal became the last straw for the author.

He firmly stated that if the guy didn’t like the meal, then most likely it would be better for him to leave. Mark laughed, considering it just a joke, but the original poster was dead serious. He said that since the friend continued insulting him, he wasn’t welcome to stay.

The guest ended up leaving, and since Mark doesn’t drive, then, as the OP notes, it took him about twenty minutes to walk home. After that, some guests said that the author was too harsh, sowing some doubt in his soul. And then Mark also texted him, saying that the OP overreacted and was “petty” for humiliating him this way.

Image credits: bedneyimages / Freepik (not the actual photo)

Well, reasonable criticism – especially if you are right – is okay, but the situation described in our story, apparently, clearly goes beyond the bounds of reasonable friendly criticism. Especially since the original poster notes that most of the guests liked his meal. Well, or at least they didn’t make it clear that they didn’t like his cooking…

“In any case, unless you are a professional chef, and the people who eat the food you cook are not restaurant critics or customers who ordered the food, it’s better to refrain from criticizing if you don’t like something,” says Roman Sardarian, a chef from Ukraine, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. “In the end, no one is forcing you to eat it.”

“Different people have different culinary tastes and preferences, so if you didn’t like the meal served – this doesn’t mean that it’s tasteless or even disgusting. And it certainly doesn’t give you the right to regularly let out snide digs at the cook.”

“Of course, this is what close friends are for, to sometimes bring us back to reality – but some people overuse this friendly right too much. And in this case, friendly words of truth simply turn into pure toxicity. In any case, I do understand how offensive it was for this man to hear all these snide remarks after so much effort at the stove,” Roman sums up.

People in the comments unanimously agreed with our hero, claiming that his friend behaved completely rudely and fully deserved such a reaction from the author. According to the reasonable opinion of one of the commenters, if you don’t like the food, just do not eat, but don’t subject the cook to such offensive criticism.

As for the author’s reaction, the responders also believe that it wasn’t an overreaction. “A guy who insults someone’s cooking to their face in that person’s own house has no business calling anyone petty,” someone aptly wrote in the comments. And what do you, our dear readers, think about this situation? Please feel free to express your thoughts in the comments.

People in the comments massively sided with the author, questioning the very fact of their friendship with the snarky guy

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels (not the actual photo)

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