Cousin Janice calls 24 hours after Thanksgiving, demanding leftovers after she treated dinner like a drive-thru, showing up late and leaving early: ‘We were already heading to the concert, we weren’t home. She literally asked if we could come back’

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Etai Eshet • Editor
Dec 2, 2025 6:00 PM EST

Thanksgiving host puts together a small, cozy dinner after deciding to stay in town for once, and generously extends an invite to a cousin who lives nearby but never really shows up for anything. Cosuin Janice arrives just before the food hits the table, keeps her eyes mostly on her phone through the blessing and the chatter, eats, then slips out before pie because there is a movie to catch with a friend. When the host offers a take-home plate, Janice brushes it off. Not going home, not interested, already on to the next plan.

But Janice saves the wildly fun part for the next day. Late afternoon, the couple is already in the car, headed to a concert, when the phone rings. Janice casually announces she wants to swing by and grab some leftovers, like she is checking what time the store closes. She is told they are not home. Instead of saying Oh well, maybe next time, she actually asks if they can turn around and come back so she can collect her share of the food she did not want when it was offered. Getting annoyed when the answer is a very clear no.

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  • Entitled Thanksgiving guest wants to come by the day after and get some of the leftovers

    Frustrated woman outdoors holding a coffee and talking on her phone, looking upset while standing near red benches and greenery. with a quote: "She was upset when I said no, we are not turning around now just so she could get some leftovers"
    via phM2019

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Usually my husband and I travel for Thanksgiving but this year there was concert the day after Thanksgiving that we wanted to attend so we stayed home and hosted a small Thanksgiving dinner for friends and family, eight people total.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • I extended an invite to my cousin Janice (f44), whom I rarely see or speak to even though she lives less than 30 minutes away.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • Janice came, she arrived less than five minutes before I told her we were going to eat and she left before we even had pie.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • She was on her phone during the blessing and most of the time she was there.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • When she announced that she was leaving I asked if she wanted a take home meal because I was going to have plenty of leftovers.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • She said no not now, I'm not going home I'm going to meet a friend at the movie theater.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • Frustrated woman sitting at an outdoor table with a coffee, grimacing while talking on her phone in a park-like seating area with red tables.
    via phM2019

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I thought this was a little r de but I didn't say anything and she left without really saying goodbye to anyone.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • Friday late afternoon/early evening my husband and I are heading out to the concert and my phone rings, its Janice.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • She wants to swing by the house and get some leftovers from the Thanksgiving dinner. I was totally Gobsmacked, I told her no we were already heading to the concert and we were not home.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • She literally asked if we could come back so she could get some leftovers, she was miffed when I said no we are not turning around now just so she could get some leftovers.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • I told her if she wanted leftovers she should have taken them when they were offered.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • I have not heard anything any other family members, but I am sure I will at least hear from her mother, my aunt, but most of the family including my aunt, already know that Janice has never been known for her manners.
    via Wisdomofpearl

  • That’s not a misunderstanding, that’s a pattern. Someone who treats the event like an obligation and the leftovers like a right is not confused about etiquette, just very comfortable with everyone else bending around her convenience. The host deciding that future invitations no longer include Janice is not some dramatic punishment. It is just matching the energy. If someone cannot be bothered to show up fully when the table is set, they do not need a standing claim on the fridge the next day.

  • Also I will not be inviting Janice to any other events that I host.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • 2Dogs3Tents Looks like Janice just got herself blacklisted.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • New_Ice8209 Wow. I can't imagine how she would get many second invitations.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • PopJust7059 Did you tell her you left her some dishes to wash in the sink.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • whiskey4mycoffee Tell Janice she can drive her moocher a to the grocery store.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • Bitter_Sea6108 Janice!
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • camkats Just tell her after she left you sorted them all out. They are gone.
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • CuteYou676 Who taught her that it's OK to behave this way? Jeez!!! Tell your aunt, if she calls, that YOUR mother taught you that this was not the way you behave. That'll sting...
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • JayneT70 I bet Janice was on her phone the entire time she was at the movies
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • dadbodenergy11 No Janice invite next year....
    via Wisdomofpearl
  • Laslo_1970 Last time you invited her I guess?
    via Wisdomofpearl

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Tags

family drama inheritance brother thanksgiving mother tradition siblings family feud favoritism wedding aunt sister grandmother Father cousins
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