Deranged dinner party

[Anonymous]

When I was a poor young graduate student newly arrived in the US I went to a couple of dinner parties that were hosted by people from my city back home. I thought it would be a chance to make friends but wised up once the Amway pitches started 🙁

[Anonymous]

I was invited to dinner but it was actually a pitch to sell Amway to friends.

[Anonymous]

We had a toddler and got invited over at 6pm to a friend's house for dinner. We assumed we'd be eating shortly upon arrival -- they had elementary-aged kids.

Instead, we chatted, then around 7:30pm they _start_ making dinner. We're all starving. We had food for our toddler but now it's getting close to her bedtime. She cried half the way back on the 30-minute drive home, after dinner. I think we finally started driving back at 9pm, way past her bedtime.

[Anonymous]

The one where my senior faculty colleague regaled us (2 or 3 junior faculty couples, where all 3 women were academics) with tales of beating his wife, thinking he’s lost everything (she was the one with the money to subsidize their museum-quality art collection), and how surprised and grateful he was that she came back to him “purring like a kitten.”). All this performed at his house, in front of his wife (who would nod occasionally and smile.) None of us could get out of there fast enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The one where my senior faculty colleague regaled us (2 or 3 junior faculty couples, where all 3 women were academics) with tales of beating his wife, thinking he’s lost everything (she was the one with the money to subsidize their museum-quality art collection), and how surprised and grateful he was that she came back to him “purring like a kitten.”). All this performed at his house, in front of his wife (who would nod occasionally and smile.) None of us could get out of there fast enough.

Ew. this could have been my FIL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one where my senior faculty colleague regaled us (2 or 3 junior faculty couples, where all 3 women were academics) with tales of beating his wife, thinking he’s lost everything (she was the one with the money to subsidize their museum-quality art collection), and how surprised and grateful he was that she came back to him “purring like a kitten.”). All this performed at his house, in front of his wife (who would nod occasionally and smile.) None of us could get out of there fast enough.

Ew. this could have been my FIL.

Where did he teach? (Gotta know how many of these guys there are/were!)

[Anonymous]

Got invited to have dinner with a couple and once I was there they made it clear they had more than friendship in mind. I guess it also could have been the best dinner party of my life, but I was not interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one where my senior faculty colleague regaled us (2 or 3 junior faculty couples, where all 3 women were academics) with tales of beating his wife, thinking he’s lost everything (she was the one with the money to subsidize their museum-quality art collection), and how surprised and grateful he was that she came back to him “purring like a kitten.”). All this performed at his house, in front of his wife (who would nod occasionally and smile.) None of us could get out of there fast enough.

Ew. this could have been my FIL.

Where did he teach? (Gotta know how many of these guys there are/were!)

I don’t feel comfortable saying! But this is definitely a type - narcissistic, womanizing old academic dude with zero self-awareness, often sadly abetted by women of his generation conned into believing his “brilliance” makes up for the cheating and abuse. Yuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one where my senior faculty colleague regaled us (2 or 3 junior faculty couples, where all 3 women were academics) with tales of beating his wife, thinking he’s lost everything (she was the one with the money to subsidize their museum-quality art collection), and how surprised and grateful he was that she came back to him “purring like a kitten.”). All this performed at his house, in front of his wife (who would nod occasionally and smile.) None of us could get out of there fast enough.

Ew. this could have been my FIL.

Where did he teach? (Gotta know how many of these guys there are/were!)

I don’t feel comfortable saying! But this is definitely a type - narcissistic, womanizing old academic dude with zero self-awareness, often sadly abetted by women of his generation conned into believing his “brilliance” makes up for the cheating and abuse. Yuck.

Fair enough! My colleague is dead and had one daughter/no sons — which makes me guess he’s not your FIL.

[Anonymous]

Not at someone's house but my friends and I were invited to a private restaurant dinner party by some really nice guys who helped us out at the airport when our flight was cancelled. Turns out the party was all old men and prostitutes! There were 2 young guys there who I ended up talking to and found out that they were pimps. My friends and I were naive 21 year olds. We got out of there fast!

[Anonymous]

The one where the middle schooler was trotted out to play the cello he had just mutilated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one where my senior faculty colleague regaled us (2 or 3 junior faculty couples, where all 3 women were academics) with tales of beating his wife, thinking he’s lost everything (she was the one with the money to subsidize their museum-quality art collection), and how surprised and grateful he was that she came back to him “purring like a kitten.”). All this performed at his house, in front of his wife (who would nod occasionally and smile.) None of us could get out of there fast enough.

Ew. this could have been my FIL.

Where did he teach? (Gotta know how many of these guys there are/were!)

I don’t feel comfortable saying! But this is definitely a type - narcissistic, womanizing old academic dude with zero self-awareness, often sadly abetted by women of his generation conned into believing his “brilliance” makes up for the cheating and abuse. Yuck.

Fair enough! My colleague is dead and had one daughter/no sons — which makes me guess he’s not your FIL.

This is bringing me back to the mandatory and unpaid sexual harassment training I attended as a graduate student instructor at the University of Chicago. It devolved into an old white male professor doing an extended monologue about the "erotic charge of the classroom." Truly priceless.

[Anonymous]

we were invited for dinner at a couple's home, they had a little one around our child's age. when giving a tour of their home, they showed us "where the boys bunked". They had only one child (alive) the other one was a stillbirth. Very sad and heartbreaking. Except the mother clearly favored the passing baby. She felt she didn't like being a mom to young kids. she'd catch up when he was in HS.

We could. not. leave. they took SO long to create the food, to get around to serving it, etc. it was just terrible.

[Anonymous]

We were visiting friends in Florida when I was a kid. The first night my parents paid for food to barbecue--chicken, corn on the cob, a lot of other stuff (I do recall it charred, the hosts cooked). The second night they treated us. On the beach, one loaf of white bread, one pound of hamburger, and ketchup. For 4 adults and 8 kids. I was 4 and still remember both meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My boss tricked me and my fiance into a dinner party at his house. His whacko girlfriend showed us around his condo- she had taken over the whole place with her weird smelly candles that she tries to sell. Food wasn't ready for hours and we had to have awkward small talk with the boss, his GF and another couple from work who are total dorks. I was STARVING the until dinner was served at like 9pm. My fiance even tried to bail on me and the party with a lame excuse about a flood in his apartment. Our boss tried to get us to invest in his GFs candle business!! RUDE!

Then the GF started getting drunk and they started arguing about a neon beer sign being in the living room. And I think the GF once had sex with her assistant who is an aspiring musician. She put on his demo and kept swaying around the condo.

It was epically horrible and cringey and I couldn't wait to leave. The cops ended up getting called because the drunk GF broke our boss's TV. I was still hungry so we had to get takeout afterwards!

Yes, we all saw that episode, too, PP.

I didn't! What show is this from?