Weird Experience With New Friend

I met John at a friend’s birthday party. He was quirky, friendly, maybe a little nerdy, but for the most part seemed completely normal. After that, he kept reaching out and texting me about hanging out.

A friend of mine was DJing one night, so I decided to check it out and invited John along with two other friends. We had a good time. John seemed to be vibing with everyone, and we were having some genuinely good conversations.

Afterward, we went to a bar for a drink. A girl John had recently met ended up joining us. He seemed unsure about inviting her at first, but eventually did. She was nice enough to offer us a ride to another bar where we were meeting more of my friends.

When we got to her car, I suggested John sit in the back with me since her dog was in the front. I didn’t push it at all, but he was weirdly adamant about sitting in the front. I thought, okay, whatever. No big deal. The car ride itself was completely normal. We were talking and laughing the whole way.

When she parked, we all got out and stood around while she got her dog situated before leaving it in the car. While we were waiting, I randomly mentioned that I was hungry and jokingly said to John, “Dude, make me some tots.”

Out of nowhere, he yelled, “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO.”

My friend and I initially thought he was joking. Then he said it again. And again, this time cursing.

We were both basically like, “What the fuck?”

Then he started yelling, “You’ve been telling me what to do since we got here!”

It escalated so quickly that I genuinely thought we were about to get into a fight. I was completely caught off guard because nothing about our interactions that night had seemed tense or confrontational.

Eventually he stopped yelling, the girl came over, and we started walking toward the next bar.

Then, almost immediately, John turned to me and casually said something like, “So that was a good time. How long has your friend been DJing?” as if absolutely nothing had just happened.

I ignored him and kept walking.

What made the whole thing even stranger was that minutes later he was smiling, laughing, and talking normally with everyone else in the group. He seemed completely unfazed. I avoided him for the rest of the night.

At one point I saw him talking privately with one of my friends, and I figured he was asking whether I was pissed at him. My friend later told me that John said he likes to handle things “the old way” and “stand his ground.”

When we eventually said goodbye, I kept it very brief.

I still have no idea what triggered that reaction. Maybe he interpreted some of my joking or suggestions throughout the night as me bossing him around, but there was absolutely no indication beforehand that anything was bothering him. Going from laughing and having a normal conversation to screaming and cursing at me, then immediately acting like nothing happened, was one of the strangest interactions I’ve had with someone.

Whatever was going on, the whole thing made me uncomfortable enough that I don’t plan on hanging out with him again.