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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Chai_bade on 2025-07-19 02:36:00+00:00.

Not sure how I feel about this, but I’ll share with you all anyway. This happened last week and I still can’t decide if I was being thoughtful or just an idiot.

I live with three other people, and one of them let’s call him Tom. He is probably the most introverted person I’ve ever met. He’s not rude or anything, just really quiet. Like, headphones-on-while-cooking, disappears-into-his-room kind of quiet. But he’s a nice bloke. Pays bills on time, always polite, no drama.

Anyway, I found out it was his birthday coming up and I thought, “Hey, maybe we should do something for him.” I figured maybe he’s just introverted because no one ever makes an effort, right? So I planned a small surprise party at our house. Just a few people, some drinks, nothing crazy. Ordered his favourite cake (I had to casually ask him two weeks earlier what flavour he liked. He said chocolate almond). Got some decorations, invited a couple mutual friends.

So the day comes. We all hide in the living room, lights off, waiting like idiots. He walks in. We all yell “SURPRISE!”

And this man just… stares.

Like, full-on deer in headlights. No smile, no laugh, just frozen. He looks around the room, says nothing, then mumbles something like “I just need to lie down” and literally walks out of the house.

I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. He didn’t come back for four hours.

Everyone slowly left. I felt awful. When he finally came back, I tried to apologise, and he just said, “I know you meant well. But please don’t do that again.”

So yeah. Lesson learnd: not everyone wants a party. Especially not people who find group socialising to be a form of torture.

TL;DR: Tried to do something nice for my introverted roommate by throwing him a surprise party. He walked out and came back four hours later. Asked me never to do that again.