Let's start off by making this clear: I'm a modest individual.
I don't brag, gloat or portray my confidence in a negative way. But even the most modest of people know when they are needed, and I am needed to be the planner in my group.
I realized this seven years ago, and I've hated it ever since.
Being the planner of the group is like being a parent. You have to account for everything, and when things go wrong, you're the first to get the blame.
1. You're responsible for inviting everyone.
You better make sure you don't forget a damn person, or hell will be raised.
When you are the planner, people expect to get an invite directly from you. Second-hand invites are unacceptable, and will lead people to think you intentionally forgot about them.
2. It's your fault if things don't work out.
Because you are the planner, your peers believe in you. They trust you — maybe too much.
Sometimes, they trust you to the point they don't do their own due diligence before partaking in the plans. For example, if you plan to meet at a train station and misread the times, the demise of the plans are all your fault.
Even though every single participant could have checked the train times themselves, they put their faith in your hands. Now, they are disappointed with the results.
Talk about dependency! But when you're planning an outing for a group of people, it's basically as if you are taking on the role of Eddie Murphy in "Daddy Day Care."
3. You need to plan things for everyone.
Not only are you responsible for planning your own events, people also start to ask you to plan their events as well.
You will get texts about helping people plan their birthdays, bachelor parties and even weddings. People rely on you so much, they don't even know how to go about creating a Facebook group to advertise their event.
4. Everyone blames you.
I touched on this a little earlier, but this one deserves its own section. Planning events are a lose-lose situation.
Either everything goes well and according to plan because you were stressing about it every minute of the way, or everything falls apart because you truly did not give a f*ck. And now, everyone is blaming you for the fallout of the plan.
Too high of a cover at the door of a club? Your fault. An hour and a half wait because the line was too long? Your fault. Friend left her ID at home and this place requires you to be 21? Your fault.
There's no escaping the inevitable. By the end of the night, you will be blamed for something.
5. Everyone wants to hang with you.
This is a blessing as well as a nightmare. It's nice to know people enjoy being around you, but it's the most obnoxious thing ever when people will only do something if you're involved in planning it.
How many times have you been begged to go somewhere, but when you say no, a domino effect occurs?
One friend says he's not going if you aren't going. Then the next friend says she isn't going if he's not going, and so on.
This continues until you feel your emotions spiraling into a ball of guilt, leading you to force yourself to partake in the plans.
6. You can't leave early.
Ha! Try going out and having a set time of when you want to leave. That will never work.
Even after all you have contributed to the night's festivities, people still want more. If you leave early, you're a dick. If you leave on time, you're a dick.
But if you leave after everyone else, you're fine. If anyone catches you leaving, they will harass you and make it known how it's not cool of you to leave.
7. You get sh*t for being invited to someone else's plans.
This is the worst. Sometimes, the planner actually gets invited to someone else's plans. You better hope all your friends are invited, because if one goddamn friend finds out you went somewhere and didn't invite him or her, you're f*cking dead!
Said friend will take that to the grave, and hold it over your head as long as you live. It's sad that even though you don't have the stress of making plans, you have to deal with the stress of being invited to plans.
If I could go back in time, I would have stayed in my shell and let the plans work themselves out. Too bad there's no turning back now.
The moral of the story is to keep your mouth shut, and don't ever get involved in planning things. Once you do that, you've guaranteed yourself a life full of burdens and stress.
