These Bittter Arguments Were Dealbreakers
Sometimes what seems like a simple argument turns into something so much worse.
Whether it's a grave disagreement that forever defines a line between you and your opponent, or something so non-sensical it makes you wonder if the other person is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning...it always make for an unforgettable story.
What side are YOU on in these wild arguments?
1. Locked And Loaded
My brother-in-law Sammy lost his home shortly after his divorce 10 months ago. He moved in with us and brought his twin 18-year-old daughters, Olivia and Sloane, with him a couple of months ago. His sister (my wife) and I have one 16-year-old daughter, Zoey, and she and her cousins aren't close but get along fine. There is one huge problem now.
Olivia and Sloane have no respect for Zoey's privacy, none. They used to walk into her room and take everything they could get their hands on. Makeup, phone accessories, clothes, school laptop, etc.
Zoey complained a lot and I've already asked the girls to respect Zoey's privacy and stop taking things. My wife and Sammy saw no issue with this kind of thing, though. After all, they're girls and this is typical teenage behavior.
I completely disagreed.
The last straw was when Zoey bought a $60 makeup kit that looks like a paint set that she saved up for over a month and Sloane took it without permission and ruined it by mixing shades together while using it.
I don't know much about makeup but that's what Zoey said when she found the kit on her bed and was crying. I told my wife and she said she'd ask Sloane to apologize.
I then got Zoey a lock after I found she was moving valuable belongings out of the house because of this incident. Sammy and his daughters saw the lock and weren't happy, and the girls were extremely upset. Sammy asked about it and I straight up told him. His reaction infuriated me. He said: "My daughters aren't thieves!!! It's normal that girls of the same age borrow each other’s stuff."
He said Zoey could easily get another makeup kit for 15 bucks from Walmart and shouldn't even be buying expensive makeup in the first place. He suggested my wife take care of this "defect" in Zoey's personality of trying to appear older than she is. He also accused me of being overprotective and babying Zoey with this level of enablement. But that was just the beginning.
I told him this is between me and my wife, but she shamed me for putting a lock on Zoey's door too. She said I was preventing Zoey’s cousins from "spending time" with her, saying I was supposed to treat them like daughters. She demanded I remove it, but I said the lock does not get removed until her brother and his daughters are out of our house.
She got mad I was implying we kick them out and said her family will hate me for this. so I reminded her that I let Sammy and his family move in, which is something her OWN family refused to do.
If it wasn't for her family's unwillingness to help we wouldn't be dealing with this much disturbance at home. Everyone's been giving me and Zoey silent treatment and my wife is very much upset over this.
2. What, This Old Thing?
I had a 1967 Impala four-door that I bought in February 2019. A couple of months ago, I bought my first house that had a 2.5 car garage. I moved the car in and started tearing it down for a complete restoration.
I had the body in one bay and the chassis in another, plus the whole garage filled with parts. About two months ago, my girlfriend came to live with me and the whole time, she has hated that car.
She wants to park in the garage but I have two acres of land with a lot of nice places to park under shady trees or even in the barn if it has to be inside.
I tell her tough luck, it’s my house and it’s not like I can just throw it back together real quick. Anyways I was out of town for a couple of days on a business trip for the small local company I work for.
When I got back, my girlfriend was all smiles. Making me food all the time, doing all the chores, all that. I thought maybe she just was happy to have me home. But then I made a chilling realization. I didn’t see her car in its usual spot. I asked her where she parked so I could make sure I mow that area and keep it clean, and she said not to worry…because she parked in the garage.
I asked how and she told me to go check it out. Turns out that while I was gone she hired some people to come over and move everything related to that car, including the drivetrain, body, chassis, and all parts, and take it to the local dump/scrapyard. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I had spent over 11k on that car including new parts, services, and the car itself. I knew what I had to do.
I told her that I was going to be taking her to court for that. She brushed me off like I was being dramatic. I told her that it was done between us and to pack her things and leave.
I admit I was really angry but I did end up getting a lawyer, and as I have all the receipts for all that money spent and I have her on my house's security cam footage letting the guys in and watching them take it all, I think I can win.
Her family and friends are absolutely blowing me up saying it’s just a stupid old piece of junk and that she cannot pay back all that money I spent, and that I should just let it go.
But I have been putting all my time, effort, and money into that car for a year and a half now and goddarnit if I am not going to get justice for what she did.
3. Pick On Somebody Your Own Size
I am a high schooler with a weekend job at a coffee shop. My co-workers who work weekends are: James, the owner’s son, who goes to my school. He's a shift manager but it's not a real formal thing. He's a friendly guy.
And then there’s Danielle, who is a college student who sometimes works weekends too. So, sometimes customers will come in and just be angry about such little stuff.
Like literally get angry about nothing. I don’t know if they’re in a bad mood already and looking for someone to take it out on or what, but it's a lot.
Like, how sad do you have to be to be a grown man taking your anger out on high school and college kids? Recently, James and I were joking about having a little fun with them and hopefully getting them off our backs.
So one day I was at work and some guy was having a temper tantrum about how we don't make the coffee hot enough...which I couldn't do a thing about, because I gave it to him right out of the machine. James came in and was like, "Sir is there a problem here?" and the guy started ranting at him too. Here’s where we started to turn the tables.
He looked at me and said, "This is unacceptable, you're fired." I started acting real sad, like "No please don't fire me, my family needs the money, I need this job, pleaseeee"
and he played up being mean about it, telling me to take off my apron and leave. The angry guy started to backtrack, like "It isn't that big of a problem, you don't need to fire her over it. I didn't mean it."
James was like "No, we pride ourselves on the best customer service." Of course, after all that drama I still had my job, we were just acting.
And we've done it a couple of times, whenever a customer will lose their temper at Danielle or I, James will storm in and "fire" us. And almost every time, the person who had come in angry will apologize and say that they didn't mean it.
It's kind of satisfying, making people realize their actions might actually have consequences.
4. Daddy Issues
My step-daughter, Madeline, was about a year old when I married her mother, Jessica. Madeline’s father passed before she was born. Madeline is currently 15, and she’s rebelling at almost everything.
She did something bad, so while picking her up, I set a punishment up for her. Then she said “You’re not my dad. I don’t have to follow you.”
Honestly, I got a bit hurt from that. But I understand that she didn’t mean it, and that she’d probably change. I just replied, “
I’m still your guardian for the next three years, and as long as you’re in my house, you have to follow my rules.” That happened about two days ago. So our family was going grocery shopping when Madeline said “I’m hungry. I need food.”
I decide to be extremely cheeky and say “Hi Hungry, I’m not your dad.” My son just started to laugh uncontrollably. My daughter was just quiet with embarrassment. And my wife was berating me and telling me “Not to stoop down to her level.”
I honestly thought it was a funny dad joke, and my son agrees, but who knows.