It doesn’t sound greedy – it just sounds like you are disappointed that your friends didn’t acknowledge your birthday in any way. That disappointment is understandable. But it doesn’t mean that your friends don’t care about you. It simply means that they are bad at planning and really bad at executing plans. Talk to your closest friend and say that it made you sad that no one even wished you a belated happy birthday on that Monday. Don’t mention the cake. That’s not the important part.

Maybe when they were asking about the cake they were asking what kind you were hoping you’d have at home?

What about saying in your group chat that it stinks when your birthday falls during the week because you don’t get to celebrate with your friends? And asking if they want to do something on the weekend? If you do, I still wouldn’t expect them to provide a cake or anything, or to pay for you, but maybe you could go to a restaurant where if you tell them it’s your birthday they come out and sing (you can call ahead and find out) or if you hang out at someone’s house you can grab a cake at the supermarket.

Even though it’s hard I wouldn’t take it personally, some friend groups just are really bad at this. Are you the person in your friend group who does this for others?

Sorry to be a Scrooge, but you just learned that the older you get, the less birthdays matter, and the less the people around you make a big deal out of them. Maybe it’s time to reset your expectations. I used to try to throw my own birthday parties and invite a bunch of people, but by the time I reached about age 35 I gave up, because people just have too much else going on in their lives to care about your birthday.