Wth??

I will give you my number, have them call and speak to my cat! He will explain to them that humans don't care if pets eat their food too quickly. He will explain this because tomorrow before I leave I will fill his bowl with enough food for the weekend. If he eats it the first day well I guess he will diet after that.

I think the thing that would irritate me is unless they have been gone for a month they didn't have enough food to begin with and then blamed the kid and now are trying to drag you into the drama.

I was trying to think why they didn't just have the parents of the kid pick up dog food, after all their kid "messed up". Do you think perhaps because if they laid this bull on the kids parents the first thing out of the kids mouth would be BS! mom, there was only a cup of food there the first day!!

Meh. Just go to bed. Get the dog food in the morning when you're out. Like the dog is going to starve to death between now and then?? Yes, the whole thing is BS.

I'd call her and say "sorry, can't do it tonight. But if you'd like me to do this favor for you tomorrow morning I'd be more then happy too. Or if that doesn't work here's another suggestion- why doesn't the kid who's dog sitting or his parents get the food if the kid needs it to feed the dogs tonight." And leave it at that. I would NOT be doing anything for someone who needed me for something and TOLD me I was going to do it. Yeah, not gonna happen. But that's just my opinion.

only thought here: you asked her if it was o.k.....& then didn't like the answer you were given.

next time, don't ask!

in a situation like this, we always help....because that next call may be our turn asking for help. It's all part of friendship, part of family.

& not judging you...simply answering your question! :)

Pets can easily go a day without food when their human isn't home, they usually just sleep. I'd not stress on it. I'd also tell them to call the kid and make him figure it out.
And
Go to bed.

Yeah.. in general it is BS. And I would be totally ticked if anyone called me up (or texted, even worse) and demanded that I do something like that. I'm also going to assume here, that she didn't talk to you before leaving for her trip about possibly doing this... right?
But, as Sue has pointed out, instead of saying, "I can't do that tonight, but I don't mind getting it and taking it over in the morning. Would you still need me to do it then, or will you have made other arrangements?"
OR
"Can't that wait until the morning?" and when she said no, then followed with "I can't tonight." (which is how I would have handled it if it were me)... instead.. you ASKED her if it was "ok" for you to wait until morning. Basically, you acknowledged her demand, accepted it, and then asked for permission to change the "agreement". Even when she responds with "...if it's not a problem", you don't follow up with "Yes, it is a problem." You get angry and tell yourself "now I need to go out at 10 pm..."

Your friend is rude and presumptuous. But, you don't stand up for yourself.

I think it was all in the delivery, Molly. Men sometimes write like this, but women?

Her request should have been more like a request than a demand.

I would totally do this favor for any of my friends (and I have). But my friends let me know how much they appreciate, and they ASK instead of demand.

Sounds like they take your friendship for granted. Up to you how you want to go forward with the friendship.

I admit that if someone felt this way about ME asking for a favor, I would be mortified and would never ask them for a favor again. Not because I would be mad at them, but because I would be mortified.

I just wonder if they have a CLUE how they came across with this.

Dawn

I would tell her to turn around, touch the ground, shake her booty and then to kiss mine! The dog can wait until tomorrow!

That's what friendship is all about.

I once went out at 3 AM during a blizzard to pick up a friend from work because her car wouldn't start.

Remember in the words of Radar O'Reilly (from M*A*S*H) "Dogs are people too."

She asked you in the morning... the dog needs to eat and she is out of town. I would go get the dog food, rude friend or not. Really, the kid should get the food, but who knows what that story is like. Also.. maybe they didn't provide enough food, and are blaming the kid saying he overfed. Who knows?

My friends and I do weird favors for each other, but we either ask or in one case, tell them we're doing it whether they like it or not (in the case of a friend who was sick and I told her I was coming over to feed her kids while she took a bath) but the way she told you you had to go get food for her dog was pretty rude.

What kind of friend TELLS someone to do this?

Not any kind of "friend," I'd ever tolerate. Yes, it's BS! It's rude, entitled, and not very friend like.

I wonder why they did not have the "Kid" and his parents go and get the food?

I would not have called them to ask about getting it in the morning, I would have just on my own go in the morning, if i was as tired as you say..

I am one of those people, that others call to do these favors for. i do not mind, but I also do not watch 5 kids all day!

I think it depends on the friendship. I would do a favor like this for my best friend or a close friend (even if it was a big pain) but I would be annoyed if a casual friend called out of the blue with a request like that. Consider it stacking up good karma and then call this friend when you need an inconvenient favor in return.

That is BS. Just go to bed and do it in the morning like you said you would since you'll already be out and about. Your friend needs to get off their high horse and realize they can go one night without food. They'll survive.

Who knows what has happened. Does seem there hasn't been the greatest communication by either of you. I think there is more to this story and not necessarily the dog owners fault. We just returned a few days ago from a 4 day camping trip. I measured out how much food there was total to make sure as I can never just look at the bag and tell. There was well over twice as much needed for the 4 days. Almost all the food was gone when we got back so the dogs were fed over twice as much as they should be. Not a problem since it was just 4 days but I thought it a little funny.....guess the amount seems to small if you dont' have a dog? Anyway, Sorry this is a pain for you, hope it's resolved and you know what to say next time to avoid this.

I would have just done it in the first place. Maybe they ran out yesterday and tonight is kind of the breaking point where the dog really needs the food.

My love language is "acts of service" though so I would have felt good about doing it, even if it was a pia.

I was watching a friends cat while she was on her honeymoon and she didn't leave enough for the full week. To top it off, the cat only ate SPECIAL food that cost $40 for like 12 cans and had to be bought at a specific store. (the cat was beyond geriatric...) I bought the food and never got paid back for it.

So things could be worse.

How good a friend is this? Is her demanding tone because she was in a panic, or does she often take advantage of you? Would she have done this for you? If the answers are very, this is out of character, and yes, then I would just do it and forget about it. If those aren't the answers, I would probably still do it, but then I would reevaluate the friendship.

Had she started with "I really need a favor.....could you please help me out...." that would have been received much better than a demand. At least I would have responded much better. When a demand is laid on me I automatically get irritated and start to retreat.

I don't mind doing favors for friends, however I need to be asked rather than told - and if the later happens, I'm likely not going to be available for a future favor!!!!

Umm no its your friend... I've literally given the shirt off my back and the gloves off my hands for my friends.

Would've done it, but it would've been nice to have her ask a little more politely.

I probably would have just done it in the morning instead or asked my husband to do it on his way home. Hopefully your friend will bring you a nice souvenier and remember to either have a more responsible person feed the dog, buy extra food before leaving, or hire a house/pet sitter!

I would have waited til the am... IF the child over-fed the dog, then surely the dog would have been ok until morning in that it did have lots of food.. Hey, just my opinion..

No, it's not BS. It's helping a friend out in a desperate situation and making sure that a furry family member of hers is being taken care of properly. She knew (or thought) she could count on you without you bitching about it and thinking she was out of line for asking for help with her specific request.

I would have gone further and informed the boy that's watching the dog that he's being relieved of duty and then taken over to make sure the dog isn't continuously overfed until they return home. You know, since you know the boy can't do the job properly and the dog could get sick.

One answer,"YES"....See now she demands you to go out that night and get dog food, I would wait until morning how would she know.and I would give the boy the boot and tell him to walk.....

You are so much nicer than me! I would have said, "I'm not able to go tonight but will go tomorrow." Done. My freaking mom *forgot* to feed our dog for 3 days while we were out of town. He was fine when we got back...hungry, but fine. LOL! =)

I think you could've waited until morning, yes. Especially when, if the kid is overfeeding the dog, the dog is not going to suffer a few hours off. Hopefully you had the foresight to leave a note for the kid on how much daily the dog should get. The next time the dog is out for 'relief' is bound to be a lot of it.

I also think you're overreacting. It's not a big deal.

Updated

I think it's prudent here with all these answers to point out a serious medical affliction that several dog breeds can suffer, so that it really is a serious matter to monitor how much the dog eats.

If anyone has had a dog that suffered from bloat, it is not a fun thing. I had a 6 month old pup get it, and I lost my beloved Irish Setter to it.

Bloat can happen from over eating, too much water, running around (sometimes that doesn't need to be a factor), and somehow the stomach flips over. What happens is that anything in the stomach breaks down, gases start to build. With the stomach flipped over, the animal doesn't have a means to throw up or poop out. And the gases continue to build, putting pressure on vital organs. Untreated the animal is history. And for a breed Setter size, that's about 2 hours. Smaller breeds have less.

So this kid could potentially have unwittingly created/caused a potentially dangerous risk.

Yeah, I DO think it's BS. There's no reason why it couldn't have waited til morning. I wouldn't have gone.

Sounds like the dog would've been fine for awhile since he ate two days worth of food in one sitting. I would've just said no, I can't do it tonight, but I can do it in the morning. If she had a problem with it, she could've called someone else.

Just out of curiosity, had she asked you in a more apologetically polite fashion, would you have done it without reservation? Have the two of you done other favors for each other? If the answer is yes, then I would chalk up the impropriety of the original request to them being stressed and rushed, and I'd do the favor with no hard feelings. If the answer is no because you don't have that type of friendship or you're not the type of person who does things like this, well, I'd still do it, but I'd be sorta pissed too.