Recently my girlfriend and I have been having a few issues. Nothing major, just bickering all the time due to (the old expression springs to mind "women from Venus, men from Mars").
As it was coming up to her 50th birthday I thought I would do something extra special for her, especially as we were not getting on recently.
I decided to organise a big surprise party for her, at her son's place.
I spent approx 6 weeks contacting her family, friends, work colleagues, ex-work colleagues from all over UK.
I knew she wanted the latest iPad so I got one, which would be from her kids and myself.
On the day of the party we decorated the place with banners, balloons etc.
The party was a huge success. She had never suspected anything all these weeks. She was overwhelmed to see all her family and friends past and present, and genuinely touched that I'd gone to all this effort.
I did'nt think I'd done anything wrong, but a few days after the party she dropped me a bombshell!
She commented there were no drinks she liked at the party, which was not nice as her son went out earlier to get loads of drink, plus guests brought drinks with them.
She also commented I should have fetched her a drink when she asked for it!
When I told her how much work went into organising the party her comment was “anyone can organize a party”.
I bought her a temporary sleeve for the iPad to stop it getting scratched until I get a decent one for her. I explained this to her but she gave it back to me, saying she wanted a decent case.
There was also a mix-up with the iPad gift. Her daughter told her that the iPad should have been from the kids only, and I should have got a separate gift from myself. I was not aware of this, nor the 2 sons. The iPad was £400 so I naturally assumed it would be split 4 x £100 between the kids and myself.
As you can imagine, I was speechless and confused after she said all this. I told her to leave me alone for a while.
After I'd gathered my thoughts I wrote her a letter to explained how disgusted I was with her behaviour.
She contacted me a few days later to apologise, but I still could not get her to understand how wrong it is to complain about petty things when someone has made so much effort. Socially it is a complete no-no. I am still finding it hard to get over this. Her brother told me recently he thinks she has mild Aspergers, which could account for her lact of tact? Not sure.
Can anyone give me their thoughts on this? Am I overreacting? Is her behaviour justified? How would others have handled this situation?