I think the person with the snide comment was rude. It is especially hard if (as is often the case with potlucks) the potluck was with friends or a close group working on a common goal.

Perhaps if your friend had been able to grab a couple bottles of salad dressing or made the salad at the salad bar at the grocery store with more toppings, she may have had more takers.

I am wierd when it comes to salad. I really want it to have it's own plate. Had I been at the potluck, I probably wouldn't have taken any salad because there probably wasn't salad plates.

I love it when people bring plain lettuce salad. The group we entertain eats most of it. The person who made that comment was very rude!

I would sure like to know what the rude person does with their time. If you have the day off, or don't work, then you have all the time in the world to cook and prepare. But if you work, have a family, have to drive kids, walk the dog and do some laundry before you leave, maybe salad is a pretty good dish.

I love iceberg lettuce on its own, I would have had some, and even if I did not I sure as heck would have kept my comments to myself. For crying out loud, its pot luck, it's not like there was not something else to eat.

Rose

I probably would have eaten some of the salad - I generally do that when I see something at a potluck that hasn't been touched. I agree that the rude comment was uncalled for- and the sort of thing often done by the person who didn't bring anything :-(

No one should judge what another brings to a pot luck, everyone has different abilities and resouces.

No matter what someone may think it is extremely rude and hurtful to make comments like that. It would be upsetting enough that no one ate it.

The comments about the salad were snide and uncalled for, should have kept them to themselves. But if your friend did as you said and just "threw" a few ingredients together with little thought I can see why it got the comments. If she doesn't have much time she could have used that same money she paid to purchase the ingredients and arranged to have a nice salad made up at the deli/grocery store. It's all in the presentation. If it looks like it was a last minute after thought than that is probably how people will react to it. NancyLouise

Depends on a lot of circunstances...I know people who would always do the minimum when a group at work would decide to have a pot luck...
But there's no accounting for tastes.
I was in charge of a mother, daughter, grand daughter tea as a fundraiser. I asked others in the organization to contribute either cookies, bars or tea sandwiches. I got some wonderful stuff....sandwiches decorated with edible flowers....wonderful tiny tarts....and one woman brought a big bag of those wafer cookies....the kind with white frosting in the middle and they come in white or in pink. I thought what a lazy thing to do!! But all the little girls Looooved them and they were all eaten....while I had other things left over.
I have gone to a pot luck when I know there will be small kids and taken Kraft dinner and cooked hot dogs.....
You just never know what will prove popular.
Linda C

an update
the hostess of the party called my friend and said next time dont bring anything!

Well that is without a doubt the rudest thing I have ever heard! Either there is more to this story than meets the eye or the hostess ......I use the term very loosely ....is totally without style or class! She's one to talk ...NOT!

Ditto Sharon. Comments were rude and insensitive.

Sue

Well, if the hostess would be so rude, I wouldn't bother even to bring myself to any other party she might hold. What a mean thing to do!

It could be the hostess was trying to be nice. It isn't clear that she was the one with the rude comment in the beginning. Most potlucks have at least twice as much food as is necessary. If the hostess noticed that it was apparent the friend didn't have the time or inclination to do up a dish "big" and that her feelings were hurt when people didn't appreciate what she was able to do, the hostess just might be trying to say "I really want you to come to the next potluck, but don't sweat bringing a dish if it isn't convienient." Remember, hostess says something to "friend" who tells it to SAG1 who tells it to us. Kind of like that children's game telephone.

There is never an excuse for bad manners and rude comments.
Gee, it was pot luck, not tea with the queen! Good manners don't cost a dime!

My DIL goes to the Deli and buys lots of Potato Salad and then gets a nice disposable platter for it and that is what she brings.