This many people fucking you around there was probably an error somewhere, wrong date or time or something. Otherwise all those people are assholes. Sorry this happened. I hope you still had a good BBQ with your family.
this post was submitted on 30 May 2026
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I want to agree on this benefit of doubt. But I know my sibling had the exact same scenario happen, for a Halloween/birthday party. It was very disheartening
Saying your going and then just no showing and no texting is just rude. I would be so angry I would never invite any of those people to do anything again. If they had at least texted that they were unable to come - even without a reason, I would forgive them because I personally sometimes get excited about events and then just really am in a bad headspace on the day of the event. At least I have the decency to text that I'm not coming and apologize. It takes a lot of work to plan a group event whether it is BBQ, Game Night, etc. Poor form to no show and no text. These people are not your friends.
I've been stood up or ghosted by enough potential dates that I've learned to expect people to not follow through. Even when someone says yes and they seem excited about it, I still proceed with the mentality that it's just going to fall through between now and the actual date. Before I gave up on dating entirely, I stopped even marking my calendar because it seemed like there was no point. I might as well double-book myself because something's gonna fall through anyway, if not both things. And it usually holds true.
At some point it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I stopped getting excited about dates. I started having the worst nerves on the morning of, because like "should I start getting ready or is she about to text me to cancel?" Sometimes I would feel relief when the text finally came, because at least then I could stop worrying about it.
At some point I started texting to confirm whether we were still on, but apparently that screams insecurity and they'd end up being like "You know what no, if you really feel the need to check in with me then we're not going to waste each other's time. I don't need to mommy you."
Even in the rare case when the date actually happened, I'd be nervous up until the moment we meet, when my relief usually was so palpable that they found it off-putting. Like "Why are you so surprised that I actually showed up?" Plus, I wouldn't be able to think about much other than self-doubt leading up to that moment, so it was hard to enter it with a good headspace. That usually set the tone for an underwhelming if not disastrous date.
And even if I tried to explain where I'm coming from, they'd just think I'm a misogynist because apparently learning from my experience and worrying about a repeating pattern is an affront to all womankind. I get it, women aren't a monolith. But also, I have trauma, and whenever anyone else's trauma informs their perceptions and defense mechanisms then it seems to be okay. Not me though, cause men aren't supposed to have feelings I guess. We're just supposed to take it on the chin without losing confidence.
Eventually I stopped planning anything or even trying to meet people, because loneliness and isolation aren't as painful and confusing as abandonment. I can handle rejection, I'm certainly used to it, but abandonment triggers deep insecurities from my childhood and can send me spiralling. It's not worth my inner peace.
Now it's just me and my cat, and I try not to think of my patheticness or my prospect of dying alone, which is all but guaranteed at this point. I just try to distract myself each day, enough to maintain a semblance of stability and peace. I'm doing a lot better mentally than I was before, when I still hadn't accepted my fate, and still strove to overcome it.
That really stinks that you have unfortunately found some of the most self-centered people in the world. I think it is a symptom of THEM not wanting to say "no thank you" and rationalizing that ghosting others as the easier thing to do for THEM if they really didn't want to get to know you. Screw those kinds of people! Please know that there are people in this world who find ghosting extremely off-putting. The only acceptable time to ghost someone is AFTER you have already ended the friendship/relationship and they continue to pester you since they have already been clearly informed that you are not interested.
As a person who is highly introverted, yet still desires contact with high-quality people, I do continue to put myself out there strike up new friendships with like-minded people. If you are relying on dating apps to get dates, I would say to remove those from you phone and just seek walking, running, hiking, table top gaming, etc. groups to meet people in a low pressure way. That is what I did and how I met a lot of people who I consider friends that let me know if they can't come to a gathering for whatever their reason. I joined lots of groups until I found my people in a city of about 120,000ish in the USA. It may take a long time to find your people, but when you do, you know.
Yeah, they justify it like that whole man vs. bear thing. Basically, "All men are potentially dangerous" loses nuance and becomes "All men are dangerous," and then they tell themselves that it would be unsafe to simply tell me "no," so they lead me on and then blame me when I don't catch the non-existent hints that they're actually not as into me as they're pretending to be.
And eventually they simply ghost or stand me up, leaving me some combination of worried, confused, embarrassed, despondent, and self-loathing. And to add insult to injury, they tell all their friends that I'm a creep, and then I become a social pariah and no one will even give me a chance to show them who I really am. All because they assumed something about me based on an overgeneralization about my immutable characteristics. But if I'm insulted that they would think I'm dangerous, then that makes me a misogynist, apparently...
And it's not just one or two people, it's definitely been a trend for several years. Like the man vs. bear thing. There's this perceived moral pedestal that women stand on when they tear a man's heart out, twist the knife in his deepest insecurities, and make him second-guess himself. "Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss" or whatever.
That's not real feminism though, as anyone who's actually read real feminist writers would know (as opposed to tiktok pseudofeminists who advocate for something more akin to women participating in patriarchal structures of oppression rather than dismantling them). It's literally just women promoting toxic masculinity along with this sense of exceptionalism, like anything is okay when a woman does it. Mixed messages and double standards does not provide a solid baseline for healthy communication, but they act like all the onus is on the man despite that.
I don't date or use the apps anymore, I don't put myself out there or go to groups or events either. It's partly because I'm too paranoid and sensitive, and partly because I know how slanderous and gossipy people are, and that without any friends to defend my character, people are more likely to believe whatever random rumors they hear about me. And those no doubt get embellished over time.
Like I know I've made mistakes and put my foot in my mouth before, especially when I was younger and still figuring things out, but nothing to the degree that I should be shunned for the rest of my life. Based on people's reactions to me though, back when I still used to go places, the rumors must really make me sound worse than hitler...
I agree that simply not telling someone "no" and leading you on is definitely the a-hole thing to do and that not all men are dangerous. As an outsider to your world, my question is, have you ever heard the saying "if everyone else is an a-hole, then look in the mirror?" I am not saying you are a bad person at all. What I am saying is that if everyone is ghosting you that you meet, there must be a reason that this is happening to you that you are unaware of. I think of my brother-in-law who is a large imposing scary looking dude that looks like he could beat the tar out of anyone. He perpetuates that appearance by how he chooses to wear his hair & beard and how he chooses to dress. However, once you get to know him, you realize he wouldn't harm anyone with the exception of self-defense. Other times, it is just a vibe that people give off that make them seem like a bad idea. I personally think about a guy that my partner was friends with. When I met him the first time, my creeper radar was going off, and I couldn't figure out why. I set that aside because he was my partner's friend. Down the road, we found out that he was extremely emotionally manipulative (probably a sociopath) and was dating young women 18-25 while he was 40. We saw that emotional manipulation based off of observation when he was around his partners and also when we learned some very personal and private things that he was doing with said partners and how it made them feel like they were the crazy one, being gaslit, etc. One of his partners was a newly licensed therapist, and she was unable to see the emotional manipulation until AFTER she got away from him. I am not saying this is what you do, since I do not know you. However, if you give off a creeper vibe (even if you are not a creeper), then that can cause large swaths of the population to ghost you. The entire thing just sucks, and I like to give people I meet a fair shake to show me who they really are because more often than not, you meet some seriously fun people to be around. Do note I am very much a nerd and enjoy table top games, video games, computers, and things of that nature therefore, I am used to interacting with people who are not consider conventionally beautiful/hansom always. The other things to consider is, are the people you approaching in the same league as you? Whether we like it or not, people will judge you based off of your appearance. If you try and get into a friend group or date someone much prettier than you, then that probably won't go well.
Sorry for the wall of text. I ran up against this problem when I was in middle and high school because I kept throwing myself at the pretty girls to be friends with and couldn't figure out why I had no friends. Then I got in with the theater and band nerds and found lots of friends. The same is true as I moved cities and instead of looking for the beautiful people, I looked for the gamers and found my people :) I do sincerely hope you find some peeps of your own. It has gotten much more difficult to that though in this day and age with people so tied into social media and not doing things in-person out in the world the way that we used to.
Ten people saying yes to your face then not showing up makes me think something else is going on here. Did you send a text the day before, too?
It could be a date or time was wrong, or people were too exhausted to go by the time it came around. Communication would be useful though.
Nobody showed up for my daughter's sweet sixteen b-day party either. Sitcoms manage to make this funny but IRL it truly isn't.
This has always been one of my biggest "minor" fears for my kids. Sure death, major sickness, homeless are all up there, but of all the things to just mentally stick with you as you grow up, it's like my top concern.
I can't think of almost anything more devastating to a kid than having a birthday party, inviting all your friends, hyping up the day, prepping while the kids just prances around excited beyond belief, then nobody show up.
Luckily I convinced my kids of other options for birthdays; weekend trips, bigger family only activities, smaller sleepovers. They have almost entirely taken one of the other options.
Well I'll just bring you right down to Earth then and mention that this was after having a brain tumor at age 10. Her friends were there with chirpy, "I hope you feel better" crap but none of them actually showed up for anything - pretty much the polar opposite of the inspring stories where all the kids in the class shave their heads to support the cancer kid. Didn't happen - and she had been super popular before, not the "mean girl" type at all - if anything she's the opposite of that. All I've ever been able to figure is that the kids were just freaked out or something. But yeah, the 16th birthday party was probably one of the LEAST disappointments she's lived through, all things considered. So if you're going to spend energy fearing for your kids, cancer or something similar is really the place to go.
This matches my experiences. People have become flaky to the point of absurdity. I don't know exactly how or when this started, but I suspect that cell phones have altered people's behavior in this regard.
Consider that before cell phones, you couldn't just send a text to cancel plans last minute - if you made a plan to show up, and you wanted to bail, you still often had to show up because you couldn't be sure someone would have a phone available. Someone not keeping their plans would cause concern. Now everyone's got a cell phone in their pocket and can send a message 5 minutes before a scheduled event to say they're not coming. It's become normal, and the more it happens, the more people will scale back on planning get-togethers because there's no way to depend on anyone showing up.
To be clear, I don't think it's cell phones per se that led to this, but the behavior of people with the ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, instantly. People feel safer changing plans last minute because it's easy and they feel no consequence - only the poor friend who put the time, money, and effort into planning gets the pain from the fall-out. Everyone else just sends a text and goes on their merry way, oblivious to the fact that many people are doing the same thing and it absolutely can result in whoever's planning the event being left completely alone. I've seen it myself for parties, I've seen it happen with work-planned movie nights, and here it's happening to you, too. Something in the culture has changed, and I don't know how we can rectify it.
I'm sorry that happened to you.
I hold a monthly b-grade movie night and have never had that experience, but attendance has varied. Sometimes only 2-3 people come, and other times we're cramming kitchen chairs between the couches. Most people will let me know if they cannot come, though. There have been people over the years that didn't come, didn't message, and I stopped inviting them. Those who do attend regularly are reliable, and tend to introduce friends with similar qualities.
If I may offer a friendly suggestion, just directly provide event information to your potential guests. Making people click on extra links reduces the likelihood they'll come. If something is important, make finding the information as straightforward as possible. I directly message each friend via their preferred platform a short message with the date, time, what to expect and what to bring (write it once, then copy and paste).
Also, timing of an invite is important. I find 1 week notice is good for most, and one friend needs 2 week notice so they can arrange their work schedule. Almost no one can make last minute invites work (day of or day before). For more context, all of my invitees are working adults with no children. You may need to adjust your timeline for what is suitable for your demographic.
I've had similar turnout the past few times I've tried to host a get-together. I have given up entirely on hosting at this point. The cost and disappointment just isn't worth it to me any more.
Aww man, I'd have loved BBQ today. It was my birthday and entirely uneventful aside from texts from people who didn't necessarily remember the day but had it saved on their socials.
This happens sometimes. We have wildly successful parties sometimes, and other times it's just a couple of people and way too much food.
I don't complain because I also don't often attend other people's gatherings.
But yes we need to get back into the habit of visiting and entertaining, it's good for people. And it's good of you to offer hospitality even if nobody showed.
If you're in OR somehow, and within a reasonable range of Portland - I will absolutely show up if you do this again.
If you aren't, DM the general area and maybe I know some good people there that would happily chip-in and show up.
Hopefully the family was still part of the party!
It feels bad, but at least you know who you can absolutely rely on, who will be there for you.
My heart aches for you. I am impressed by your strength to even try something like that. All the best.
Man, I hate that. And when you confront each one, they couldn't make it but also couldn't tell you in advance. When you tell them no-one showed up, they don't take the blame or even feel bad, because now everyone abandoned you and that makes it okay.
Bastards, the lot of them.
Actually they all were pretty reasonable.
I don't know what culture you live in but sometimes people say yes when they mean maybe and need a separate RSVP event to actually confirm. I know New Zealanders always say yes because it's rude to say no even though they already knew they're not coming.
I know New Zealanders always say yes because it’s rude to say no even though they already knew they’re not coming.
Isn't that more rude? To get someone's hopes up, have them prepare for your arrival, then to disappoint them for seemingly no reason?
It's not rude in New Zealand. The question over there should be treated as "would you be interested in an event like this?". Nobody expects anybody to come to anything even if they say yes. You have to get a second confirmation to actually know if people are coming.
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That's a bummer. I've had the same thing happen and the feeling sucks. Hope tomorrow is a better day.
Damn bro if your in the same area I’d come through
Same here, OP - I'll bring some beer!
I’ve literally got a cooler full of beer post pool day. Seriously if this dude told me he was near I’d be in my way.
aint gonna keep me away from bbq.
Yeah, we are defo not on the same area. i'm in Spain
La gente de España parecen más rudos que los Salvadoreños en ese caso. Cierto que llegamos tarde típicamente como Salvadoreños, pero por lo menos llegamos eventualmente.
Cuanto tiempo de aviso tuvieron? En el OP parece como si dijistes que los invitastes el mismo día.
Tuvieron más de una semana de aviso la verdad.
I stopped making plans to invite people to when I was 15 and nobody showed up to my birthday party. Haven't celebrated a birthday since.
I know it hurts, and it sucks that you're just now learning this, but you have a family. I assume that means a spouse and kids. Be grateful for them, because not everybody has that.
And modern dating is so shit that anyone who doesn't already have it is not likely to find it, unless they live in an insular community like a tight-knit diaspora where everyone knows everyone's uncle, and aunts perform the role of matchmaker. So cherish your family, they are your most precious treasure.
I know loneliness and isolation hurts, and feelings of rejection and abandonment can be very complex and confusing, but if I can learn to be at peace with just me and my cat, then I'm sure you can be at peace with just you and your family.
Give them the happiest home in the world. Do barbecues just for them. Take road trips just for them. When you make improvements to the house or the garden, do it just for them.
Who cares what a dozen acquaintances or a thousand strangers really think? People are shallow and egocentric. Half of them would only stay long enough to take a few photos of your art deco and post it on the gram, then they'd be gone and onto the next place to wring out more content. The other half would be judging you, either because your stuff is too nice and they hate that or because your stuff isn't nice enough and they hate that. Why invite chaos into your home?
Maybe you'll make a close friend or two and be able to host a more intimate get-together in the future, but that's hard to do once you get into the range of 10+ invitees. If you ask me, you dodged a bullet when nobody showed up.
Oh, no. It was my mother, sister and grandma. I'm single
Ah, I see. Sorry for the assumption.
Well be grateful for them anyway, because you won't always have them.
I know that's not the same, and it sucks. Trust me, I'm in the same boat. It does suck. But that's the world we live in.
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