Is my friend a douchebag?

[WLVRYN]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. After reading the responses, I decided that even though I think he's being a douche, he's still a good friend, so I offered to pay my half. The irony is, when his wife found out this morning (they came over to watch football today), she ripped up the check and told him he was being a douche (not in so many words, but you get the point).

My buddy is now pissed at his wife and not me, and I still have my $250. I feel like Earl when the lottery ticket mysteriously blew back to him.

[Sponger15SB]

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everyone saying pay him the $250 AND end the relationship are idiots. If you're gonna end the relationship, keep the $250.

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Yeah, and he should be able to buy several used mattresses from thrift shops with that money.

[Sponger15SB]

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two weeks ago when I was drinking with friends the volunteer designated driver got a ticket for speeding, was something like 200. We all tried to chip in and give him money but he refused to take any. In summary my friends are awesome, and your friend is a big pile of horse feces.

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If your friend was going 50 in a 35 congrats on trying to throw money away, if he was going like 28 in a 25 its a bit different and I'd probably chip in as well.

Also, if he was in general a shitty driver I'd probably not chip in as he wouldn't learn his lesson if he didn't have to pay the full $200

[TheBlueMonster]

He probably feels like you abandoned him in a stressful situation. I'm sure he was upset about the accident and wan't thinking that you needed to get to your flight. All he was thinking was that you left him in a moment of stress. Obviously the money isn't the issue.

[PokerBob]

i think he's just an idiot.

[Felix_Nietsche]

His wife must have a monopoly on the brains in that family. I'm sure your friend has other positive attributes to compensate for his lack of brains....

[321Mike]

I had a similar experience. A friend and I went out to San Francisco for a wedding and shared a hotel room. We agreed he would put the room on his credit card and we would settle up when we got back home. The second night we're there, he decides he wants the TV in a different location so he tries to move it. He was quite drunk and the result was a smashed TV. The hotel wound up charging him $600 for it. We get home and I go over to settle the bill and he asks me for $550. He explains that the total bill, including the TV, was $1100 so my half is $550. I wasn't even in the room when he broke the TV so there was no way I was paying for half. We argued and I wound up walking out without paying him anything.

Later, I started thinking about why he would ask me for the money I clearly shouldn't owe. He seemed to spend pretty freely and had a nice apartment so I always assumed he was in good shape financially. Then I thought that maybe he was an idiot with money and was spending money he really couldn't afford. Maybe his wife didn't come to the wedding because they couldn't afford an extra plane ticket (I had previously assumed it was because she just didn't like his college buddies). Maybe he split a hotel room with me because he was broke, but didn't want to seem that way. I started to imagine that maybe he couldn't pay his rent this month if I didn't give him the $550 and that's why he was being such a jerk.

I called him up and told him I would give him the $550. He was happy and told me to stop by the next day. I went the next day and gave him the $550 feeling like a really good friend for helping my buddy out and saving his pride. He took the money, said thanks, and then took me out to the garage to show me something and this exchange occurred:

Douchebag: Check it out, I bought a Harley!
Me: Umm, why are there two?
Douchebag: My wife said she might want to learn to ride so I bought one for her!

At that point, I did not punch him in the face and take my money back, but I have always wished that I had.