There are some arguments that are so big, it’s hard to know who actually has a leg to stand on. Then again, other bizarre disagreements are so clearly lopsided, we can’t help but root for the good guy to emerge justified and victorious. Either way, it’s always incredibly satisfying to sit in the peanut gallery watching other people’s problems—and these Redditors more than provide.
1. Old Enough To Know Better?
I have three kids: a 15-year-old girl, a 12-year-old girl, and a seven-year-old boy. My oldest has always been a cuddler, and that suits me fine because I am too. Recently my in-laws were over and we were all watching a movie together. It was a kid's movie, and so my 15-year-old was bored out of her mind and tired, so she started to snuggle up to me and go to sleep.
After the movie was over, we sent all the kids to bed and sat around chatting for a bit longer. There was a fair bit of drinking involved (I was sober though), and eventually, after a short silence, my father-in-law made a shocking criticism: He told me that it was inappropriate that I still cuddled with my daughter. I don't really know why he brought it up suddenly, but I was prepared to laugh it off and just assumed it was the drinking.
To my surprise, my wife and mother-in-law both agreed with him. I have a lot of respect for my in-laws, I get along with them great and I consider them closer than my own parents. Obviously, I'm quite fond of my wife as well, but I outright told them to screw off and then left them and went to bed. I've never spoken to any of them like that before, but it felt like the right thing to say in the moment.
They all want me to apologize for being so rude to them.
1. The Wrong Kind Of Love
I believe it started when I was around six years old. My parents often had "friends" over in the house. I didn't know they were polyamorous. One day, I was outside playing, got hurt, and when I ran inside I caught my parents making out with some random guy. They told me they have other adults that they love and it's a completely normal thing. Me being a child, I just accepted that. But the thing is, it was far worse than it seemed.
They gave up being secretive and their partners would constantly be around, even joining on outings. I remember that on my 10th birthday they invited three of their partners, one of whom I'd never seen before, and for the rest of the day my parents just withdrew from my party and hung out with them. I never saw them doing anything explicit again but they would kiss their partners, hug them, make flirty comments, something that would be normal between parents but not with many more people.
Sometimes I came home from school and my parents were gone and there was some random adult in our house. Some of them seemed surprised that my parents even had a child. I always hated it, but since my parents had told me this was normal, I assumed many adults probably did similar things and that it's just an adult thing all kids hate. Later they had fewer partners and eventually seemed to stop.
I didn't think about it anymore. A year ago I started therapy for other reasons. As per usual, the topic of my upbringing came up and it brought back many feelings I wasn't aware of. I realized that although my parents were always good to me, I had never really felt close to any of them and still have a lot of resentment that they made me feel like I had to compete for their attention with random strangers.
A while ago, I visited them and they told me they are going to take part in a documentary about polyamorous families and that the producers would like to include interviews with the children, so they would love if I could agree and tell everyone that polyamory "doesn't mess kids up". All my resentment bubbled up, and I exploded.
I said that I cannot agree because I would not be able to say anything positive. My parents looked shocked (I had never brought this up before) and asked why, and I unloaded all of it. I said that I always felt pushed aside and we barely had any family time without strangers intruding. It turned into an argument and I became loud and yelled that the truth is they did mess me up and they shouldn't have had a child if their number one priority was their other partners.
My mother cried and my father said I should probably leave. So I left and was shaken up for the rest of the week but also felt regret because I've never made my mother cry before. Later my father sent me a message that was like "We are sorry you feel that way, can we have a calm discussion about this soon?" Even though I tried to, it's like I can't reply, this argument brought something very emotional up in me.
2. Jealous, Much?
I’m 16, and I started dating my girlfriend two years ago. I also got super super into baking around that time. I bake a lot. My girlfriend loves desserts. So I've given her a ton of stuff I bake, all kinds of different stuff. I often try to bake something new and then she gets to try something new. I honestly love baking way more than eating it. My girlfriend is the opposite.
Well, recently she gave me a scrapbook she made. She had counted everything I baked her apparently, and she gave me this scrapbook after I baked her her 100th dessert. It was filled with a picture of every dessert I've baked and pictures of me baking and her eating. She wrote a paragraph about each item I baked. Each item was dated, too. She had been working on this for two years.
She also wrote a long letter on how proud she is of my baking hobby, thanking me for the sweets, and telling me how much she loves me. It was the sweetest gift I've ever gotten and I honestly cried. I showed my mom and sister expecting them to think it’s cute but they were furious. They were angry I've spent so much time baking for my girlfriend and not them.
3. Facing Up To It
I sustained very bad injuries to my face this month. I'm in the stage of healing where the scar tissue has formed, but it's still very tender "new skin". I'm going to have very obvious facial scarring for the rest of my life. The injury starts about an inch above my hairline, goes down over my brow. Wherever it touches, hair will not grow. It continues down my cheek where it is deepest.
I'll always probably have an indentation in the fullest part of my cheek. Then it continues to my jawline. In some ways it's OK. I'm happy it's just cosmetic damage. My friends are super reassuring, telling me how sick it's gonna look. They say I'm still as hot as ever, now a little more sexy and mysterious, hah. But in some ways it really sucks.
I know that I'm always gonna be seen first as "the girl with the scar" and it feels especially bad when people look at me differently. This week, I had to fly home for a family thing; it was a plan I'd made long before my injury. I wasn't really looking forward to the pity or people making a big deal of it. I'd rather it not be acknowledged.
I'd also met with my dermatologist who said that I was at the stage of scar tissue formation that I no longer should be dressing the wounds. The skin was healing and instead I needed to be applying topical cream and Vaseline to keep the site clean and moist. It also looks a bit ugly; the building scar tissue is very red and tender, and with the Vaseline over it, looks slick and shiny.
So I get on this flight. I have the window seat and I put on my headphones and drift off to sleep when the plane is still boarding. It went more horrible than my worst nightmare. I wake up to this kid, maybe four years old, sat next to me and throwing a tantrum. I didn't catch the first part of it and I honestly couldn't understand what he was yelling about.
Then his father said to me, "Can you cover that injury?" I said that my dermatologist recommends I don't, so no I don't think I will. He started snapping at me saying "There is no need to be so rude. That injury is scaring my little one". I said, "This is my face. The only face I've got. It sucks being told I'm so ugly I can't show my face in public".
He started to backtrack saying, "just until it's healed," and I said, "It'll always be with me. Maybe teach some compassion and respect instead of telling a girl half your age what you think about her face. That's rude". He actually got up after that and I think he went to see the stewardess about a seat change because a young couple came to sit next to me instead.
I felt so low that I put on my sunglasses and had a quiet cry for a few minutes.
4. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
I always tell my daughter and my stepdaughter if they're ever in a situation that they need to get out of, just call me and I'll drop whatever I'm doing and I will pick them up, no questions asked, no judgments made. I let them know that I used to be a teenager once before, and told them everyone is entitled to make bad decisions every now and then.
We're only human and it's a part of life. Last weekend I got a call from my 17-year-old stepdaughter. She told me she snuck out of the house and went to a party and had too much to drink. She was scared of passing out at the party because there were people there she didn't know. I got there just in time, she was so gone she couldn't even walk.
I had to pick her up and carry her to the car. I told her I was disappointed that she snuck out, but I also told her I was glad she made the right choice, the safe choice to have me pick her up. I haven't told my wife about it, because I don't want to mess with the deal I made with my stepdaughter. I want her to know that she can trust me. I just hope I'm making the right choice.
5. Give An Inch, Take A Mile
My sister is a train wreck. She needed a place to stay and I have a large enough home for an extra person. She has no job or income. I told her she has a few months to get her stuff together and leave. I give her about $100 a week to keep my house clean so she has some cash. I gave my sister her $100 this last time and she said I owed her more. I was confused.
She said she did other "work" for me. I asked her what more did she do? She said she walks my dog in the afternoon. I walk my dog every morning and evening, but she takes him with her on her afternoon walks. She said the going rate for a dogwalker is $25 per walk. 5 X $25 = $125 on top of the $100. Then she mentions she put together a scrapbook of personal letters and papers. According to her and Etsy, that job was easily another $75.
I told her I never gave her permission to do those things. Her argument is that those jobs fell under the umbrella of keeping the house clean and I was ripping her off. So I threw her out. The money isn't the issue. I have plenty of disposable income. I was disgusted how she came at me.
6. Doing The Right Thing
I have a friend named Aysha. We are both teenagers. Aysha is Muslim and wears a hijab to school, which often causes people to give her dirty looks, comments, etc. Anyway, the worst instance possible was with this girl named Megan. When we were sitting together at lunch she came up to Aysha and I and told Aysha she dared her to take her hijab off, taunting her and saying she would look so pretty without it.
This was absolutely done with malicious intent. But the worst was yet to come. Then she forcibly tried to remove her hijab. I moved her hand away and we went to the principal. Instead of getting a punishment, Megan made up a sad story about how it would harm her position on some prestigious soccer club she was in. Fast forward to a few days ago.
She makes a TikTok that said, "When you get called to the principal’s office for telling the Muslim girl to take off her durag". I was so livid for her. Aysha is very shy and didn’t want to seem like a buzzkill, so she asked me personally to email the soccer organization. Well, I did, and Megan was immediately kicked off and other organizations in the area were notified of her behavior.
Now, all of her friends are saying how horrible I am, how I need to take a joke, etc. My parents think I should have stayed out of it. But I did the right thing.
7. The Cheese Stands Alone
I’m lactose intolerant. Every time I make tacos, my boyfriend always makes jokes about how I’m "disrespecting Mexican culture" by not having cheese in my tacos. I’ve told him multiple times I’m not going to give myself a bad time just to make him feel better about my tacos. He's not even Mexican, he's white. This came to a head last night when we were having tacos again.
I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back, I noticed my taco looked tampered with. I go to inspect, and lo and behold, there’s cheese buried underneath the other ingredients. I told my boyfriend he was a raging jerk and went to bed, leaving him to do the cleanup. I still haven’t spoken to him all morning, and he’s complaining about how I "forced" him to do the dishes because normally I do them.
8. Speaking In Tongues
Last week, a new colleague, Cathy, started at my workplace. She instantly stood out in the team, because she seems like someone who is very...loud and assertive? Two of my colleagues, me, and Cathy, were having coffee in the break room. We were the only ones in there and we were sitting far apart. The subject of travel was brought up.
My colleague said she wasn't booking trips anymore because it'll probably get canceled anyway. Cathy, immediately cut in about how sad she is because she travels so often and she goes on these far "exotic" trips to Europe as her hobby. When I think exotic I think the Bahamas or something instead of Europe, but cool. Cathy then jokes about how all this "no travel business" is making her fear that she'll lose some of her foreign language skills.
I asked what languages she spoke. She claimed to be fluent in three European languages, among which were French and Dutch. Cathy said she was "at a native speaker level" and went on about how people in Europe were always surprised when they found out she wasn't from there. I was excited because I never get to speak Dutch over here.
I was raised in Belgium, which has three national languages: French and Dutch (which are my mother tongues and the most commonly spoken there) and German. It's quite common to be pretty fluent in at least two out of the three languages in Belgium, because you're required to learn them at school (along with English) from a young age.
I told Cathy "Oh leuk, dan hebben we iets gemeenschappelijk!" ("Oh fun, we have something in common then!"). I never could have predicted how this backfired. She immediately pulled this sour face and asked me if that was supposed to be Dutch. I said yes. She laughed awkwardly and said she "couldn't understand because I have a terrible accent and must not be that good at speaking it".
Now see, I don't have an accent. I speak Dutch more fluently than I speak English. I told Cathy that I grew up speaking Dutch and speak it to my family all the time. She got miffed and asked what languages I speak and where I'm from. I told her I'm from Belgium, so I also speak French and I added "Which you just said you speak as well, cool! We can speak French instead!"
I acknowledge that I was a bit of a jerk here because by that point I knew she probably lied about speaking French as well. She then shoved her chair back and angrily got up, said "whatever" and stomped off. It was awkward. My other colleagues just kind of shrugged and said she shouldn't have lied. However, she later approached me and told me I embarrassed her by acting "superior" about my European heritage.
I told her there was no way for me to know she'd lied about speaking those languages. She rolled her eyes and told me I was immature. A colleague told me that Cathy had called me a "little witch who enjoys taunting new colleagues" behind my back later. I don't think I was being a jerk at all, but I don't want this to turn into a huge thing. Do I just apologize to keep the peace?
9. Party Foul
For reference, my brother Connor is 19, I am 26, and my (now ex) fiancé Hunter is 28. Also for reference, my brother was kicked out when he was 16 because our parents snooped through his phone and found out he was gay. Connor had a birthday last weekend, so he invited his friends over and they were all drinking and playing games.
Hunter and I were about to head out to let them have the place to themselves when Connor asked if we wanted to join them. I initially refused (bit too old to be playing drinking games), but he insisted and Hunter thought it’d be fun to act like college students again. We all got pretty tipsy and Connor had the idea of playing Never Have I Ever. A few rounds in, the statement "Never Have I Ever cheated before" came up.
Now’s a good time to mention that Hunter is staunchly against cheating. His ex-fiancé cheated on him and it emotionally wrecked him. And unfortunately, as a lot of dumb, immature 17-year-olds do, I cheated on my "boyfriend" of five months. It was a stupid mistake, he found out, and (understandably) ended things. This was almost a decade ago, I obviously learned my lesson, and look back at that time with shame.
I’ve never cheated since. Well, my brother knows about this so when I didn’t drink, he went, "What the heck? You know you cheated on (insert ex’s name). You have to drink to that!" My boyfriend paused, looked at me, looked at him, and just walked out of the room. I followed him and tried to talk to tell him that it was a stupid teenage mistake, but he wasn’t having any of it and ended things on the spot.
I’m numb. I’m heartbroken. He was my everything and more and I still don’t know how I’m going to move on. Connor tried to apologize, but I feel nothing but sadness and emptiness. This morning I served my brother an eviction notice. He begged me to stay and said he didn’t mean to ruin my relationship and he just didn’t think when he said those words.
I just can’t look at him right now. He ruined my life. After I raised him and cared for him like he was my own. I feel so hurt. Am I being unreasonable?
10. Getting Catty
The past couple of months, my wife has been complaining about our cats. She’s been claiming that the cats wake her up constantly and that she’s frustrated every night that she "has to get up and open the door for the cats," or "the cats keep making noises," or "the cats keep jumping on her". It got to the point where she started saying she wants me to get rid of them.
I told her I’ve never seen or heard any of this, but she claims I sleep through it all. She kept telling me she was getting less and less sleep and kept acting aggressive, blaming lack of sleep on the cats, and saying that if I didn’t get rid of them, she’d leave me. I legitimately started considering giving the cats to my sister. And then I noticed a detail that changed everything.
One morning, she claimed she had gotten up multiple times throughout the night to help the cats. She listed a bunch of times. I thought it was weird, because I had been up until 4 am and she claimed that she "got up at 1 am to open the door for them, and a few times around 3 am because they were meowing and jumping on her". I was in the bedroom the entire time while she slept, and I know none of that happened.
Things weren’t adding up, so I decided to run a test. I waited until she said she was going to bed, then I let the cats out of our bedroom, lowered my phone brightness, and faked going to sleep. I just laid there in bed for the entire night, bored, but I definitely did not fall asleep. I made sure to make timestamps every 30 minutes on my phone through Discord just to be sure.
I marked down every noise my cats made. One cat had jumped down from something and made a little sound at 3:18 am, and one ate food relatively quietly by the bedroom door at 4:57 am. Other than that, nothing happened. Sure enough, my wife slept from 11 pm until 9 am, and that morning she claimed she had woken up "at least seven times" to open doors and from cat noises and cats jumping on her.
At this point, I was angry she was clearly lying to me. I was exhausted and fed up with the lies, so I just bluntly called her out on it. I told her, "That’s funny. I stayed up all night to monitor the cats, and they weren’t even in the room at all last night. I have timestamps and everything. So you’ve been lying to me and trying to convince me to get rid of my cats? Why?" I couldn’t believe her response.
She just sat there quietly shaking, then got up and left without answering. She came back hours later and ignored me whenever I talked, and when I asked her how I’m the bad-guy in this situation, she finally said that I was treating her like a child by lying about sleeping and staying up all night just to see if she was lying or not and that making timestamps and everything as if I was an investigator. She said I was "going too far".
I did it because she was threatening to make me get rid of my cats or she’d leave me, and her claims didn’t add up. Anyway, I got a call from the hospital this morning, asking me to head over for some "family therapy". Apparently she finally wanted to talk. She revealed the reason at last, and it made me want to scream. She’s not cheating. She’s not sick physically or mentally. She’s not bored of the relationship and looking for an "out".
According to her, one of the cats stepped on her laptop and ruined a story she was writing. She’s hated both cats ever since. I mean that sucks, but it’s not worth trying to emotionally blackmail me into getting rid of them. I asked her why she didn’t just tell me the truth and why she’d been lying and refused to talk about it when I’d asked.
Her answer was "Because you wouldn’t have gotten rid of them otherwise". She explained that when she saw I wasn’t willing to abandon them for her, she took offense and made it a "goal" to have me pick her over them. Sickening. Don’t know why she actually admitted to it all. The woman with us asked me how I felt about all of it, and I just told the truth.
I told her it was a nice run, but I’m probably going to want a divorce. I was asked why, and I told them. I’ve seen a new hateful, malicious side of her that I want nothing to do with. She was so set on getting rid of the cats over a fanfiction being ruined that she manipulated her husband. My wife started shouting at me that I’ve betrayed her and that I’m "scum" for choosing animals over her.
At least cats don’t give ultimatums like she gave. I’m almost sure I’m going for divorce. I’m very worried about having her in the same house as my cats. I want my cats safe. I don’t want to worry about them being harmed or "disappearing". Screw that. Not how I wanted it to end, but life isn’t always nice.
11. A Time And A Place
While sitting next to my girlfriend on a plane I was bored and looking at the maps are that are found in the back of the airline magazines. A conversation led to her revealing that she did not know where Florida was on the map. Keep in mind, she had graduated a private high school and is currently going into her senior year of college. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The conversation progressed further, and I discovered that she couldn't point out AUSTRALIA either. I was visibly astonished at this revelation and essentially said, "...are you kidding". She immediately got defensive, calling me a jerk for making her feel stupid. I do feel bad for making her feel stupid, although I feel as if my reaction to her not being educated on such elementary topics was warranted and may even be a wake-up call for her to learn some basic geography...
12. A Face In The Crowd
So my last name is Doe. It hasn't affected my life much apart from occasionally being called "Dodo" while growing up or friends spelling it "D'Oh" as a joke, and I'm generally pretty neutral about it. My wife is six months pregnant and wants to name our future son after her grandfather, who passed from cancer in September. His name was John.
I liked her grandfather, and I know he and my wife were very close, but I won't even consider it, not even for our son's middle name. I feel that's just setting him up for a world of problems, especially when he grows up and has to apply for jobs. Nobody's going to believe "John Doe" is his real name. My wife thinks I'm being a jerk for vetoing a name with a strong family connection and says I'm exaggerating the issues he would face.
13. A Real Spoiled Brat
My wife and I have been married for 18 years. We have our 16-year-old daughter who has been dating a slightly shy and awkward young man for around three to four months now. He seems very nervous around my daughter and has admitted in a passing comment here and there to my wife and I that he can’t believe she agreed to date him and he thinks she’s way out of his league.
He seems very respectful, just shy. My wife is usually an independent, awesome woman and her ideals align closely with mine, particularly in terms of feminism and equality. We have both striven to raise our daughter to be as independent and capable as possible. Since my daughter has been dating this kid, my wife has changed considerably and has given our daughter advice that has left me with raised brows more than once.
Some of the advice I’ve heard my wife give is "Oh it’s cute for boys to pay for everything, especially in your first relationship!" Or "Oh honey, don’t worry about that, he can pay for you, if he really liked you he would". I’ve tried to balance this out by telling my daughter straight away, "Two people in a partnership should be contributing equally," and my personal favorite, "If someone asks if they can take you out to dinner, it’s reasonable to expect them to pay, but if someone asks you to grab dinner with them, it’s reasonable to split the payment".
I figured that would be an easy way for a young person to understand the difference. But disturbing things are happening. I’ve now noticed my daughter becoming more and more entitled with her boyfriend’s money. She talks about him like, "Oh I’ll just ask him to pay for x". It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. She has also flippantly bragged about and mentioned that she gets him to buy gift cards for her.
Worst of all, she does it by mentioning her mother’s advice, i.e. "If you really liked me you’d pay for it". I spoke to my wife privately and told her my concerns. She insists it’s a rite of passage for girls and it’s cute that she should feel a guy is completely spoiling her. I told her that it’s not cute for her to be thinking it’s acceptable to view relationships as personal ATMS, and my wife became very angry with me and is now calling me a jerk.
14. Read The Room
I gave birth four weeks ago, and we decided to have a ''baby ceremony'' where everyone gets to meet our lovely daughter Charlotte. My cousin Alice and her parents were among the guests. The first thing I'll say about her is that she has expensive taste. She's the sort of person who has a minimum price range for how much she spends on clothing.
She doesn't own anything that isn't designer and has some items of clothing that cost thousands. She is a banker and still lives with her parents so she can afford the lifestyle. It was Alice's turn to hold the baby and she was happy to at first, but suddenly Charlotte vomited on her. Alice handed Charlotte back to me and ran off crying, and spent the rest of the event crying in the car.
I went to see her to apologize, but she didn't want to hear any of it. My mom gave her one of her shirts which was too big for her, and she felt completely upset and humiliated. Today I got a call from my mom saying that she'd been on the phone with Alice’s mother, and they are saying that they want me to reimburse the cost of the blouse (roughly $1,800) since it was completely ruined.
I have said no. At the end of the day, we all know what babies can be like. She took a risk wearing something so expensive knowing a baby was nearby and unfortunately it backfired. I feel bad for her but it was not my fault.
15. Regrets, I’ve Had A Few
My wife and I are both 42 and in marriage counseling after our marriage basically went to heck after having kids (six and four-year-old twins). A lot of issues and disagreements have come up in the marriage that has driven us apart, and I have been working through my resentment that going back for one more baby resulted in twins, including one which we are pretty sure has ADHD and is a nightmare child.
Our counsellor asked me if I would have children if I had to do it all over again. I confessed my darkest secret. I said, "Honestly, no". I love my kids, but if I had the chance to go back to 24 when I finished grad school and could do my life over again, I wouldn't choose fatherhood. It is not the fulfilling experience everyone claims and the sacrifices are not worth it to me.
I had a much happier life before having children and have gone from someone who loved life to someone who just...makes it through the day, working a job he hates to provide for the wife and kids while silently wishing this wasn't my life. My wife is furious and taking it the wrong way and even told our six-year-old "daddy wishes you were never born" which makes me livid.
You don't tell the kid that. Yes, I wish I never had kids, but I do love them, would never hurt them or want to upset them. And I didn't say it to/in front of my kids and I never, ever will. I said it in marriage counseling, which should be a safe space to talk about feelings. It has become a huge fight, our marriage is not going to be saved now, and I know she will try and use this against me in divorce court to try and get sole custody and take everything and lie to the kids who I do love and still want to be a dad to them.
She is incapable of understanding that you can love your kids but also feel that parenthood wasn't the best choice for you.
16. The Cold, Hard Truth
My father and mother had a very bitter marriage towards the end of his life. He had a long-running affair with another married co-worker and got her pregnant before he passed. He was planning to leave mom, skip the country, and move to Canada to start a new life with her. They had a house picked out and all. He had moved out and was living with his co-worker when he suddenly had a heart attack.
Divorce papers were never filed, no separation. They were in the process of moving all that to the courts. But on paper, they were still happily married. Now, me and my siblings are already out of home, our youngest sibling is 19 and is in college. I work for a tech company and I'm currently back in my hometown helping my mom manage his estate.
Well, my mom was hurt and petty and marked his gravestone as "In loving memory of John Doe, son, husband, father, and adulterer". My dad's family and his pregnant partner are mad and want me to fix it. I personally think it’s fine, that's who he was. He was all of those things. And since it's my mom's plot, I can't do anything.
17. Testing The Waters
I live with my wife and my 17-year-old son. My wife has been on a different continent for about a month taking care of her dying mother, so it has just been me and my son for that time. My son and I have a very close relationship where he tells me almost everything going on in his life. On Saturday, he told me that he was going to his first-ever high school party this upcoming weekend.
He was a bit nervous since he had never really drank before, but he knew that he was going to on that occasion. I'm not sure if this is relevant, but this is in Canada where the drinking age is 19 (in my province), and teenage drinking is very common. I asked my son if he wanted to have a few drinks with me while we watched a sports game that night, as a "test run" of sorts.
My logic was that if he goes into the party with zero awareness of his tolerance then it could end badly, and it would be best for him to find out his limit in the safety of his home with me. We had some drinks over a few hours in the night, and I cut him off at six. He was pretty tipsy, but he was okay and slept it off. We talked about it the next day, and we agreed that six was a bit much for him, and now he knows to have fewer than that at the party.
I was actually pretty content with this whole situation, since he had his "first experience" drinking in a safe environment, and I feel much more comfortable with him going to a party now. However, in an effort to be transparent I told my wife about it the other day over the phone, and she was livid. She thinks it was reckless and irresponsible.
18. The Ultimate Helicopter Mom
I am a hiring manager at a tech company and I was hiring for summer internships a little while ago. We had a guy, about 19 years old, applying for a summer internship between his freshman and sophomore years of college. It was a virtual interview over Zoom. A minute or two in, when I was introducing myself, his mom came in and introduced herself and started talking about her son's work ethic.
I thought it was a little strange. I said something polite about wanting to hear from him. I was stunned at the next events. She just didn't get the hint and kept coming into the camera frame during the interview and interrupting her son to answer questions for him. I asked a few technical questions, which he seemed to answer well, and then cut the interview fairly short.
I thought that was all over and done with…until I'd gotten an email from a woman, a month later, asking about her son's application. She seemed offended he hadn't gotten an acceptance or rejection. It bothered me, and I felt bad for the kid honestly. Way back when I was a teenager, my mom used to pull the same stuff, but luckily she only did that when I was 15 and working for a day camp, not when I was an adult applying for engineering jobs.
I felt like this poor kid was getting his chances ruined because his mom wasn't giving him the chance to apply on his own. I sent an email back saying I was not at liberty to send information about an application to anybody but the applicant. I also asked HR to send an email to the kid saying sorry but we were not making him an offer. It is something we usually do, but his rejection email must have slipped through the cracks.
After we sent that, I got a phone call that made me regret everything. It was from his mom. She had a forwarded copy of the email, and she was demanding answers. I said that I could not comment on the guy's performance in the interview to her as she was not the applicant. If he wanted to reach out to me I was happy to give him some feedback.
However, I could say that regardless of his performance, her presence in the interview took him out of consideration for the position. We were looking for an independent and self-driven person for the position, and for that reason, it is important to see an applicant speak for themselves, follow up themselves, etc. I also said that as a piece of advice, every hiring manager I've met in my career who sees someone other than the applicant answering questions during an interview, following up on the applicant's behalf, etc. would also put their resume in the "do not hire" pile.
While the applicant may be skilled and motivated, they need the ability to demonstrate those traits themselves. She blew up at me over that, cussing me out to the point where I hung up.
19. Zero-Sum Game
I am the breadwinner of our household. I have multiple, highly specialized degrees for a niche industry. I make 200k+, with the potential to get in the 600-M’s range. My company has not been hit that badly by COVID, so most of us have kept our jobs, but we’re held to strict standards. My husband has a broad degree and work experience. He quit his job right before this all hit, hoping for a better job in the meantime, and I was supportive.
He spent a ton of time applying to various jobs and finally landed an interview at Organization X. This is his dream job in almost every imaginable way. It’s paying about 65k a year. There’s just one enormous problem. This would all be fine except this job directly puts my job stability at risk. My company and this organization are adversarial, at best.
My field is extremely secretive, and if clients discovered my spouse was working for a competitor, I would be permanently tainted. I wouldn’t be able to get a job in the industry forever. I know this sounds like an exaggeration, but I promise you, it absolutely is not. It’d be like if I worked in protecting the privacy of celebrities, and he worked for TMZ.
If he tapped my car, got into my work devices, he could use that to advance his career, and any trust I have in this field will be gone. Even if I trusted my husband not to do that (and I do), my clients and company don’t. Worse, because my background is so specialized, this is the only field I can work in. I asked him to drop from consideration for this job, since if he got it, we’d lose my income.
65k a year cannot support us in this city. Plus, he does not have to work for this organization. Even if the job market is awful right now, his background gives him access to a wide range of jobs, but I only have this one, niche field. He was extremely angry and said I was "selfish and only cared about money". I told him that if he wanted to go back to school for an advanced degree or just be unemployed for a while, I would support him, but taking this job isn’t possible. It reached a horrible breaking point.
He continued the process behind my back and got the offer. He wants to accept it because he says his career needs to take priority and that I wasn’t being a supportive wife. I feel so betrayed, and I’ve contacted all relevant higher-ups in my company to inform them. I notified them as soon as he got the interview because it’s better coming from my email than from a background check.
I told him he could decline the offer, with me watching him physically decline it, or he could accept the offer and move out immediately. I would pay for him to stay two weeks at a hotel, and we would begin divorce proceedings. My company is willing to take care of all of my fees. I feel awful. I still love him. I moved decisively because this was the best way to cut my losses, but it still hurts.
He called me heartless and cold. It’s true that I was prioritizing my career over his, but it felt like the only option at the time.
20. It’s Me Or You
So I have a cat named Raven who's three years old. My girlfriend of two years moved in with me a few weeks ago and it was clear she didn't like my cat. I didn't think it was really a big deal until one day I got home and he was just gone. He's not an outdoor cat and he never goes outside. He was gone for hours and I was worried sick until my buddy came to my house and returned him, saying he found him two blocks from my house.
I asked my girlfriend how my cat, who has never tried to go out before, ended up that far from my house. She admitted to throwing him out. I was furious, saying she had no right to do that, and told her that since she thought she had the power to throw my cat out, I wanted her out of my house by the end of the month. She cried that she had nowhere to go and that she would have to live on the streets.
I said I didn't care and told her to leave by the end of the month. My friends think I'm being too harsh, but my cat could have gotten seriously hurt because of her and I don't want her trying anything else.
21. My Super Sucky 17
I've completely lost my mind over this. I'm 17 and my stepbrother is 17. We both have our driving licenses. I just found out five days ago that my dad and stepmom bought a used car for my stepbrother. They got me a $600 dollar gift card to Best Buy. I know $600 is a lot of money but what the heck? Am I crazy or is it super unfair? It's literally the straw that broke the camel's back.
I'm actually so angry that I've moved to my mom's house full time. My dad seems to be genuinely sorry and told me he's looking for a car now but that it'll take a while. I messaged him back saying that I'll decide if I want to see him after he decides to be fair for once. I've ignored all other calls and messages from him since. My stepbrother messaged me saying that I need to chill out and that he'll let me use his car.
He also said that I need to stop ruining everyone's Christmas. I told him to get in his civic and screw off.
22. Karma Comes For Us All
This line at a Starbucks drive-thru I went to was really long. I was in line for a good maybe 20 minutes, until this lady in a Mercedes tries to cut in front of me and like eight others behind me. I laid on the horn and tried to block her from cutting me off but she succeeded anyway and flipped me off. But she didn’t know who she was messing with.
I’m the type of person who will not let someone get away with moves like this. So I waited until she pulls up and as soon as she tries to order, I honk. She then looks at me with a dirty look and gives me the finger, which I already had a middle finger of my own ready for her. Each time she makes an attempt to order something, I honk and sometimes lay on the horn for three seconds.
We stopped as soon as she drove off. We then ordered and went about our day. I just can’t with people who are extremely rude like that lady and I couldn’t simply let this go.
23. That’s Not My Name
I've worked at my office for eight years. I'm on good terms with management and most of my co-workers. Five months ago, a new guy was hired on a six-month probationary period. I'm not his supervisor, but I'm definitely a senior employee. I'll call the guy Ted. The supervisor was going around introducing Ted to people, and when he got to me he said, "This is John" and described my job.
Ted: "Hi, Jack". Me: "It's John". Ted: "What?" Me: "My name's John, not Jack". Ted: "It's close enough for me". Supervisor: "His name's John, not Jack. Let's move on". This continued for a few months. Despite reminders from supervisors (when he referred to me when I wasn't present) and myself, he continued to use the name Jack. I finally told him "You either use my name, or I ignore you completely, no matter what the situation is".
His response was "Sure thing, Jackie boy". Since I don't work directly with him, I figured "screw it" and that I'd ignore him. Recently, he had a two-day business trip that required a car rental. I work late some nights, and Ted came to me and says, "Hey, Jack, I'll be dropping the rental car off at 7:00 when I get back. See you there for a lift back to the office!" They closed at 6:00 and there's a dropbox.
As promised, I ignored him. 7:15 rolls around on the night he's dropping off and I get a call. I recognize his number, so I ignored it. He called seven more times, then starts e-mailing. The first one was along the lines of "Jack, I'm at Enterprise. Come pick me up". E-mails pour in every 5-10 minutes, addressing me as Jack, Jack-o, Jackie, and Jackie-boy.
The emails also started being laced with a couple of threats. I signed out and went home. It was raining hard. The next morning, I saw that Ted had sent a few more e-mails. I printed them off. At 10 am, he storms up to my desk and screams "Where were you? I told you when to pick me up! I HAD TO TAKE A CAB! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST ME?!"
He goes on like that for a bit until his supervisor came and hauled him away, then asked to speak to me. Supervisor: "Ted tells me that you ignored his requests for a pickup when he dropped off the rental. He was caught out in the rain". But I had my trump card all ready. I relayed what happened, and showed him the printed e-mails.
I'd highlighted the threats. Supervisor: "I can see why you wouldn't want to spend time around him. But it was still kind of inconsiderate to leave him stranded in the rain. That's not the greatest neighborhood and he could have been hurt". He sighed and then said, "With the threats and him being on probation, he no longer works here. Just try not to be a jerk in retaliation to your co-workers".
A few people at the office have commented that I'm the jerk for ignoring Ted and getting him riled up, which got him fired.
24. That’s Just, Like, Your Opinion, Man
My younger sister started dating one of those "brutally honest" guys a few months ago. He can be quite rude and make backhanded comments about me and the family sometimes, which is bothersome. My sister says he's not malicious but is just the brutally honest kind and we should get used to it. Recently, I visited my parents’ house to celebrate my sister's birthday.
My husband couldn't come with me because he was busy. After the party, we all sat down for dinner and my sister's boyfriend said it was weird that my husband and I don't have kids despite being married for six years now. I was shocked that he brought this up but I gave a short answer, stating that it's because of infertility issues. It got so much more painful.
He asked on which side. I didn't want to answer, but my sister said it's on my side. I got uncomfortable as he looked at me for a second and said that maybe not having kids now is a good thing because he thought women over 30 (which I am) might "produce" defective babies due to their age. I told him it was none of his business but he said that he was just giving his "honest opinion" and that's all.
I, in return, told him while maintaining eye contact: "Trust me, if I wanted a jerk’s opinion, I would've farted!" Literally everyone at the table burst into laughter and my sister and her boyfriend were stunned. A few seconds later, her boyfriend excused himself and my sister followed. She then sent me a text after they left saying I was mean and disrespectful towards her boyfriend and insulted him maliciously just because he stated his honest opinion.
She also said I ruined her birthday by being petty and making her boyfriend the joke of the night in front of the family. I didn't respond but she demanded an apology via mail as soon as possible. Our mom agreed that I shouldn't have said what I said and should've just ignored him knowing how he is.
25. Everybody’s Got A Story
A few nights ago, I hosted a game night for a small group of friends. It was only going to be five of us (including me), but one of my friends texted me last minute that she was going to bring a co-worker from work, Matt. Fine with me. We started playing a card game where you answer questions about yourself. Based on the level (Level 1, 2, 3), the question could be extremely surface level (What's your favorite color?) to something deeper (What characteristic of yourself do you not like about yourself?).
Everyone was enjoying themselves, and I was happy with the way things were going. Cue a question I drew: "What's the hardest thing you've ever had to go through?" Well, my sister passed a few years ago when I was still in high school. I was pulled out of class and flew immediately to her college and watched her pass in the ICU.
Needless to say, this is probably the hardest thing I've been through. Three of my friends in the group knew about this, the other two and Matt did not. I didn't want to bring the mood down, so I answered that the hardest thing I'd been through was transitioning to going to a college in a different state where I knew no one. We were all ready to move on, but Matt immediately piped up with the stupidest response.
He said, "Wow, if that's the hardest thing you've ever been through, you live an extremely privileged life". Everyone got quiet. Now, if he had said it jokingly or teasingly, I probably would have let it go and moved on. However, the way he said it was in a very condescending and patronizing tone, and I will admit, it rubbed me the wrong way.
Instead of letting it go, I said, "Well, the hardest thing I've ever been through is seeing my sister die in the ICU and having to watch her being lowered into her grave when I was 17. I just didn't want to bring the mood down". If things were quiet before, they were silent now. Matt mumbled an apology, but game night ended shortly after.
After my friends all left, my friend who had brought Matt texted me and told me I was a jerk for making Matt look bad, and I could have just let his statement go. I do feel bad about what I said and being the cause of game night ending so soon, but I also feel like I was just making a justified statement.
26. Going Too Far
I have two children, a nine-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter. My son had a Minecraft world where he built quite an impressive castle on an island, which he was very proud to show to me. Since school was canceled, he has had issues with waking up on time. He is supposed to wake up at 7:00 each morning, but for the past month, he has been sleeping in until about 9 or 10.
I always set an alarm for him, but he sleeps right through it. I don't wake him up because waking himself up is a skill that he needs to learn. I told him about two weeks ago that there are going to be consequences for him if he continues to sleep in every morning. At first, he understood and was waking up on time every morning.
But for the past week or so, he has fallen back into old habits. I told him yesterday that this is his final warning. Today, he slept in until 11. So I followed through with my warning, and went on the computer and deleted his favorite Minecraft world. I also took away computer privileges for the next month. When I told him, he started screaming and crying.
He told me that he spent a whole year working on that world, and he's very distraught that he's never going to see it again. He has been crying and sobbing throughout the day and has refused to eat any of his meals.
27. No Laughing Matter
I got the idea a few weeks ago to prank my friends by pretending to be an "Appletarian," meaning somebody who only eats food products that are derived from apples and would only drink apple juice or apple cider. I told them that I had read on the internet that eating only apples was the healthiest thing for you. When I first told them they thought I was joking, but they underestimated how committed I would be to a joke.
So, whenever in the presence of one of my friends, I was very careful to only be seen eating apples or drinking apple juice/cider. Apples whole, apples diced, apple sauce, the inside of an apple pie, baked apples, candy apples with the chocolate shaved off, etc. Finally, after about a week they bought that I had become an Appletarian. Then it really kicked off.
They started giving me information about how unhealthy it was to only eat apples and grew increasingly exasperated by it. Some of them even got angry. But I wanted to stick with the joke. Finally, after the end of three weeks, I walked into what I was told was a movie night but was actually an intervention for me. They were all super concerned about my well-being and had all sorts of information or whatever.
Finally, I started laughing. They were confused, so I told them I had been faking it the whole time and had been eating real meals outside their knowledge. I even took out some beef jerky from my pant pocket to prove it and munched it. I thought they'd appreciate the joke but they were actually really annoyed. My girlfriend even broke up with me over this because a few days ago I had ruined our date night when I told the waiter I only wanted apples because I was an Appletarian and had "embarrassed her for a dumb joke".
In my opinion, the joke was solid and they should appreciate my commitment to the prank. But, did I go too far?
28. You Aren’t What You Eat
I am vegan and have been for a good 10 years. I have not eaten meat since I was roughly four years old. That was when I found out where meat comes from (spoiler alert: there were a lot of tears). This is no secret and everyone in my life knows and respects this—or so I thought. Four nights ago, I was at a party and I will admit, I got to drinking quite a bit.
My friends then thought it would be funny to feed me chicken nuggets as a prank. I checked with them before chowing down "are these vegan?" To which my friends replied "Yeah, they're sunfed" (a type of vegan chickenless chicken). They tasted off to me but I figured it was just because I was drinking. I was wrong. I found out the next day when my sister sent me a message telling me to check my friend’s Snapchat story.
The story was them showing the nugget packaging, and then showing them giving them to me (including the conversation where I asked if it was vegan). Then later them mocking me and pretending to be me when I found out I ate meat (things like fake crying and yelling "the CHICKENS!!!"). I got them back the only way I knew how.
I took a screen recording of the video and took it to the authorities on the grounds of food tampering. Now three of my (ex) friends are facing charges. They all think that I'm overreacting to a "harmless" prank. But in my view, they took advantage of my state, tampered with my food, and publicly humiliated me. In their view, it was just a prank.
29. Oh, Baby
Ever since we had a baby, my wife has been talking like a baby herself. Rather than teaching the baby to talk like a person, it's as if my wife's language has become baby-like. She would make noises in between conversations like "Bo-dee-bo-dee-chooop" and "Awowo-fwatata" even when talking with adults. This is especially embarrassing when I am with her in public places, when she talks like that to complete strangers.
I have been asking her nicely to not do that but she would just laugh it off, totally oblivious to how people around us stare whenever she talks like a baby. I have to point out that she is not on the spectrum, just a crazy new mom, in fact too crazy sometimes. It was a day off for us, my parents were babysitting the baby, and we finally have some time to ourselves.
We went out for dinner and she did it again. She was talking to the waiter and went something like this: "Yippy thanks ya-ha-ha-hah. Owoyoyaya by the way can you give us an extra plate for this?" Seeing how the waiter was staring at her, I rolled my eyes and told her: "I am taking a break today and don't need another baby who cannot even talk properly to look after. Please excuse me".
Then I left the restaurant without her. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I guess I just snapped.
30. You Reap What You Sow
My stepsister and I have never gotten along. Her mom and my dad got married when we were six and 10 so we've known each other for a long time. In my stepmom's eyes, she could do no wrong and anything bad that happened was pinned on me. My dad is a complete pushover so he would always agree with whatever my stepmom would say.
When I was about 15, I started gaining weight. My girlfriend broke up with me (woohoo high school romance), I started failing some of my classes, and I quit baseball. I started to stress-eat and ballooned up from 125 pounds to 162. I guess at that point my stepsister decided she was "cooler" than I was and started mocking me and making fun of me, calling me names like "chubster".
I would constantly go to my stepmom about it and she would tell me she's just teasing, she's so much younger, why are you getting upset? I got angry to the point where I just started avoiding her and locking myself upstairs in my room with a bag of chips. At 22 I hit 270 pounds and I knew I had gone too far. I was way past my weight limit and bordering on obesity.
So as a New Year's resolution, I decided to start losing weight. I cut out all junk food and started hitting the gym. Around this time, my stepsister started to overeat too. I don't really know why but she gained over 30 pounds. She still was constantly belittling me about my weight (which admittedly, was still way over hers). But I got the last laugh. By the end of this year, I lost 120 lbs.
It felt amazing. My stepsister now weighed more than me. Over Christmas dinner, all the aunts and uncles and cousins were complimenting me on my weight loss, telling me how I looked so much better. My stepsister just sat there smoldering. Every time someone said something she'd add, "He's still pretty big," "Well he didn't get rid of that face roundness," "Maybe lose a little more around that gut".
It was infuriating and I was getting angrier. Now, here's where I might have gone too far. Finally, at her last little snide comment, "Look, you know you'll just put it all back on. Why do you even bother?" I flipped out. I yelled, "Why can't you just be happy for me, instead of getting on me for every little thing?" She said back to me, "Defensive much?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt your 200-pound feelings?" I asked her. I probably should have stopped there but I kept going. "Calling me a chubster. Look at your plate! You've eaten half the table, fatty!" She started crying and left the table. My stepmom screamed at me, saying just because I was insecure I can't take it out on everyone. I said, "Oh, so now you're talking. Not in the past ten years of constant 'fatty' and 'porker'!"
"But you're way older!" she whined. I left the table too and went home. I woke up today to a thousand messages from my stepmom, my dad, and my stepsister. They were saying I wasn't welcome to their house until I apologized. I'm not going to.
31. The Man Can’t Help It
What I thought would be a total non-issue has ballooned into a huge problem and I'm up at 7:05 am dealing with it. I'm fat, there's no way around it. I love to eat which probably borders on addiction but I figure since I'm only hurting myself it's probably better to just live my life. I have some great friends although there is no doubt I'm the "harmless, funny token fat guy" of the otherwise pretty-good looking group.
I guess that sets the stage enough. Last night, my friend hosted UFC and I was invited. He got a six-foot party sub. I also brought homemade wings that are sort of my specialty. Well, of course, people flocked to the food and I had basically one serving of the sandwich but people devoured my wings and I didn't get to have a single one. Which is totally fine that's why I brought them, but maybe an hour later, I was starving.
I kept eyeing the sandwich and I'd say there was about three feet of it left. I waited an hour, then another half hour and no one had touched it. Still, they were still munching on chips, pretzels, and whatnot. So I was like screw it...I took about half of what was left and ate it. Then the last half sat for another 10-15 minutes and no one said anything, so I ate the rest. It all went downhill from there.
As I was swallowing the last bite the host's girlfriend asked where the sandwich was. Like I was the guilty party, pretty much everyone pointed at me. I guess they'd noticed me eating the sandwich. She was furious and said that I was an incredible pig and that I had been super selfish to eat three feet of a sandwich. I felt so bad I tried to explain to her that I really did wait over an hour and thought people had lost interest.
I also tried to explain how everyone had eaten my wings and she said something along the lines of "you brought them to share Alan, if someone had eaten over half by themselves that's not sharing is it?" I offered to order pizza or even go get Subways and she said that it was a pathetic offer because the party sub had been from a local shop owned by her friends.
I said I was sorry but the night was so tense from then on out. I woke up this morning to several texts from my twin sisters (the host's girlfriend's best friends) saying that I had to get my eating under control and that everyone is really mad at me and that I embarrassed myself last night. I tried to explain to them what my mindset had been and they haven't responded.
32. The Truth Comes Out
My ex and I were together for five years. I decided to propose, but she rejected me. The next day, we had a talk. She realized that she was gay, since "I've been trying too hard to please myself with men". We broke up. The very next day, I get bombarded with text messages. My friends asked if this was true, and they linked me to a post.
It was a Facebook post "exposing" me about me cheating. (I did not cheat on her. I did sleep with someone else the day we broke up). She said that's why we broke up. Now, I usually am not evil, but this ticked me off. She was destroying my reputation for God knows what reason. I simply commented that the real reason that we broke up was that she is gay.
People didn't believe me…until my ex literally screamed at me for outing her. Then a lot of people started to call her out for her lies. I know I'm probably a huge jerk. Though I feel like she deserves it.
33. Getaway Car
My sister’s car broke down six months ago because of her own stupidity. I won't go into it here but she ignored the advice of a mechanic and because of that, her car broke. I decided to be nice and offer my sister my car until she could get hers fixed, as I could bike to work while she needed to drive. She did not get her car fixed for some reason.
She claimed to be saving money to do so, but every time her paycheck came she spent it. My parents have even offered her a loan to fix her car, but she refused. Along with all of this, she has been using my generosity and taking my car all day and night. I told her she could use it for work, but to her, it's a free pass to use my car, not fill it with gas, and take it when I specifically tell her not to.
Recently, I've needed to get to work very early and I really don't feel like riding my bike six miles at 3 in the morning, so I told my sister she had 30 days until I took the spare key from her and she is no longer allowed to use it. That was 32 days ago. Yesterday morning she woke up specifically before me to take my car (at 2:30 in the morning).
I called her and demanded she bring it back but she just hung up on me. This time, I didn't hold back. I reported the car stolen. Officers caught up to her 30 minutes later and my parents had to go bail her out. My sister is now facing charges for unauthorized use of a car and my parents and her are angry at me. They claim I want way too far here but honestly, I feel justified.
My parents are worried if she's found guilty she will lose her job but in my opinion, it's her own fault.
34. Throw Out The Whole Man
My husband John and I live in the US northeast, where I am from. John moved here for work several years ago from the deep south of the US where he grew up. He was raised with Christian holidays but never attended church. Coincidentally, shortly before everything hit, John’s parents AND his childhood best friend Dan and his wife decided to move here as well.
This past weekend was the first that we three couples have gathered together since any of us moved here; we had a "distanced picnic" at our house. John sat down two minutes after I did, as he was settling our kid into his pen in the yard with us. Dan and my father-in-law immediately started to "jokingly" rip on him for being "whipped" and doing "my" job of parenting our child while he was supposed to be "allowed" to just catch up with the two other men.
I was trying to politely deflect. Then it took a dark turn. It turned to how "mean" I was for not "fixing him a plate" and serving him before serving myself. (If I thought a certain dish would run out before he got to it, or if he had asked me to, I of course would have!) Dan and my father-in-law continued to brag about how their families "do it right" where they handle the "outside chores" while their wives handle the "inside chores".
I think it’s important to note here that both currently live in rented condos that by their nature do not have "outdoor chores," and both their wives have always worked full time, as I do. The whole day was kind of wrecked by that start, and I was frustrated when John left with Dan and my father-in-law to "go for a walk" and left me to do all the clean-up alone while also looking after our kid.
I expected John to apologize when he returned hours later, but instead, HE got mad at ME for "making him look bad" in front of his friend and dad. He brought up how "a traditional division of labor" is "a huge part of southern culture" and how I was being "disrespectful" to his background by "forcing northern culture" onto him and his family.
He said he’s been building up a lot of "resentment" in the past few months that I "make" him do half the chores and childcare, since in his "culture," women do the chores and hands-on childcare, and men do the fun parenting, the discipline, mow the grass, and bring in the cars for oil changes when needed. I was stunned but honest and told him southern culture is garbage.
I lived in John's home state for eight years and I saw how "southern hospitality" is reserved only for those in your in-group. Deviate from the norm—be queer, non-Christian, a POC, a liberal, a non-traditional woman—and they turn on you viciously. Does every single person act like that always? No. But it's the culture.
John is livid and says his "culture" is just as valid as that of other global regions, religions, and ethnic groups, so I am the problem by not "compromising" with him here and incorporating aspects of his culture into our family life the way I would if his "culture" was "Islamic or Asian or whatnot".
35. Playing Dress Up
I am a teenager and my mom is kind of famous on Instagram and blogging. She had a mommy blog all when I was growing up and of course, my sister and I were always involved. It sucks because there's so much out there about us and it's what's gonna come up when I'm looking for a job, when I'm dating, when anyone looks up my name. So I came up with an ingenious plan.
I found a website that will print custom jackets, print all over the front and back and arms...and I ordered some hoodies that say a bunch of phrases all over them. "No photos," "no videos," "I do not consent to be photographed," "no means no," "respect my privacy," "no cameras," "no profiting off my image". It sounds silly but it looks pretty sick actually.
I got one for me and one for my nine-year-old sister who has also started to not always want photos. I guess the idea is that my mom can't take good-looking pictures, even candid ones, with us in the hoodies without them having a pretty strong message that we don't want to be in pictures. My mom was mad when they showed up, and really mad whenever I wear mine. Like she says she just wants pictures to remember my young years by, she won't post ones without asking
But I know that's a whole mess anyway; she always says that and then negotiates me into letting her post, like either by saying that's how she makes income, so if I want money for something to stop arguing about pictures. Or posting without asking and then saying I thought it would be ok because you're face wasn't visible, you're just in the background, etc.
And I'm always like "No, you didn't THINK. If you thought at all you'd remember what I said I want. No new pictures of me or mentions of me online. Remove all pictures that include me that you've ever posted, and delete any writing that mentions me". I am just so fed up, and upset that my mom is mad at me for wearing my new hoodie every day.
She's mad I won't take it off for any event and thinks it's inappropriate to wear to certain things.
36. Run Girl, Run
So, me and my husband Jake have been together for five years and married for three. We have recently started trying for a baby as we both felt like that was the next step in our life together, and three weeks ago I got a positive test back. We were really, really happy and told our families, and now my mom and mother-in-law want to throw a big baby shower for us.
It was just super good news all around. Well, two nights ago me and Jake were getting ready for bed when he reminds me to go through the house and make sure all the lights are off. Now he can be a little lazy at times, and it has become a nightly routine for me to make sure all the lights are off that he leaves on before we go to bed.
I wasn't feeling very well and asked if he could just do it since he wasn't doing anything and was literally standing by the door. His answer made me want to scream. He then tells me, "No, this is what is expected of you every night". I was hurt but I didn't want to fight with him so I just did it. When I came back, Jake goes on this very long and unprovoked rant saying things like "Just because you are pregnant does not mean anything will change," and "You are still expected to cook, clean, and do all the chores every day because how can you be expected to be a mother if you can't handle a little work".
He wasn't yelling or anything, he was talking to me quietly like I was two inches tall. I was shocked because I had never heard him say anything like this. The rant went on for about 30 minutes before I interjected and asked, "Well what do you plan on doing to help me with all of this?" He then got extremely defensive saying he works his butt off at his job to provide for me and what is going to be our future children.
For context, I don't work at the moment. My job was not paying enough to justify me going so I am a full-time college student. He ended by saying that it doesn't matter how I feel physically or mentally, it is a mother’s job to push through, and if he helped and babied me I wouldn't be a good mother. This is when I snapped. I got extremely upset and started yelling.
I said that "I wish I would've known this is how you felt before I got pregnant with your baby". There was a moment of silence before he started crying and he left for the night to stay at his mother’s house. He hasn't been back yet and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law have called me, berating me and saying I broke Jake’s heart with what I said and I need to apologize immediately, and until I do he isn't coming home.
37. Daddy’s Little Girl
I’m the dad of a 25-year-old young woman who I love very much. I’ve been able to have a good relationship with my daughter and I enjoy my time with her. But there’s one thing about her that would give many people pause. She is a diagnosed sociopath. She exhibited odd, disturbing behavior at a young age, and after a serious incident toward her younger sister, I realized she needed professional help.
Throughout her elementary years, she struggled heavily, getting in lots of trouble in school for lying, cruel acts, and all other types of misbehaviors. With an enormous amount of therapy and support, her bad behavior was minimized as she grew older. She received an ASPD diagnosis at 18, and I had suspected it for long prior. After her aggressive behavior was tamed, her following years were much more fruitful.
She’s law-abiding; has a decent job and a good education; and has many good friendships and admirers. Especially male admirers. She is very, very charming and adept at attracting guys and maintaining their interest. She uses that old dating guide "The Rules" like a Bible. She currently has a boyfriend of about a year and a half who’s crazy about her, and with who I have a very strong relationship.
We live in the same area and spend time together regularly. He is a great guy, very kind, funny, and intelligent. I have one major problem. I doubt she loves him. We’ve had some very honest, in-depth discussions about her mental health since her diagnosis, and she’s been open with me that she doesn’t feel love or empathy towards anyone, even family.
When she acted very sad and broken up over the passing of one of her closest friends at the funeral, she confessed to me privately that it was all a put-on, and that she felt "pretty neutral" about the whole thing. She has also stated she has never once felt guilty about anything she’s ever done and doesn’t know what guilt feels like.
While she enjoys being around her boyfriend and is attracted to him, I highly doubt she feels much of anything towards him love-wise. There’s one more thing. Her boyfriend (who might propose soon) has no idea about her diagnosis, and she’s been very upfront with me that she has no plans to ever tell him, thinking it’ll scare him away.
I’ve made it clear to her that she needs to tell him the truth before they marry; that he has the right to know and consider it; or I will tell him. To which she always responds, "I know you wouldn’t dare". I actually would—I really like and respect this young man, and would feel awful keeping this "secret" from him and letting him walk into a marriage without this piece of knowledge.
I’m not trying to sabotage my daughter’s future. Maybe her boyfriend’s love of her personality and other aspects is enough that it won’t end the relationship. It’s his decision to make, but he deserves all the facts. Someday he’s bound to find out she’s a bit "off". It can’t be kept a secret forever.
38. Acting Out
It's a complex situation but I'll do my best to explain. I have a 16-year-old biological son, Leo, from my previous relationship. I married his stepmom who is a mother of two boys, Connor (deceased), and Derek, who is 12. I've never had the pleasure to meet Connor, who tragically passed in a motorcycle accident. Derek was so devastated by this loss and although it's been years, he's still pretty much grieving.
I've seen tons of pictures and videos of Connor and made efforts to get to know who he was as a way to share Derek's grief and be there for him to lend an ear and a comforting shoulder. It's safe to say that Derek and I grew a strong bond in no time. But my son Leo isn't close to Derek. Understandable because not all siblings and step-siblings are the same.
Leo and Derek are different in everything, which isn't a bad thing but Leo calls himself the "brutally honest" type and makes insensitive comments about Derek most of the time. They tend to be under the guise of "advice". Derek never complained, so I had to step in and tell Leo to stop being insensitive towards his stepbrother, especially with everything regarding Connor and his memory.
Leo would say, "OK I get it" and "I won't do it again". Days ago, Leo wanted to hang out with friends and asked Derek if he wanted to join. Derek agreed and put on Connor's hoodie before going out. Leo commented on the hoodie and called it ugly and asked him to put on something else, but Derek insisted on wearing it or he wouldn't go. Leo dropped it. I should have realized it would go badly then.
Hours later, Derek came home crying with his hoodie in hand. He said Leo and his friends cut it into pieces while he was in the bathroom after they convinced him to take it off. I was furious. I asked Leo and he said it was his friend's idea then said he had to do it since Derek wears it everywhere and it looked old and embarrassing. I reminded him who this hoodie belonged to and he said "So what, maybe this will help him move on in life".
So. I told him his birthday was canceled and his friends aren't welcome anymore. He pitched a fit, saying his birthday was a right not a privilege and I can't cancel it. He had my ex criticize my decision and wanted to host his birthday party but I refused because he's grounded so no party anywhere. She and her family called me awful and ridiculous and asked me to think how Leo will hate me for this, but I insisted he needed punishment for putting his stepbrother through this.
39. Welcome To The Family
I’m 24 and I’m an addict who has been in recovery for the past six months. I used and used until I was basically in poverty, and my older sister helped bail me out more than once. She’s my best friend and I know it hurt her a lot to see me like that. She also met her fiancé two years ago and he really only knew me as the junkie brother then. He’s not my biggest fan, to say the least, considering how much I put my sister through.
Despite this, she still invited me to her wedding last week because I am her brother and she wanted me to be there. When I get to the reception, my brother-in-law is greeting people as they walk in. When I walk by, he pulls me to the side, and in front of everyone, starts patting me down and says that he needs to check me to make sure I "didn’t bring anything in".
I instinctively pull away, because why wouldn’t I, and I tell him not to touch me. He tells me to "calm down" and that if I want to be here then he needs to do this. I tell him he’s being ridiculous and I try to push past him. He stops me and tells me that he doesn’t want to throw me out but he "will if he has to". I told him that he’s trying to look tough but it’s just making him look stupid.
At this point, I’m getting angrier and angrier and I’m practically yelling in his face at this point. Bystanders came between us and separated us and told him to just "drop it". He said he would but that "they can deal with it when I get out of hand". I just went to go find a seat after that. After the reception, a lot of my family told me that I should’ve let him just do it and that I was acting like a huge jerk and like I had "something to hide".
I don’t think he had any right to pat me down, especially in front of people, and I don’t think my reaction was over the top. If anything, he was the one acting like a huge jerk by trying to start drama so he can look tough. My sister has refused to take any sides in this.
40. Joke’s On You
I am 31 and have an identical twin brother. For a while, I’ve told my wife that none of her family members notice me or care about anything I do on Christmas Eve, but they insist on me attending. She told me that’s not true, they genuinely like me and enjoy talking to me. But I know that the only times they’ve included me I had to basically insert myself into conversations and it feels awkward and unnatural.
So I had a wager with my wife. Bring my twin brother Steve instead of me and see if anyone notices. I purposefully did not prep Steve on anything, he went in completely clueless. Of course, he knew why we were doing it and was game. I gave him $20. I was proven right in the best way. As I suspected, Steve confirmed that he wasn’t approached all night.
Nobody could tell he wasn’t me, and he admitted he even felt excluded and he could only imagine how I felt. So this morning on Christmas, I invited Steve to join. Normally he’s with my mom and dad every year as he’s not married or in a relationship. They know about him obviously but didn’t know about the switcheroo. That was when I revealed that last night "I" was Steve and expressed disappointment that nobody noticed and said this is why I stopped trying, because nobody talks to me.
My wife drew the line here. She was hoping we would keep this between the two of us as a funny prank. But how can I expect her family to see what jerks they’ve been if I don’t expose it? For what it’s worth, Steve was fine.
41. It’s Not About You
This is a doozy, so please strap in and bear with me. For context here, my sister is 30, I am 22. 10 years ago, my sister had a miscarriage. Obviously, it was devastating for her and the whole family, and it took her a couple of years to fully heal from it. We're still not 100% sure why it happened, but it was a one-off and she's since had three very healthy, beautiful children, including a set of twins.
So here's the thing. My sister and I don't really get on. She resented me as a kid because she had to share mom's attention and because she thought mom left her dad to be with mine. Never really grew out of that resentment and she was pretty much my biggest tormentor throughout childhood and my teenage years. One thing she absolutely cannot stand is when mom and I do things without her, or when mom pays more attention to me than to her.
When this happens she calls mom and says she's feeling really upset about the miscarriage and without fail mom comes running. This includes a trip to Paris I took mom on for her birthday earlier this year, which she cut short because my sister said she needed her. It also includes when I had a manic episode so bad I was hospitalized, and my sister managed to need mom every time she was planning to visit me, and so she never did.
Note, these times when mom is spending more time with me than her are the only times my sister brings up what happened, and certainly the only times she still gets so upset about it. So, recently I was sick. Like, don't leave the bathroom for days, can only keep water down sick. Didn't manage to get the doctor, but I think it was norovirus.
It lasted about a week. Mom was popping in daily on her way home from work to check on me and stuff. On the last day of being seriously unwell, when I felt I could eat again, mom offered to make me some soup while she was there, which I accepted. She was halfway through making it when my sister called her, saying she was upset about the miscarriage.
She told me I'd have to finish it myself because she had to go. I didn't say anything to mom and I finished making the soup, but I sent my sister a text saying she really needs to stop bringing it up for attention because she can't bear me getting some instead. I guess she told mom and her dad because I'm hearing from all sides what a horrible, insensitive, selfish jerk I am and how dare I say that to her.
I understand she may still be traumatized, I just think it's really weird how that trauma solely manifests whenever I'm getting attention and she isn't.
42. Make Yourself At Home
Me and Erica dated for two years and have been engaged for the last four months. After we got engaged, Erica moved into my house. I still pay the mortgage while she pays for utilities, groceries, and household items. After we get married, the plan is to put her on the house so she gets equity as well. Her friend Leah and her have been best friends since high school.
I don’t particularly like Leah but have also been cordial as I know she’s going to be in my life. My issue is, Leah thinks of my home as hers. A couple of examples: She always brings her boyfriend over and he’s a sketchball. She talks to me in a very disrespectful way in my own house, like I’m a guest and she and Erica own it. One day, I went out to my garage and some of my tools were missing.
I checked my camera and Leah and her boyfriend were in my garage with Erica and took some tools with them. I asked Erica and she said they were just borrowing and would return them. I had to reach out multiple times for them to finally return the tools weeks later. Only, then she went from sketchy to stupid. I have a nice wine collection and I was working late one Friday. While working, I heard some clanking of bottles together.
Erica wasn’t home so I went out to see what was up. Leah was behind my bar. I asked what she was doing and she said that Erica told her it was okay to borrow a bottle for her party and that she would pay us back. I told her no, that wasn’t alright, and to leave. I asked Erica about this and she said "I don’t remember telling Leah she could take a bottle but I might have, I don’t remember".
I told her at this point I wasn’t comfortable with Leah being in my house. Erica sort of understood but also blew me off. Then, the final straw. It came when I wanted to go hit some golf balls and my clubs were missing. I freaked out because I golf regularly and my clubs are my biggest investment. I went to check the camera again and Leah used my garage code and took the clubs.
I blew up, called Erica, and told her to get them back immediately. Erica said Leah had asked for the garage code to grab some clothes from her closet and not my clubs. I threatened to call the authorities but Erica stopped me. Leah kept telling us that her boyfriend needed them for a work thing. I got them back almost four days after they were taken and they were dirty.
At this point, I sat Erica down and told her that if I see Leah in my house again then I’m calling the authorities, no discussion. Erica got upset, saying that it’s her best friend and that wasn’t fair to do to her in our house.
I said it’s a pattern and since Erica’s stuff isn’t affected she doesn’t care. I said she can go over to Leah’s if she wants to see her. She said she can’t do this because Leah doesn’t like her apartment and Leah’s boyfriend is always there which makes Erica uncomfortable. I’m now getting the silent treatment and getting called a jerk but I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong.
43. The House That I Built
I'm a single mom in my 50s with one daughter. I got very lucky in that I bought a home in the Bay Area nearly 30 years ago for around $230K before the tech boom and now the house is worth about $1M. My 23-year-old daughter Camila grew up in that house and moved out last year to go live with her boyfriend. I've never explicitly told my daughter "the house will be yours" nor has she asked anything about it, but it’s just sort of common sense.
That's my daughter. Who else would I give it to? One important note: There are two homes in the neighborhood that are owned by lower-middle-class people (me and a neighbor who's been here as long as I have). Otherwise, our neighbors are engineers and software developers. The Bay Area is simply unaffordable if you're not in tech. My daughter is a hairstylist.
My fiancé Steven and I have been together for two years. He has two young children (elementary school) who he has joint custody of. I adore them and I'm excited to help raise them. Steven and I don't have a ton in the bank so a prenup seemed silly…if it weren't for the house. I told him that I'm ready to combine finances and plan long-term with him, but I wanted a prenup agreement just for the house.
It's a non-negotiable for me that my daughter inherits the house. He wasn't happy with this. He said that $1M split three ways is enough for all three kids to get a head-start in life. I disagree. I paid 80% of the mortgage by myself and Camila is my only child. She can have her dream life (working as a hairstylist, living in the Bay Area) with this house but will be unhappy (have to move out to a less desirable area) if it's split.
I spoke to Camila about this and she agrees that she should get the house and said she always planned on inheriting it, just like I always planned on giving it to her.
44. Out With The Old
My sister and I have always had a strained relationship. I usually just let things go and try to keep the peace. We both have sons who are around the same age. My nephew is 13 and my son just turned 11. For my son’s birthday, I bought him the new gaming system he has been wanting. He was absolutely thrilled and he plays nonstop.
My sister is bad with money. I usually have to lend her money for bills and stuff for my nephew. I know my nephew doesn’t always get the best Christmas gifts, so this year I went a little crazy and I purchased the same gaming system for him for Christmas. I already had it ready and wrapped under my tree. Yesterday, my sister’s family came to visit.
My son asked me if they could go play video games. I said yes and reminded them to be careful. About 30 minutes later, my son comes running to me crying. I asked him what was wrong and he led me to the front hall. When we get to the stairs, I gasped. I see the new system smashed on the floor. Someone had thrown it from the upstairs and it was now smashed to pieces.
I asked my son what happened and he sobbed and pointed at his cousin. I asked my nephew if he did this and he started to laugh. He said that it was a "stupid baby toy" and that he saw people break them online. My sister came in and I told her what happened. I explained that this was an expensive system and that her son needs to be disciplined for what he did.
I told her I wanted her to pay for what her son broke. She laughed and said no. She says I shouldn’t have let them play unsupervised. That it was my fault and that I am a bad parent. She said my son will get over it and that it was not important. Seeing my son sitting on the ground next to his broken system trying to put the pieces back together tore my heart out. Luckily, I had the perfect revenge.
I walked over to the Christmas tree and grabbed the system that was meant for my nephew. I pulled the gift wrap off and it gave it to my son and told him to go upstairs and set it up. My sister asked me why I was making such a big deal before when I had another system already. I then laughed and told her that was her son’s Christmas gift.
That since it wasn’t important and it was just a stupid baby toy then they obviously won’t miss it. I then told them to leave. My nephew realized what happened and began to cry that my son had taken his system. I said no, his was the one that he smashed. My sister was livid and told me that I will never see them again. I just said okay and slammed the door.
Other family members have now been calling me nonstop and saying I am a jerk and that I ruined my nephew’s Christmas. I don’t think so, though. My nephew is 13. He is not a stupid kid and he knew what he was doing. I don’t care that it was over jealousy, he is old enough to know better. My sister was not going to make the situation right so I just did what I had to do.
They all think I should buy another new system for him but I don’t have that kind of money.
45. Do I Know You?
I used to be quite overweight, but over the last year or so I have made many changes in my life and have successfully lost almost 100 lbs. I don't live close to any of my family and don't post on social media so my family wasn't really aware of my weight loss. I did mention that I was making healthier choices but that's it. It's just that every time before that I've tried to lose weight it hasn't worked out, so I didn't want anyone commenting on it.
My sister got engaged last year and I'm super happy for her. Due to circumstances, the wedding had to be pushed back a little. It's happening a week from now and because I haven't seen everyone in so long, I decided to come down two weeks earlier to help out and catch up. Well, when I came to see my family my sister freaked out upon seeing me.
As it turns out, she has gained a bit of weight. Not super noticeable, and to me, she still looks great. But I think this is the first time in our lives that I'm smaller than her. I've always been the "fat sister". She basically accused me of trying to upstage her and my parents are fully taking her side. I'm really not sure if I'm in the wrong here as so many of my family are taking her side of things.
46. Table For One
I was asked to be a member of the wedding party for my friends. Despite this, I was THE ONLY person, not only in the wedding party but also at the ceremony, who wasn't allowed to have a +1. I was told it was because my relationship wasn't "serious" enough despite us being together for a year. That only engaged or married couples were invited.
And that they didn't want "some random guy" in their wedding pictures who "I might not even be with" later in the future. They don't want to "have to look at some random guy in their pictures" even though he wouldn't have been in any of the posed pictures at all. Maybe just in the background of crowd shots. There have been NO conflicts between them and my boyfriend.
He’s a nice and mild-mannered guy who gets along with everyone, so I don't think it was about him personally. So I get to the ceremony and find out that literally everyone else has a +1, not just married couples, but there are couples there who have been dating for less time than me. This is when I started feeling surly. I smiled and played my part during the ceremony but inside I was very angry.
We then got to the reception, which had way more people than the ceremony. This is where all the "more distant friends" were invited. When I looked around, I nearly exploded. EVERYONE THERE had a +1. I was literally placed at a table as the one single person and everyone else at the table was a couple. Some at the table were other members of the wedding party, but others were random distant acquaintances.
People started asking me where my boyfriend was and I said I was told he wasn't invited. They asked why and I said I had no idea why. This is when I started letting my surliness show and started acting rude and mean because I was humiliated. Here comes the twist. AND THEN, I was "brought into conversation" with the couple's male friend, Dean.
I was previously told that Dean has a crush on me, and I made it clear I wouldn't be interested even if I were single. Even after that, he kept trying to message me and I ignored him. But now the people who "brought me into conversation" with Dean were like standing around staring at us and giggling behind their hands. Like they thought they were Cupid matchmakers.
Dean was absolutely a participant in this. I was meaner to Dean than I've ever been to anyone in my entire life. I was as fully rude as I've ever wanted to be when being the target of someone's romantic interest unwantedly. It's true I don't really know if I was being set up but I was already furious before that happened. Everyone was silent and awkward after.
I went back and finished my meal, and as soon as I was done, I picked up my purse and left. I went straight to my boyfriend's house, skipping most of the reception, cake cutting, speeches, and everything. I'm now being told by the couple that they're "hurt and confused" why I left so early. I haven't replied.
47. Sticks And Stones
I have a female co-worker who repeatedly calls me out regarding my weight. I'm female, 5'9," 115 lbs, and very thin. She is very overweight. She makes comments about my weight all the time. She doesn't call me by name, she calls me "slim" and I even heard her say one time "go ask the toothpick". She has said stuff like, "You need some meat on your bones," and "You need to eat".
I have only worked there for eight days. I have asked her very nicely to stop. Yesterday I asked her to stop calling me slim again and she basically said that it's her mouth and she can say what she wants. Today when she said, "Morning slim," I replied, "Morning chunky," and she got upset and actually started crying. Everybody here at work is saying I'm wrong and I should apologize because being called fat is "different" than being called skinny because being called skinny is a "compliment".
I said as long as she calls me slim, I will call her chunky, and now I'm the bad person.
49. Say What Now?
My father married my step-sister's mother when I was four and she was three. We've lived together most of our lives and are a family. She and I were extremely close. She developed cancer when she was 14 and was sick for about two years. She's since made a full recovery. During that time, my parents became understandably over-protective.
They also asked a lot of me. I quit my extracurriculars so I could get a job (the money went towards her medical bills) and so I could drive her to appointments. I didn't go to dances, and any fun activities I did needed to include her. I did almost all of this willingly, the exception being having to quit my high school volleyball team—I did throw a bit of a tantrum about that, but was swiftly punished.
Personally, I think having one emotional breakdown was pretty chill given the circumstances. Anyhow, I go to college and meet my ex, we'll call him Ben, when I'm a junior. We fall in love, blah blah blah. He and I move in together when we graduate, so we've been living together for about three years. We were serious until July. That’s when I walked into my bedroom at witnessed a horrific sight.
He was mid-act with my sister. I broke it off, tears were shed, he moved out, etc. My sister apologized at first but then backed off. I thought she was giving me space, but last week she called and asked if we could meet up. She told me that she and Ben were in love and were just telling me as a courtesy before they started posting photos online.
Distraught, I left her in the restaurant by herself and did not pay my portion of the bill. She later venmo'ed me asking for the money. She told my parents, who then called me to their house, telling me how disappointed in me they are for not supporting my sister's relationship with Ben. They brought up the fact that because she had cancer as a teenager, she never learned proper social etiquette, and has a hard time meeting people.
I don't buy this, in part because I've seen her socialize just fine and since we spent a good chunk of the time she was sick together, that would also mean that I should have bad social skills as well, by that logic. They then told me that if I don't accept my sister and Ben's relationship, they may have to go no contact with me. I reminded them that I'm also their daughter and they should understand my point of view, but they are adamant that this is about me being jealous of her.
For the record: I'm not jealous of her. I'm not upset that Ben picked her over me. I'm sad about the end of the relationship and do feel betrayed, but Lord knows that I don't want to be with a cheater. What I'm upset about is the fact that my sister chose Ben over me. That she slept with Ben knowing he and I were in a long-term, committed relationship, and continues to be with him knowing how much it hurts me.
Now no one in my immediate family is talking to me and I'm getting messages from aunts and uncles and cousins telling me that I'm a selfish witch.
50. No Pictures, Please
My friends are dating, and they’re also actors who have had small roles on a few TV shows (I’m talking two lines or fewer). I say this not to be a hater, I truly am rooting for them, but this is just to give you a scope of their reach. Neither of them has a following in real life or on social media. For example, they’ve got under 1,500 followers combined.
Anyway, last week I posted a group picture on Instagram of people celebrating a friend’s birthday. Everyone in the photo has got their arms around each other’s shoulders. Very platonic. Yesterday in a group chat between the three of us, they asked me to take the photo down because they don’t want "the public" to know they are dating.
I would consider it if they looked bad/too sloppy, but they don’t. Also, everyone has their arms around each other, not just them. I asked what they meant, and they said they didn’t want to end up in gossip rags...I pointed out that they are not famous and that they don’t even have functioning IMDb pages. They were livid and called me a bunch of names.
I think they’re delusional but they’ve been texting me, demanding that I take down the post, and even sent me screenshots of them reporting it (nothing has happened). At this point, I don’t even want to be their friend. However, and probably because I’m a jerk, I don’t want to delete it based solely on principle.
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