People Get Spirited In These 'Am I The Jerk?' Stories

"Yesterday I (F17) went out to a friend's (F17) birthday party. We'll name her Maddy. My mom(F42) took me to her house and dropped me off at around 6:10 pm. Me and Maddy went to the back and there was a really nice and comfortable shack that looked really nice and cluttered. Her family welcomed me and offered me food, it was nice and I enjoyed being out of the house for a while because I never go out or even leave my room much so this was an experience I didn't want to miss by being on my phone so I left it on a table somewhere so I wouldn't go on it. At around 7:30, they started karaoke, and it was loud but really fun and funny because they would play songs that I never heard of but there were tipsy old people singing. I had a blast and forgot all about time and my phone. Maddy offered for me to sing and I declined because I didn't want to sing in front of people I didn't know as I'm still a teen and have voice cracks here and there. They were understanding and kept joking about how they'd make me sing and everyone was free to shout and sing regardless of skill, I really laughed and it felt welcoming and I got comfortable. At around 8:30 I began to realize that the sun was down and I didn't know if my mom had to work so I went further back and grabbed my phone, realizing that I forgot to charge it before this party so it was at 9%, I asked my mom if she had work and she did. I knew she was tired, and I didn't want to bother her, so she had my stepfather (M29) pick me up. With my phone being at 1% I asked him to honk when he gets here and just as I sent him the address, my phone died so I have zero ways of communicating with him now. At 9:14 he honked and Maddy heard it. They were doing karaoke so it was harder for me to hear but I'm glad they did. As we were walking on the wet grass because it just rained and it was really dark, we saw his truck and he was telling me to hurry up and basically run to the truck because they had work at 10 and it takes them 15 minutes to get there. I tried to walk faster and almost slipped but I got in the truck and we drove off. No hug no goodbyes. As we were driving, he started to yell at me that I should've been faster and should've responded to my mom faster and that just because I "like" being late doesn't mean they don't and that I'll never go out like this again. (This was my 3rd time going to a birthday party in my life and I never had this until now) and that I'm a jerk because I wasted their time to come get me. I held my composure for the whole ride and felt a little scared for my life because he was speeding to get home but when I got home and into my room, I broke down. I just wanted to have fun and not be on my phone at the party because I wanted to spend time with my friend so AITJ for going to a friend's birthday party?" Another User Comments: "YTJ for framing the question this way. Nobody is mad that you weren’t on your phone the whole party. They are annoyed that you were not responsible enough to charge your phone before you left the house and keep in touch about a ride home. Any parent would be annoyed about being made late to work because their kid didn’t plan how they were getting home from a party." BaconEggAndCheeseSPK Another User Comments: "YTJ. This isn't about you not being on your phone enough. This is because you left your phone in another room so if your parents had to contact you you wouldn't know. Then when you knew your stepdad was on his way you went to the backyard where you couldn't hear if he honked knowing your phone was dead. You're minimizing what you did as if you had your phone on you and you didn't hear it but in reality, you consistently put yourself in positions where you couldn't be contacted. While not the worst person in the world in the particular situation you were in the wrong." Apart-Scene-9059 Another User Comments: "You weren't NTJ for going to a party, but you were by bringing your phone that wasn't charged 100% and not having it near and checking once every so often to see if your mother needed to contact you. She is your mother and your ride after all, you would think you would want to make sure you would be able to answer her. And be able to call her back. You were irresponsible in your actions and you got yelled at for it." PumpkinPowerful3292