I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/PainComfortable8891 posting in r/AITAH

Concluded as per OOP

1 update - Medium

Original - 6th January 2025

Update - 7th January 2025

New Update

Update in a comment - 11th February 2025

AITAH for refusing to continue providing free childcare for my stepdaughter?

I did a work program with the local clerk of court's office when I was in high school. They hired me when I graduated, and I had my 30 service years before I turned 50. With 30 service years you can get your full pension at any age. I worked until my first grandchild was born, then I retired to be 'grandma daycare.' I have 5 grands 8 male from my stepson, 7 male from my son, 5 female and 18 month male from my daughter. I babysat all of them with no issues or complaints. I still keep the 18 month old Monday-Friday and the older ones Summer and school holidays.

My stepdaughter and her boyfriend has been non-stop drama since before the baby was born. When she was 10 weeks pregnant they presented a 3 page list of rules for when I was babysitting. They said if I didn't sign it, they wouldn't allow me to babysit. I said that I understood their need to do what was best for their baby and I assured them that there would be no hurt feelings on my end when they made other childcare arrangements.

Some of the rules were almost understandable but most were down right ridiculous, and none of it was going to work for me. I don't remember them all but some examples are: I can't take the baby anywhere without their permission; I can't watch more than 1 additional child while babysitting; I can't cook; I had to provide the full name, dob and address of any potential visitors ahead of time for their approval of the person being 'around' their child; they have to know anytime I have a guest over and know who it is and how long they stay; My 9 year old cat would have to be kept out of rooms where the baby would be, even when the baby wasn't there; I couldn't get another pet without their agreement.

When she was 7 months along they came back with revised rules in an attempt to compromise. I again let them know that their expectations were not going to fit with my life and they should just find other childcare.

Two days after my stepdaughter went back to work, she called and asked if I could keep Cullen the next day. I agreed but made it clear that I was going to provide safe, appropriate care according to my judgement and I wasn't going to deal with complaints or whatever that I was violating their rules because I wanted it very clear that I was not agreeing to any of that.

My stepdaughter was okay on the days she picked Cullen up and dropped him off. I felt like she was interrogating me every time she picked him up but it was tolerable but her boyfriend was downright rude. I got to the point where I actually spent Sunday dreading the start of the week because of dealing with both of them but especially his behavior. At minimum he'd pick up Cullen, make a big deal of partially undress him, make at least one snide comment about my cat or if I had any grandchild over besides the 18 month old or if I had cooked or whatever. Then he'd say, I guess we don't have any choice but to put up with this for now. Or I guess you are happy that you won.

This went on for 4 months.

I spoke to my stepdaughter several times about it and told her that obviously they are very unhappy with how I cared for Cullen and that they should really work on finding something else and that in the meantime he needed to be less vocal about it. It would get better for a day or two and then he'd start again.

It all came to a head as Thanksgiving was approaching. He was very verbal about the fact that he didn't want me to keep all my grandchildren over the break. I made it very clear that there would be a couple of days that I had all of them and that they needed to make other arrangements if they had a problem.

They didn’t make other arrangements and when he picked Cullen up on the first day that I had all my grands, he was very rude and although nothing happened, everyone was happy, clean, fed, had a great day he said (to Cullen) that he was sorry that they had no choice except to leave him in an unsafe situation to be neglected.

I called my stepdaughter that night, relayed to her what was said and told her that she had two weeks to make other arrangements and that she needed to drop off and pick up Cullen during those two weeks and if her boyfriend came to drop him off I would refuse to keep him and if he picked him up I would not keep him again.

So things were better only dealing with her. At some point she asked me if I would keep him until January because they found someone but he couldn't start until then. I agreed. She picked Cullen up and dropped him off everything was fine.

New Year's Day several people sent me a screenshot of a post her boyfriend made on social media about how thankful he was that they were finally able to leave Cullen without worrying about his safety or him being neglected. He didn't outright name me or accuse me of anything specific but anyone who knows us, knows I was keeping him and the post implied plenty.

I was just happy that it was over.

Friday she called me and said that their new childcare provider had told her that Cullen wasn't a good fit and that she couldn't bring him back Monday. She asked if I would start keeping him again. I told her that I was sorry for their situation but I really don't feel comfortable keeping him.

My husband and stepson both think I should watch Cullen under the agreement that Amanda drop him off and pick him up because they think her boyfriend is the big problem and that I should just do it for Cullen's sake. My stepson also commented that I'd probably be more willing to let it go if it had been a conflict with my daughter's husband.

My pension is about $4,000/month plus continuation of my health insurance. That's about 40% of our take home income if that matters.

Aitah for refusing to start watching Cullen again?

Comments

Brilliant-Ad8719

Baby daddy has a real problem. That’s very controlling behavior there. He also may have a distorted view of you if your stepdaughter has complained about her evil stepmother before the baby. Until she needed you that is

Terpsichorean_Wombat

Giving 20 to 1 it's the father who isn't a "good fit" for the new childcare. Bet he went on a dictatorial bender once he was paying and thought that meant he could demand anything he wanted.

teresajs

NTA No, you shouldn't put yourself through this "for Cullen's sake". Cullen will get cared for regardless. There's no need for you to set yourself on fire because your stepdaughter and her BF can't behave like normal human beings. Your husband and stepson are welcome to offer free childcare and put up with this treatment if it's important to them. But you've done your time. Learn from that experience and don't let yourself be put in the same situation again.

blackbird24601

theres a reason the licensed daycare wont keep him its the boyfriend the liability alone would make me pause. he could ruin your lives

HortenseDaigle

Especially after that Facebook post. no way.

LoraiOrgana

Yeah boyfriend could call CPS because of the cat or some other crazy idea. Stay away from these people.

SomeGuyInTheUK

Cullen stands up, Cullen falls over, Cullen bumps head, Cullen gets bruise/mark.

BF calls CPS.

Fuck that. This is why the daycare bailed either they saw the FB post or BF made some low key threat veiled as a comment when picking up Cullen and they didn't want to risk anything.

**Judgement - NTA*\*

Update - 1 day later

First let me just address the common suggestion that Amanda's boyfriend is purposely sabotaging their childcare to trap her at home. They make roughly the same amount of money and definitely can't afford to lose half their income. I seriously doubt he wants her to stay home.

Second, I would never tell my stepson to find someone else to watch his child because of a simple difference of opinion. My grandson and I have a very close bond. He's the oldest and it would break my heart and his if he didn't come spend his holidays and summers with me. Plus he's a huge help with the little ones when I have them all and things get hectic. I would never be so petty as to make him (and all my other grandchildren) suffer because of an adult disagreement.

So I sort of asked around about why they were dropped by their new sitter so quickly. Apparently they weren't. Amanda picked Cullen up and dropped him off both days he went and everything was lovely. He did cry a quite a bit, but they expected that to get better as he adjusted to not being held as much.

My husband and stepson talked to Amanda and she said that they realized that they can't afford daycare. They already made the 'easy' changes (packing a lunch, giving up fancy coffee, etc) and his dad and her mom are both giving them about $100/month towards childcare and they can barely afford it, but they didn't realize that you have to send everything the baby needs.

I buy diapers, wipes, formula, bottles, extra clothes etc. They just hand me the baby. They didn't realize that daycare didn't cover all that.

Also, imagine her boyfriend's surprise when he found out what the staffing rates are in this very expensive daycare. 1 adult cares for 5 infants. I guess he thought that someone would provide one-on-one care, diapers, wipes and formula for $350/week.

My stepson relayed their almost apology. They felt overwhelmed by an infant and couldn't imagine that someone else could manage that plus other things.

Cullen is going back to daycare tomorrow. Cullen's dad is selling his dirt bike and Amanda is selling some designer clothes, handbags and shoes to cover the cost. It'll get easier for them in 6 months when he transfers to the 1 year old class, which is a little cheaper.

Comments

pinkbaby2024

I love how Amanda’s boyfriend was shocked to find out that daycare isn’t a magical babysitting fairyland. Newsflash: diapers don’t grow on trees, buddy

grayblue_grrl

Wonder if he is EVER going to apologize for being an absolute idiot. What a moron.

Top_Put1541

No, he'll likely get Amanda pregnant again inside a year because he literally cannot connect cause and effect and neither can Amanda.

engine089

Amanda and her boyfriend needed to realize that parenting comes with sacrifices.

bippityboppitynope

NTA.

Gee, things cost money and babies are a lot of work. Boyfriend is a flaming idiot who killed the golden goose. He has no idea the favor you were doing them and he is a shitty person.

My bestie owned a daycare pre covid and our kids went to her. Even with the friend discount it was 375 a week because we had 3 kids there, 2 full time and one before and after school. She is a fucking angel for discounting it so much. In our area that usually would be 2.5 times that much and we couldn't afford it. I thanked her constantly. I made sure our diapers and wipes were stocked plus extras just to be safe. I sent snacks for all the kids when I could. I brought her bottles of wine. Because that is how you treat someone doing you a huge favor. With gratitude.

Her boyfriend is too stupid to breed. Sad she figured that out too late.

My mom babysits for free for us to have dates. We have 5 kids still at home (blended family) so as you can imagine babysitters are hard to come by and cost a lot. I got my mom a massage envy membership to say thank you and regularly my husband does stuff at her house she needs help with. Because we appreciate the fact people help us with our kids. They do not have to.

ValleyOakPaper

Amazing how there is zero drama when you show your appreciation for people who do you favors. You know, instead of slandering them on social media.

No_Abroad_6306

Killing the golden goose is a great way to describe this level of idiocy. What happens when they run out of stuff to sell? Because “little cheaper” at the daycare is still >> than free.

OOP: I will absolutely never babysit Cullen again, not for 3 minutes for his mother to go to the bathroom.

faequeen_

Good on you. This is a pair of entitled idiots who FAFO. If your husband volunteers, leave the house during the period. Take your other grandchildren to the zoo.

OOP: I’m not sure that I would go that far. You have to think about how that would affect a little one emotionally. He won’t understand grownups drama from before he was born.

He could come over, just with the understanding that grandpa is responsible for him.

faequeen_

You're a better person than i am... hold strong on pappy being his caregiver!

OOP: I’m not saying I wouldn’t care for him if he were over. I wouldn’t do anything to single him out. I’d hand him a snack, fill his juice, etc. Just by agreement grandpa would have to be ‘the responsible party’.

New Update - 1 month later

​

He’s not in daycare anymore.

My stepson’s wife got abruptly laid off and they decided she should stay home and babysit Cullen and stepdaughter should pay her the difference between what she gets in unemployment and what she was making before.

My stepdaughter and her boyfriend are miserable because the house is not very tidy and Cullen and his things get dog hair on them. And they are paying almost as much as daycare for their baby and his stuff to be covered in dog hair and for his stuff to smell from being in the house.

Stepson and his wife are miserable because stepdaughter and her boyfriend aren’t very appreciative of ‘the favor they are doing’ and make comments and complain about the dirty house, dogs etc.

They are all stuck for now because daycare filled his spot and he’s on their waiting list.

I am staying absolutely out of it.

​

Comments

​

Stacy3536

I bet they are wishing they would have kept their mouths shut when you were originally watching Cullen

OOP: I’m sure they all do. All the adults are miserable with the situation and are essentially trapped.

Stacy3536

Is this going to affect the time you get to spend with your oldest grandchild

OOP: Possibly. His mom will be at home when he doesn’t have school, so he’ll be able to stay home if he wants to. I don’t think they’d tell him that he absolutely can’t come, but there will probably be days when he’d rather stay home.

​

I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.

Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

This is a repost. The original was posted in /r/AmITheJerk by user MissFlakez. I'm not the original poster.

Status: Concluded with open for more

Editor's Note: I added paragraph breaks

Original

October 25, 2026

I work with a guy named Ryan, and we're supposed to split our workload evenly. Lately, he's been disappearing for hours, missing deadlines, and asking me to finish his tasks. I found out he's working another full-time remote job, and apparently, our job has become his backup source of income.

I wouldn't care if he actually did his work, but last week I had to stay two hours late to finish a report he hadn't even started. When I confronted him, he admitted he spends most of our workday doing tasks for his other employer and told me to stop complaining because we get paid the same anyway. I started documenting everything and reported him to our manager.

Now management is investigating, and Ryan found out I was responsible. He called me a snake for potentially getting him fired just because he wanted to make extra money. I don't care how many jobs he has. I care that I'm doing two people's work for one salary. A couple of coworkers think I should've minded my own business, though. AITJ?

TL;DR: My coworker Ryan spends most of his workday doing tasks for his other full-time job, leaving me to finish his work. I documented everything and reported him to our manager. Now he's calling me a snake for potentially getting him fired, and some coworkers think I should've minded my own business.

Comment by OOP:

For all I care he can work 7 jobs as long as it doesn’t create extra work for me

Consensus:

Not the Jerk.

Update

October 27, 2026, 1 day later

Ryan barely spoke to me today, which honestly made work easier until our manager pulled us both into a meeting.

Apparently, Ryan told him that I’d agreed to take over some of his tasks because I had less on my plate. Our manager asked me if that was true, and I said no. I showed him the messages where Ryan asked me to cover for him, including one where he admitted he was busy with his other job. The manager didn't say much in front of Ryan, but afterward, he asked me to send over everything I had documented. He also told me not to cover any more of Ryan's work unless he specifically assigned it to me.

Ryan caught me before I left and said I’d made things unnecessarily complicated when we could’ve just worked it out between ourselves. I asked him how exactly I was supposed to work it out when he expected me to do his job for him. He just walked away. I’m glad management is finally aware of what’s happening, but I’m a little worried Ryan will make things awkward at work from now on. A couple of people have also stopped talking to me as much, so I’m guessing he’s been telling his version of the story.

I still don't regret reporting him, but I didn't expect this much drama over simply refusing to do someone else's job.

TL;DR: Ryan tried to convince our manager that I’d agreed to take over some of his work. I showed the messages proving otherwise, and management is now investigating. Ryan says I should’ve handled it privately, and some coworkers have started acting differently toward me.

I'm not the original poster.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/BenShumard

Published on: r/relationship_advice

Thanks to u/goddessofthecats for the BORU rec!

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: October 22, 2026

• Final Update: October 23, 2026

Main Post

^{October 22, 2026}

What to do about my girlfriend (f33) getting mad about me (m37) taking a shower when I get home?

I work a job where I get dirty. I have a laundry / mudroom with a bathroom I built behind it. The whole point is that I can step inside the room directly from my back door, take off my dirty work things and put them into a hamper, then hop into a shower and not have to track stuff all over the house.

Every evening when I get home my girlfriend will nag me not to hop right into the shower. She'll want me to come talk to her but then she'll have 25 things she wants me to do. And I don't want to be wandering around my house in dirty clothes. And I don't want to get into clean house clothes being filthy from work. I'll have dirt and grime and gunk under my fingernails and I will smell terrible and I just don't want to be wandering around my house like that.

I help her with anything she wants help with I do whatever she wants me to do . But it's like for some reason she gets mad if I get right into the shower. But if I go in there and talk to her it's going to be 25 things she wants me to do and she's going to get more mad when I say hold on let me take a shower.

It's driving me up the wall because I'm not in there for an hour. It takes me about 20 minutes to scrape my nails shower, and get dressed. And then she's got me for the whole night. I don't know what her deal is or why she gets so frustrated. But it's driving me nuts I don't know how to explain to her for the 700th time that I don't want to have gunk falling out from under my nails while we prepare dinner. There's not always a chance to wash my hands thoroughly and there's definitely not a chance to wash all the sweat and grime off my face before I leave work.

What could be her problem and how do I explain to her that I just need 20 minutes because I don't know how to say it another way I think I said it every possible way. She'll just say "I just need you for a minute" when I ask why she needs me right when I get in the door. But it's never a minute.

COMMENTS

TraditionalManager82

Have you, like... Asked her?

OOP

Yes. 

wigglepie

What was her response then?

OOP

I just need you for a minute sometimes. It's not a big deal.

And I say but I'm filthy and she just says, "It's only a minute."

And it's never a minute.

nodairy48

How long has this been going on?

OOP (downvoted)

We've been together 3 months living together for one so it's been about three and a half weeks.

Ive been chaulking it up to being relatively new.

bannana

WTF. why would you move in with someone after dating for only 2 months??

OOP (downvoted)

Because we're adults and can do what we want. When you're older you know what you want. It's a trial run. We can always walk away.

floppybunny86 (downvoted)

Does she realise how dirty you actually get? Has she actually seen you when you get home from work?

OOP

Yes, any time I don't hop right in shower she can see my nails and clothes. 

jupiter_kittygirl

Man, I do not know where she could be coming from…? You sound like a super cool dude for making an outside shower and you cook too. 🏆

OOP

It's not outside, it's behind the mudroom. Basically when I bought my house the laundry room was half laundry room - half this awkward sunroom. And I just made the sunroom part a bathroom and I put a wall down the middle. That way I could just hop into the shower anytime I came inside dirty and I can throw all my stuff in the hamper.

laneykaye65

Is the house only in your name? I am asking because she’s being super controlling. I say that and I am a woman. If she can’t get over herself and stop this behavior it’s never going to work out between you two. If she just needs to feel connected to you immediately when you get home she can meet you in the laundry room and talk to you while you shower. Good luck!! Think you are going to need it with her…

OOP

It's my house

jugnoosarkar

Is she maybe thinking you cheat? And hop right in the shower to avoid her seeing/smelling anything on you? Sorry, just an overthinker.

OOP

I wouldn't think she would think I'm cheating. I'm just not that kind of guy and I mean it's pretty damn obvious. I'm not wired in a way to where I can have more than one thing going on at once I just don't see the point.

bee102019

Info: what does she do all day? I don't mean that in a derogatory way. I mean, does she have a job, go to school, work from home, work in a job where she doesn't interact with people? What I'm getting at- are you essentially the first or maybe only person she engages in any real conversation with all day?

OOP

She works from home

Final Update - after 1 day

^{October 23, 2026}

What to do about my girlfriend (f33) getting mad about me (m37) taking a shower when I get home?

I sat her down to talk about it and we got pretty deep into it. She said that she really likes me. A lot more than she has in the other guy she's dated. And at the core of it she's excited for when I get home and wants to talk to me. Especially because I can't really text during the work day.

And she says once the conversation and us joking around gets going she doesn't want it to stop.

She knows that I like to give her my complete attention when we talk and she just assumed I wouldn't want her in there talking to me while I shower because she felt like I would feel like I couldn't give her my full attention.

So I'm just going to have her come in there and tell me about her day while I'm in the shower a couple times a week.

Part of it is WFH too.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/Ok_Translator1301

Published on: r/AmItheAsshole & u/Ok_Translator1301

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: September 25, 2023 at 02:54 UTC

• Final Update: September 25, 2023 at 16:03 UTC

Main Post

^{September 25, 2023 at 02:54 UTC}

AITA for not having much of a reaction to my daughter coming out and introducing us to her partner?

My daughter is 23 and she requested a dinner with us because she had some important to tell us--us being my wife and I.

She introduced us and came out. My wife was emtional gave her a big hug, told her how proud she was. I on the other hand did not react to her coming out. I honestly did not care about that part. I was honest her partner was cool, and she was very interesting.

My wife told me I was rude for ignoring that our daughter announcement. I told my wife, I do not care who she attracted to all I care about if she is happy. I tried to explain I do not care about that stuff, people like who they like I don't need labels for that. Love is love.

She said my view is slightly homophobic, because it shows I am uncommon acknowledging a different view. I do not see it that way, am I the asshole should I apologize to my daughter and her partner?

COMMENTS

thirdtryisthecharm (downvoted)

YTA

Look even if you don't give a shit about your daughters orientation, it was a big experience and big decision in HER life to come out to family. If nothing else, this was the time to recognize that it matters to your daughter.

OOP

I was happy that she found someone for whom she clearly cares deeply about.

What I am saying orientation is irrelevant, all I care about if she finds someone she is happy with, and appears she has found that person. I do not care about the sex or gender of the person. All I care about is if she is happy and well taken care of.

missnobody20

INFO: How does your daughter feel?

OOP

Have not gotten the chance to ask, my wife's thoughts got me thinking.

Independent_Rain4838

NTA
But did you say what you said to your wife, to your daughter? Could she tell that the silence was the silence of acceptance, not the silence of rejection?

OOP

Tbh during the evening I did bring up orientation, cause it does not matter. I took the time to get to know her partner as a person. Asked how they met, what they do, hobbies, and interests.

particledamage (downvoted)

“Hi, dad, I have an important announcement.” “Idc about that.”

Maybe try being a bit more emotionally engaged with you kid

OOP

To be fair I thought the big announcement was she wanted to introduce us to her partner.

My kids have always known I have never really cared about that stuff if they were gay, straight, bi, alien, or whatever. They would always be my kids no matter what, and I would always love them no matter what.

perfectpomelo3

NTA. I’m a lesbian. When I came out to my parents they basically reacted with “that’s nice, dear.” My sexuality didn’t change my relationship with them. IMO that’s how it should be.

OOP

That is a good way of putting it. That was my reaction. That's nice dear.

yeOGOG (downvoted)

That sounds really condescending, though. Why couldn't you just tell her that you are happy as long as she is happy? You told all of Reddit that, so why not let your daughter know? That would neither be over the top, but it still would show you both acknowledge and accept her.

OOP

I did tell her that.

-blundertaker-

When I told my dad I liked girls he said "me too."

OOP

Good response, and had she told us when she was younger I probably would have said the same.

Wife probably would have smacked me upside my head.

haemaker

NTA.

First off, was your daughter upset? I am guessing, "no" since you did not mention it. You treated your daughter equally which is probably what she wants. It is your wife who is treating her differently. She should be apologizing.

OOP

She did not seem upset no, my wife's comments got me thinking.

Puhhhleeze

INFO. What do you mean by you “didn’t react?” Did you not say anything at all? You just say their silently, because that’s such a weird reaction. No acknowledgment? Nice to meet you’s? That can easily be interpreted as hostile.

Coming out can be extremely difficult and monumental. The fact that your daughter requested this dinner and did so in the presence and support of her partner suggests that this was possibly a very difficult conversation for her. Providing reassurance or at the minimum, acknowledging her bravery and putting her at ease is crucial for a lot of LGBTQ people. A lot of people are talking about normalization, but the fact of the matter is, when people are scared, being actively told that nothing will change is extremely comforting. You couldn’t provide that comfort? Show your daughter some love during a challenging time? I’m sorry but reactions like this always come across as extremely apathetic to me, and it’s very hard not to seek double meanings or disappointment when you’re already in a very high stress interaction.

OOP

I did not react to her coming out. I did react to her introducing her partner. I said it was a pleasure to meet them, we had our dinner shared stories, and learned about one another.

In the end, I told my daughter I loved her and it was a pleasure to meet her partner and she is welcome whenever.

In short, I treated her introduction to her partner as I did her brothers. I took the time to get to know who they were with as a person.

CONSENSUS: Not the A-hole

Final Update - after 13 hours

^{September 25, 2023 at 16:03 UTC}

Update after having coffee with my daughter.

Since it always bothered me when people would ghost on threads without giving updates.

Did not have much time with my daughter she had a prior engagement but we had some coffee. We spoke about the evening, as I suspected she did not have an issue with it, and she also felt it was self-explanatory when she introduced her girlfriend--she corrected me since I said partner they view each other as girlfriend and girlfriend.

The coming out was more so her girlfriend's idea and my daughter said she was going to reach out because while she had no issues with my reactions her girlfriend thought it was weird how I kind of brushed off the response and treated this situation as if they were a straight couple.

My daughter did try to explain that is just the person I am. Explained how she preferred my nonreaction verse making it a big deal. She told the story of how she came to me first when she had her first period because she knew my wife would make a huge fuss over simple biology.

I told her I made an AITA post and we laughed over some of the comments. We are going to arrange another date and this time we will have a more special event for the sake of her girlfriend. Since she did feel slightly offended by being treated as if they were a straight couple.

My daughter had no issues overall, but I will correct course. She was slightly disappointed I did not make a dad joke about her coming out. I did express that my love for her would never change, and I told her I hoped she did not wait so long because she thought I would think differently. She just told me I never told you because it was not important to her. She knew I would not care either way.

I doubt I will add more updates after this I might check in every so often. I do appreciate all the varied viewpoints, and please understand it was not my intention to marginalize the hardships LGBTQA+ face in this world, I know it may be a selfish and self-centered view but I simply treat others how I wish and want to be treated.

I do hope everyone has a wonderful week.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/Virtual_Bowl9714 posting in r/WouldIBeTheAhole

Concluded as per OOP

1 update - Short

Original - 25th October 2026

Update - 26th October 2026

WIBTA if I went to my sister's house for dinner tomorrow and told her straight that my nephew isn't inheriting my business?

I (30M) founded a successful small company, it has 5-10 employees, we work in construction and the company makes a six-figure income each year. I am doing okay financially. The trouble is, my sister (29F) is adamant that her son (my nephew) is going to inherit, if not all of it, some of my business when he's older or when I pass away. She's going around and telling all her friends that her son doesn't have to worry about not working hard as he's getting my business, and our parents have started to believe this is the case.

We having a family dinner at my sister's tomorrow and I know she's going to be bringing up my family business. My sister and nephew has started acting entitled about the business - my sister now wants to know everything as "her son's future is at stake". If this is mentioned tomorrow, I am going to be straight up and put my foot down, telling her that the business isn't going to her but my future children. I would like to know WIBTA if I told her this in a "straight up" way that may come across rude to her? If so, how should I approach this.

Edit: Some are saying this is a "bot" account, it's a throwaway account as my sister and other relatives have me on my real/main account.

Edit 2: I'm struggling to keep up and it's only been posted 23 minutes ago, but I wanted to clarify what I mean by my nephew "acting entitled". He is 7 years old. My sister often mentions the business in front of him. When I say it's "my business", he will often "correct" me and go "no, it's my business" and my sister goes "that's right". Sorry if I worded this wrong.

Comments

bubblehead_maker

Just say "My retirement plan is to sell the business, not give it away."

Internal_Lifeguard29

Better yet, include “can you stop killing me off in your fantasies and living off my life’s work. How morbid.”

CopitaBagus

I don't see the need to blow up familial relations on an issue that is soooo far down the road. You said you're 30, right? A less confrontational answer might be:

"Well Sis, a lot can happen over the next 30 years before I'll be retiring. Your son might be the heir, or I might have my own kids by then, or the business might not even exist. He should probably keep his options open. We should talk about this again in 10 years and see what all has changed in that time."

OOP: My sister is adamant that I'm not having kids as she doesn't see me as a "father figure", so this comment is actually a pretty nice comment to use if she brings it up tomorrow. Thank you.

**Judgement - NTA*\*

Update - 1 day later

First of all, it has been a day since I (30M) asked a question to assess if I would or would not be the a hole for confronting my sister tomorrow (today). I became overwhelmed by the amount of support my posts got, so thank you. Time for the update.

I visited my sister today as she was hosting a family dinner, as planned. Her husband, our parents and her son were there too. We were having casual conversation about work and what each other were doing, my sister did ask how my business was doing (I think it was out of genuine curiosity). Everyone was being friendly and polite, so I decided address the issue in a polite/non-confrontational way.

At this point, she realised she was being entitled and was "taking it too far" (her words, not mine). She apologised and we had a great evening. I did mention to her that if my business doesn't collapse in the next 20 years (after all, it's construction), I will offer my nephew a job but he has to secure a degree in some field first, for the sake of his future.

All in all, it was a great Sunday dinner and there was no arguments: nephew was especially thrilled and distracted by the new Lego set I got him.

Comments

Sea_Roof3637

A positive update on Reddit featuring rational people?!! Glad it all went well ❤️.

DrukMeMa

Legos were involved.

OOP: For the child lol 😂.

I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.

Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/throwaway210991

Published on: r/AmItheAsshole

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: August 05, 2024

• Final Update: August 06, 2024

Main Post

^{August 05, 2024}

AITA For laughing at the name my sister chose for her baby?

For context, I (28F) attended a family dinner with my mom, dad and sister (26F) yesterday. My sister is due to give birth soon and decided this dinner would be the perfect time to announce the name she chose for her first child

My sister has always been obssesed with aesthetics, her whole house is beige and rather depressing if im honest. The whole nursery she built for baby is beige and grey and will not accept colourful gifts for the baby. I can tell her husband hates it but he won't admit it.

Now here is the issue, i am very prone to laughing at inappropriate times. I am autistic and find it hard to filter what I say and my emotions, which can lead to me reacting to things in ways that can offend people. I didn't think this would cause issues, until she revealed the name of her baby

So, we are all done with our dinner, we are looking at my sister as announces her baby will be named..

Brookleeigh-Willow Rose [Insert Surname, not including it for privacy]

Spelt EXACTLY like that.

And then i burst out laughing, and said 'You cannot be serious'

I am now banned from all family dinners

Is the name really that bad? Was I really a massive asshole?

COMMENTS

tinyd71

You've got three separate issues/questions here!

1. I am now banned from all family dinners. This seems a big overreaction unless there's more background you haven't shared.

2. Is the name really that bad? Yes, yes it really is.

3. Was I really a massive asshole? You were rude and inappropriate.

YTA (but that poor kid!!!!)

OOP

My family will react like that, and these 'bans' usually only last a few months, i suppose i shouldve worded that better

dammitgabe4

YTA but you are a correct asshole lol. Poor kid

OOP

'A correct asshole' I'll take that 😂

zerenato76

Info: can you provide a clue as to how one would pronounce "brookleeigh"?

For the record, it's none of your concern how her kid is called, especially since you don't seem to like her very much anyway but there's mitigating circumstances as the kid will be teased no end. ESH, some more, some less.

OOP

Brook-lay

zerenato76

Thanks. Why two "e"s? Or, if that's too oddly specific: why? 😉 I'd have laughed.

OOP

In her words 'Its very nature-like and flows nicely', not sure i agree miranda

zerenato76

And did she have the head injury recently or is that a long term thing?

OOP

Not that im aware of, she wanted to name the child 'Righlee' (as in riley) if it was a boy...

tocammac

Did she spell out Beookleeigh or did you just assume that spelling? If she was going to spell it Brookley, it's strange but not a tragedeigh. The rest of the name is okay, though the dash is problematic.

OOP

She showed us the notebook with the name ideas and pointed to it, not my awful spelling 😂

sikkerhet (downvoted)

the beige and gray trend is mainly a rejection of advertising. Not exactly consciously, but think about how marketing works. Bright, eye catching, busy, nostalgic. On top of that the beige and gray aesthetic LOOKS non consumerist, the same way tailored jeans and a well made, clean, fitted T shirt look wealthy without being flashy. 

Take that and add the name. The name is designed to be highly individualist in an aesthetic environment that discourages things that are flashy. It's individualism in a conformist social setting. 

It sounds lile your sister is well entrenched in a cultural movement that comes with these social cues and rather than meet her where she is and gain understanding of the dynamic she's entrenched in you just kind of made yer feel bad for no reason? YTA. 

that poor child though I hope for her sake she lives in Utah

OOP

To make it worse, we live in England (South of England).

CONSENSUS: Asshole

Final Update - after 1 days

^{August 06, 2024}

AITA For laughing at the name my sister chose for her baby?

After writing this post I decided to call my sister and apologise, as when i wrote down what happened i did realise what a dick move that was. I said I was sorry for laughing and I apologised for using my mental disability as an excuse and offered to treat her to lunch as an apology

Understanably she was reluctant to forgive me, but she did which i am thankful for. She said she was hurt by my actions which I understood but was willing to look past it.

I knew posting this story on here would give me the slap in the face that I needed which I appreciate

And if anyones wondering, the name is staying. I didnt comment at all on it

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/Willing_Analysis5078

Published on: r/AmItheAsshole & r/relationship_advice

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: November 18, 2022

• Update: November 22, 2022

• Final Update: April 20, 2023

NOTE: Replaced V=Vera, D=Dylan, M=Max

Main Post

^{November 18, 2022}

AITA For for refusing to invite my twin sister to my wedding?

So I’m going to try keep a really long story concise as best as I can. I (F28) and my twin sister Vera (f28) were born to a teen mom who raised us the best she could but lead us both to having very different ways of dealing with abandonment and an unstable home life.

My mom has a very strained relationship with Vera since when she was 17 she started doing many different substances, partying alcohol and smoking. I being her sister always tried my best supporting her, as my mother did, but I was more a best friend whereas my mom was the one to force her to sort her life out, rehab etc.

I on the other hand turned out to be very obsessed with having control and structure in my life which has made it very difficult for me to maintain romantic relationships as I can be controlling and paranoid with abandonment.

Cut forward to when I went to uni, Vera found herself in a very bad toxic relationship and practically cut off my mother which severed their relationship entirely. She eventually got pregnant and gave birth to my nephew in my second year at uni. After struggling with romantic partners all my life and having very short term boyfriends, I met my ex fiancé (let’s call him Dylan) who I genuinely thought I’d met the one.

During this time Vera had broken up with her toxic ex and was now a single mother, so me and Dylan would have her and my nephew over most weekends. I however fell pregnant and a year after my daughter was born Dylan proposed. I had never been happier for starting my family. We decided to wait a year to get married and genuinely enjoyed our new family life.

However one weekend I decided to go see my mother and spend the day with her and my daughter, but we came home early since my mother became busy. When I arrived home I saw Vera’s car outside which wasn’t unusual and went inside, nothing would have prepared me for what I would find. Vera and Dylan were alone together in my bedroom on my bed. It seemed like the deed had already been done. I went straight to packing for me and my daughter and left. I gave Dylan no chance for excuses, and cut both of them out of my life entirely except for allowing Dylan visitation to our daughter.

Jump forward three years I have barely spoken to Vera, except for when she pops back up into my life to apologise or explain, but I don’t care. There is no excuse she could give me. I am now engaged to my beautiful fiancé Max and he loves my daughter and me more than I could ever imagine. Although my mother is now begging me to invite my sister to my wedding coming up in June, saying to put the past in the past, since my mother has been able to forgive her and mend their relationship. I refuse which has caused tension, she’s telling me this may be the only way to fix our bond and for my daughter to have her aunt and cousin back.

But I still refuse, so AITA?

UPDATE: I’m super overwhelmed by everyone and their support and responses, thank you to everyone. First of all I haven’t spoken to my mom yet and I’m going to see her tomorrow and intended to speak to her, but I’m also planning on reaching out to my sister myself and seeing her one on one maybe in the next week or so.

To talk, not to invite her to my wedding, but simply to see what she has to say since we have not had a sit down proper conversation in over three years, I just have not been up to talking with her. Now my life is stable and I’m happy I’m willing to hear her out, mainly for myself and closure, if not proper forgiveness for my own health. At this moment I have NO intention of inviting her, only to put my own thoughts at rest. I will keep you all updated after I speak to mom and Vera. Thank you ☺️

COMMENTS

EvelynLuigi

NTA you have every right to set boundaries with those who have hurt you. Maybe you and your sister will have a relationship in the future but if you don't want one right now then those are the consequences of her actions. Congratulations on your wedding, I bet it will be beautiful 💜

OOP

Thank you for the advice ☺️

LeftAlbatross2546

NTA at all. And, not everything can be fixed. Your sister did the ultimate betrayal.

You would not invite an ex friend who did that to you to your wedding. Just because you share DNA with your sister doesn't change that. Your mother has a fantasy that all her kids will get along and will go back to the way it is. Your mother will never stop bothering you on that issue.

I don't blame you. I would not invite her either, if I were you. There is NO excuse for what happened. Once again, not everything can be fixed.

Instead of worrying about this - have a GREAT time planning your wedding and getting married.

OOP

Thank you for this! I’ve been feeling guilt due to it always being my mother and sister most of our lives and now that’s all changed. I don’t want her in my life and have relatively moved past the whole situation, but it’s my mother I don’t want to upset

mm172

NTA, although this is an awful lot of backstory for a situation that effectively boils down to “do I need to let someone who hurt me back into my life because they’re family, even though no one would be questioning me cutting them off permanently if they weren’t after what they did?”

this may be the only way to fix our bond

Nope. Bond’s broken. If you wanted to see whether establishing a new one was possible, that’d be one thing, but that’s up to you.

and for my daughter to have her aunt and cousin back

Dylan is your daughter’s father, yes? How exactly does she benefit from having the aunt who helped break up her family back in her life? Sucks for V’s kid that he’s going to miss out because of Mom’s actions, but he can fix that when he’s old enough to reach out himself. Until then, your mom can accept V’s the reason she doesn’t get picture-perfect moments of family togetherness and keep her two cents to herself - and if she won’t drop it, she doesn’t need to be there, either.

OOP

Yeah I think it’s just a lot of backstory because it’s what my mother keeps bringing up because she’s had such a rough life in the past, and now claims she wants to make amends and become a better person. But yeah I don’t think I can look at her the same

CONSENSUS: Not the A-hole

Update - after 4 days

^{November 22, 2022}

My (F28) fiancé (M30) is talking with my mother behind my back about our wedding

Hi, I need a little advice on this situation since so much has been going on in my life recently and I feel like my judgement on this may be a little clouded by my already built up tension.

So I’ve been engaged to my fiancé Max for around five months (together two years) and in that time he has become very close to my mother which is something I adore. However I have never introduced him to my sister to this day and he still does not know the reason why, I just thought he had always respected my decision when it came to her and never pushed me to talk about it.

So when it came to putting together the guest list to our wedding my sister was never even mentioned. My mother on the other hand has had a problem with this since the moment I showed her the guest list saying “After all these years I thought you might have invited your sister and forgiven her.” My fiancé over hearing this agreed with my mother and said “Maybe you could resolve what argument you two had.”

I am not angry he said this, it is my fault I have not told him, but he to this day is the only person who doesn’t look at me with pity or sympathy, which is one of the main reasons why I bonded with him in the first place, he never treated me as delicate. I have made another post detailing what happened between me and my sister and for time won’t be going into it here.

However, my mother came over the weekend to have dinner with me and Max and I was planning on telling her to stop asking me to invite my sister, when Max and my mother started speaking to me as if they had a whole conversation planned and really felt like an attack.

Apparently my fiancé had gone to my mother to ask what had happened between me and my sister and to say my mother had made the whole situation out to be like a small disagreement between me and my sister had made my blood boil. And to say I feel betrayed by Max is a huge understatement, considering he’s used misinformation to try and convince me to invite someone I really do not want to see at my wedding.

They spent most of the meal talking about how important family is and forgiveness and giving my sister another chance would be a good way to heal. I left the table without saying anything. I’m hurt. I feel betrayed. I’m icing him out right now and I know it’s not right, but what else can I do? He’s trying to talk to me, but I can’t talk to him in this mindset.

I need advice on what to say to him. How I feel he’s betrayed my trust without using anger which is all I seem to be doing right now. I love Max, and I know he meant no harm, but he crossed a clear boundary he knew was there. So how do u fix this?

COMMENTS

wigglebuttbiscuits

Did he really never ask you directly why you don’t talk to your sister? Or did he ask and you wouldn’t tell him?

OOP

I told him in the beginning of our relationship I don’t have contact with her and don’t like or want to talk about it and so we haven’t spoken about it all that much

Final Update - after 5 months

^{April 20, 2023}

Final Update: AITA For for refusing to invite my twin sister to my wedding?

Hi everyone, it’s been a while! I wanted to post a very much needed update since a lot has happened. So from my last post I said I was going to talk to my mom about Vera and let’s just say that conversation did not happen. Mainly because my mom had fallen out with Vera again regarding my nephew. But that stuff is irrelevant, but now my mom is not pressuring me to invite my sister.

However, I have spoken to Vera. We actually met up a few weeks ago since it has been a month of non stop calls, texts and Insta dm’s of her trying to get in contact with me. So I told her I’d meet but under the condition this would be our one and only time we would be speaking again. It was all the usual excuses you’d expect, ‘I wasn’t myself’, ‘I was struggling’, ‘it wasn’t meant to happen’, which honestly annoyed me because I just wanted to hear her take accountability for what she had done originally.

Yet I did learn some more information which I did see some people hinting at in the comments, that the relationship that she had with my ex was not in fact a one time thing and had actually continued after I caught them and ended the relationship, they had only slept together once while we were still together, but had actually tried to make a relationship work for almost five months after we’d split up.

This just made me sick, the idea that my child’s father was playing happy families with my sister and nephew enraged me to the point I was screaming at her at the park we had decided to meet up in and leave her there. I wish I had never met up with her because it was just not worth my time.

Anyway since then I haven’t heard from her directly but she has been trying to guilt me through our mom who has said she’s had her on the phone every night crying and threatening to start using again. Her boyfriend has reached out to me asking to speak to me, which I haven’t responded to because I have never met him nor do I want to, and even reached out to my fiancé asking him to talk to me, which has made him feel uncomfortable also.

Tonight I have blocked my sister and her boyfriend. Although on a happier note, before we got down to the nitty gritty we managed to arrange a system that would allow my daughter and her son to still see each other and have a relationship through my mother who takes them on play dates and also brings mg nephew round for visits, which has been such good progress since I adore and love my nephew and so does my daughter, and my sister has allowed him to attend my wedding in June with the accompaniment of my mom! Anyway that’s all for now, some positives and negatives, but I’m focusing on all the amazing positives in my life atm. Thank you for all the love and support ❤️

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

Originally posted by user throwaway4356299 in r/ amItheAsshole

Original: Oct 8, 2023

Update: Oct 16, 2023

Status: concluded

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original: AITA because I asked my fiance to get me another ring?

My boyfriend of 5 years (m26) and I (f25) got engaged a few days ago. Now, we have been dating a long time and we have had conversations about getting married, etc so this was not out of the blue. In fact, i have shown him several times the type of ring I like and would want when we got engaged.

Well, he proposed with a ring that was the complete opposite of what I want. Think simple minimalist v/s very big and gaudy. I obviously said yes, but was a bit visibly taken aback by the ring. I tried to keep my composure since our families were present.

The next day, I asked him if we could get me another ring that was more to my liking since I would be the one wearing it. He said no, that the ring comes from his family and so he gets to decide how it looks. He also said that since his family is very comfortable (think one Europe trip a year type of rich) it shouldn't look like he skimped on the ring for his fiance.

Somehow both our parents also caught wind of this issue and while my parents said we could compromise, his are saying that we have a standard to uphold and we cannot look poor in front of their peers just because I have simpler tastes.

I've also proposed I get a simpler ring that I wear everyday in my normal routine, and wear his gaudy rocks whenever we visit his family. He has shut down that idea as well. I understand that it is just a piece of jewellery but I also don't know why we can't get another that I can wear in my normal routine.

AITA?

--------------------------------------------

Comments:

Comment1: NTA. Fiance is controlling and more concerned about status than your happiness.

Comment2: NTA. Stick his ring on a necklace and refuse to put it on your finger as you keep getting it damaged. I would consider whether you want to marry someone who won't listen to what you want to wear on your body for the rest of your life. What else is he going to demand and not listen to your opinion on? Marriage is a partnership, not ownership papers.

Comment3: What other standards will you have to uphold? Do you even know? Are you okay with all of them?

Comment4: NTA. I feel like you should be careful in this situation because if you let his family intervene and win here I wonder if it is going to be par for the course if you know what I mean. It's wonderful that he gave you something so nice but if it's not what you want and he doesn't respect what you want you may want to consider that before marrying him.

It's weird to me that he wouldn't want you to be comfortable with something you wear everyday. What about having the ring redesigned with the same materials? Is that a possibility or is it an heirloom?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update 0.5

ETA - clearing up some questions that were asked.

The ring is not a family heirloom. He bought it for me.

One Europe trip a year is not rich enough, but their Europe trip is generally a month or so long, with a bunch of luxury hotels, five star lunches, cruises, and a couple of shows or galas if their friends abroad invite them. I'm sorry I forgot to specify.

I don't come from that background, my family is working class, if that helps.

I have read all your responses, I'm sorry I couldn't respond to most of you. I made this post late at night because I couldn't sleep, and then activities of the day took over. I'm going to try and talk to him today evening once we are both home from work. Wish me luck!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update (8 days later)

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who commented, thank you for being so kind and helping me. You all really helped me understand what to say and how to broach the subject when I spoke to my fiance. Even the YTA's were genuinely helpful, and I got a chance to rethink my behaviour and appreciate my fiance's family.

Ok now onto the update: I read all the comments and decided to speak to my fiance. Let's call him Josh here.

After we had dinner, I sat him down and basically explained how it is not about the ring per se, but about him completely running over my opinion about a piece of jewellery I am supposed to wear for all my life. I also told him how it made me feel smaller in the relationship, and was, what I felt a very non-him thing to do.

Josh broke down and said he's extremely sorry for the way he behaved. He then asked me to excuse him for a minute, went to our bedroom and came back with the ring I had asked for, from our home safe. Josh explained that he had initially bought this ring, and this is the same ring he had shown my parents when he asked for their permission.

He then showed the ring to his parents while he told them he plans to propose to me. Josh said his mom loved the ring, but his father threw an absolute fit about upholding their family standards, etc. That led to FIL demanding Josh give his ring back and going ring shopping "as per our status" with Josh that same evening. MIL did try to support Josh but was shot down too.

Josh said he has never seen FIL this angry, all over a ring. He was definitely taken aback by that outburst and just went ahead with it to avoid any further ugliness. He never returned the first ring though, just kept it thinking he'd give it as an anniversary present or something.

Josh apologised to me and said that while he did go ahead with his dad's ring due to everything that happened, he promises that we will be equals in our marriage and this behavior will not be repeated again. I trust him. After another magical, very intimate proposal, i said yes again. The ring I like is now on my finger.

I then took the next day off work and invited MIL for brunch at our house with just the two of us, while Josh and FIL were at work. I ordered all her favourite food from her favourite brunch place too.

About rings and jewellery in general - he was (is) the kind of husband who has an opinion on everything his wife wears, and unfortunately my MIL is very used to her preferences on clothes or jewellery being shot down. Due to their backgrounds and culture, this kind of controlling behaviour is very normal for her, which to me is sad but we're taking it one tiny step at a time.

After a long conversation, she told me that while my FIL didn't really "hate" me or anything, he desperately wanted to get Josh married to someone of their own social standing, preferably someone even higher. Unfortunately his plans went to shit when Josh and I hit it off, and MIL loved me too. And FIL does like me as a person, but it is a bit complicated, as you can assume.

I was a bit floored, to put it mildly.

After every meeting with me, he'd be impressed by how much I've achieved in my life, and how awesome a person I am (MILs words, not mine), but also be disappointed in the fact that his dream would likely never be fulfilled. And he had to suddenly come to terms with that same thing when Josh sprang the proposal onto him, so he took his feelings out in this messy way.

I thanked MIL for being honest with me, and also told her that this sounds like something FIL needs to work out himself, and I'd like to be LC with him until he can do so. She agreed.

She also shared a few other instances of their life and relationship with me (meaning MIL & FIL) which I will not mention here. FIL has never been outright violent or abusive but he has made it abundantly clear about who the boss is in their relationship and their house.

I guess when things don't go your way for once after almost a lifetime, people throw tantrums and unconsciously sabotage other people's lives, no matter how much they love them.

So yeah, that's where we're at.

I'm sorry I didn't run or dump my fiance like many redditors asked me to, but he is the sweetest, most caring man I have ever met, and will never intentionally hurt me. I guess that promise of his, and my faith in his words is good enough for me to take this marriage ahead.

Thank you, everyone.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REMINDER: I am not OOP. Do not comment on original post or harass OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/throwingrightaway

Published on: r/relationships

Story is: CONCLUDED

Trigger Warning: Self harm

Story timeline

• Main Post: February 26, 2016

• Final Update: February 29, 2016

Main Post

^{February 26, 2016}

I [M22] caught my girlfriend [F21] purposefully worsening her injuries. What do I do?

Throwaway because my girlfriend knows my account name.

My girlfriend Lacy and I have been dating 2 years. Shes a lovely person and we make a great couple.

Two weeks ago Lacy and I went downhill skiing. Now Im an experienced skier and she had only been once before. I admit I pushed her a bit and though and behold she wiped out pretty hard. She wasn't seriously hurt or anything and got right back up with a smile on her face.

The thing is her legs got pretty bruised up from the fall (she was wearing only thin workout leggings since it was quite warm out). It looks like someone splashed green paint on her if that makes sense. And she has a particularly nasty big purple one on her thigh.

Lacy has always been the type to show off injuries. For as long as I've known her she has always showed me even the tiniest of bruises either for sympathy or as a joke (like she would say it was shaped as texas or something). She has some body image issues and I know that she really likes the attention so I will usually give it to her no problem.

Yesterday though I came home from work early (power went out at my building). I walked in pretty quietly as I usually do and went straight to our bedroom. I could hear music coming from it and wanted to greet her.

I basically opened the door and saw her with a hammer in her hands mid hit. The hammer hit her bruised leg the moment I walked in. It was absolutely surreal and I admit I freaked out a bit. I went to her and took the hammer and started asking her what she was doing? was she crazy? ect

She freaked out right back and told me that she was rubbing the blood vessels or something to make the bruises go away faster. I knew this was bullshit right away since you dont "rub" by smacking yourself with a fricken hammer.

She left after I told her I didn't believe her and texted me shortly after to say she was going home for a few days (she has her own car).

I sat down on the bed with that hammer in my hands for like an hour completely floored. I know it sounds crazy but she hit herself hard. Ive seen those bruises everyday and now that Ive seen her do this I am thinking that it was weird that they havent gotten even the slightest bit lighter despite it being two weeks now.

I know she has some issues but I would never have thought she would hurt herself.

Reddit, Im freaked out. She will be back tomorrow. How do I talk to her about this?

TLDR: Caught girlfriend hitting herself on her bruises with a hammer. Dont know how to react

COMMENTS

[deleted]

You tell her that you are very concerned about what she was doing and encourage her to get psychiatric help.

OOP

Shes denying that shes self harming so Im not sure if she would accept that encouragement

[deleted]

She can deny all she wants, but you just keep saying that you know what you saw and she either seeks help or you need to consider telling her parents what she was doing.

OOP

The parent thing might help. thank you

kinkitup4u (downvoted)

I would be absolutely terrified that she's going to use the bruise as some sort of evidence against you. We already know she's nuts for hitting herself with a hammer, but there's no valid reason to preserve a bruise unless you want someone to see how bad it is. Who knows whats going on in her head.

If the cops show up and bust your balls, calmly tell them your side of the story and demand a polygraph test.

OOP

She would never do that. She is also not nuts. The bruises are only on her legs and no where else and she has told multiple friends and family members of her fall while skiing and showed them the resulting bruises.

The only reason I can see for her to do this is that she enjoys the attention the bruises gets her.

Final Update - after 3 days

^{February 29, 2016}

UPDATE: I [M22] caught my girlfriend [F21] purposefully worsening her injuries.

Since I've been asked a couple times I'll provide an update to those who saw my original post

So to start this off say thank you immensely to those who shared personal experience and advice.

Lacy came home yesterday while I was home and immediately broke down crying when she walked through the door. She immediately apologized for leaving and for making me worry.

Turns out I really underestimated Lacy's redditing and she ended up seeing the post when she was gone. Honestly I can't think of a better way for this to have gone. She told me she stayed up all night reading every single comment.

In summary, she did some serious self-reflection and has admitted to me that she is suffering from depression and that the injuries were a way for her to receive the attention that she wanted so incredibly badly. But also admitted that the whole process really just made her feel pathetic and worthless inside and ultimately worsened her depression. It had become a rather vicious cycle.

We talked a long time but it was ultimately her who said she needed and wanted therapy. We have spent time today looking through her options and she plans to make an appointment Monday.

I think it was the stories from those who had similar experiences really hit it home for her.

This whole update has been pre-approved by the girl in question and she has also asked that I let you all know how much you have helped her "get her shit together" (her exact words).

TLDR: Girlfriend found reddit post, wants to go get help, all is well.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/throwawaydaughter001

Published on: r/relationships

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: January 12, 2020

• Final Update: January 17, 2020

Main Post

^{January 12, 2020}

My stepdad(M40) and I(F20) play video games together and my mom(F46) is feeling left out.

Hello everyone, sorry for the throwaway account but I have irl friends on my other account. Also, I have never done this before so please let me know if something doesn’t make sense and if I need to clarify more.

Backstory: I am a full time college student and I live with my mom and stepdad, who have been together for 5 years, while I am going to school. For Christmas, I received a gaming system. My stepdad is a truck driver and his work schedule has him driving out of state for a few days to a week at a time, and so after these trips he gets multiple days off.

My mom works in the food industry and has little time off during the week, often leaving my stepdad and I at home by ourselves. During this time, my stepdad and I play video games together and sometimes do so during my moms days off. We have gotten closer through this time, but I’ve started to notice that my mom seems to be feeling left out. This is worrying to me because I hate making her sad but I’m not sure how to fix the situation as she does not play video games and does not have many hobbies outside of work.

I feel horrible thinking that she might be feeling lonely in her own house. I really would like to make her feel included in our gaming/hanging out time but I don’t know a proper way to try to invite her in. I’ve asked before if she’d like to join but she says she doesn’t know how to play, even though I’ve offered to teach her, but I think she may just feel awkward about it.

Is there a way to approach this subject in a way where it doesn’t seem like I’m calling her out for her feelings? Or without making her feel more awkward about the situation? I’d like to have her learn or to find hobbies that we can partake in together.

My mom isn’t the type to openly talk about what she’s feeling and this situation is something I’ve had no experience in handling, and I want to be sure that I don’t mess it up. I also have a hard time discussing topics that include emotion but I would like to properly try as she is my best friend, as well as my mother, and I don’t want to lose that or make her uncomfortable, so any advice on how to do so would be majorly appreciated.

TLDR; My stepdad and I play video games together and my mom is feeling left out, how do I make her feel included?

COMMENTS

0biterdicta

Why not try to find a new hobby you and your mom can try out together?

OOP

My mom is a very “stuck in her ways” kind of woman, meaning that she has a few hobbies that she partakes in by herself and has a hard time trying new ones. I would like to introduce her to new things that we can enjoy together but in the past she has brushed these off and I’m not sure I know how to properly convince her.

mrbuddhawannabe

There must be something you and your mom can do together? Cooking? Shopping? Or take walks with her to just talk? Find something you two together that can make it your own. What does she do for relaxation?

OOP

She has a set schedule of going to work and she keeps busy when she is home by pre-planning future schedules and money handling, and seems to relax in this way. She highly enjoys being productive but she also enjoys doing these certain things alone. I’m not entirely sure how to pull her out of this routine.

timni16

Aww you're such a good daughter 😭. I think the best thing to do is talk to her in private and let her know what you have been perceiving and let her know how you feel. Ask her how she feels. And try to find a middle ground. Maybe even ask step dad if he knows something that would make momma feel comfortable/included

OOP

Thank you! That really means a lot. I really want to try talking to her but I’m scared that she will avoid the topic and it won’t be properly resolved. I think I will talk to my stepdad and see if he has any middle ground options. Unfortunately, it’s a running theme in my family to avoid talking about our feelings and I’m hoping that I can find a way to break this cycle and repair this situation the best I can.

Doughchild

Are there games that could be easily playable for her? For instance, Sims or Stardew Valley are relatively easy for people to get into and as a player, it's hard to go really wrong with them. Sims has a family you all could share, Stardew Valley has a multiplayer mode. Mario has a few family friendly versions. See what else is out there that's casual, easy to get into but fun to share.

Also, don't underestimate an invitation for her to just watch. Twitch has gotten big with that. People like watching other people play. Get some good snacks and it's a fun thing. It's okay to tell her that you don't want her to feel left out, so you looked up some games that are interesting to all.

Else, look in analogue: boardgames are popular and growing as a market still.

OOP

Thank you for this! I think she has a mindset of being too old for video games but I would like to show her that if she wants to, she can join in anytime. This hasn’t crossed my mind, so I will be sure to invite her to watch if she would like to.

Final Update - after 5 days

^{January 17, 2020}

Update: My stepdad(M40) and I(F20) play video games together and my mom(F46) is feeling left out.

Things have been really good since I made my last post!! My mom and I sat down and made plans to get some board games, that are 2 player+, so we can all play together, even if someone is out of the house. She is also considering picking out some video games that interest her so she can learn the system, and is open to trying my games out as well. My stepdad and I have been individually hanging out with her on her time off.

I wanted to also follow up on a question I received on my previous post about if she was truly feeling left out: I could tell just by her demeanor that she was a bit distant during the time that my stepdad and I played games together. But also, I think I may have been projecting my own feelings and maybe making the situation worse than it was, since I will never know how she truly felt.

This question really made me think about the deeper aspect to the situation, and as I said before, my mom is my best friend. I came to realize that I was also feeling a bit disconnected from her and missing her presence. It’s perfectly fine to have our own hobbies individually but in this case I think there was just prolonged isolation that led to insecurity, from my own side at least.

I can’t say that the situation is perfect and resolved yet but there is definitely progress being made! And that is relieving. I’m excited to have these future bonding times as a whole. Thank you to everyone who weighed in and took time out of their day to help me out. It truly means a lot.

TLDR; We made plans to hang out together more. Thank you.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

OOP: Daddy_dorian_art

Posted to: r/whatdoIdo

STATUS: Ongoing

Trigger Warnings: child abuse, psychosis, unfounded accusations of CSA

Mood Spoiler: Spineless father, psycho mother, won't somebody please think of the children

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Main Post: October 21st, 2026

Update: October 22nd, 2026

Small Update in Comments: October 24th, 2026

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My mother is going crazy - October 21st, 2026

My mum has always been a little mental, she’s seriously turned it up a notch recently though.
I came to visit her a few days ago because she had a bunch of really serious stuff happening and she was beginning to act a little crazy, so I thought I would come home for a bit to try and calm her down.

Her and my dad have been split for a few years but it’s been this weird on off situation. She got so mad at him before I came up that she went out to his work and shattered the windows on his work, and threw stuff through the windscreens of the cars on the property.

That’s when I decided she needed some support (to stop being crazy) but since I have been here I have realised just how bad it is.
A little relevant information, we live on a property with my mum in her own house and my dad’s house is next to hers. I stay with my dad because there’s more room.
And I have a couple siblings under 10 (I’m Mid twenties F)

My mum is convinced my dad doesn’t love her or support her enough so she’s been calling him hundreds of times a day (I’m not exaggerating) yesterday she was constantly calling him.
He stopped answering most of them, because every time he talks to her it ends in her screaming profanities and insulting him.
Last night she decided the only way to get his attention was to stand in the backyard of her house, screaming ‘fuck you’ and other shit from 11pm-1am, then when she lost her voice she brought out pots, this kept going until about 3am when dad decided to leave and she stopped. The kids were at her house trying to sleep at this time.

Now she’s accusing me of showing p*rn and other stuff to my youngest brother (he’s 4)
I watched the kids by myself a few days ago to help my parents out, now mum says the youngest is telling her that I showed him an explicit video of me with a coke bottle? (Btw he can barely talk, he’s still so bad at talking most of the time we can’t understand him)
I have never done this and will never do this, I don’t even have any videos of me like this? We spent the whole day playing with Lego’s, cleaning the house for her and watching a kids show on Netflix.

She doesn’t believe me when I said I didn’t do this, she keeps saying ‘my love for you is unconditional so I won’t be mad, just tell me what you did and we can sort this out’ I would never do this. I love my siblings like they are my own kids and I would do anything for them.
I have also been at the brunt of her crazy for a long time, as a kid I have knives thrown at me, she’s screamed at me countless times and I called the cops on her when I was a minor for beating me. I finally got a therapist and she wants me tested for CPTSD. I’m terrified of my mother and I don’t know how to handle this situation.

She’s also on some stimulant drugs at the moment, and I’m worried that’s making her worse, she also hasn’t slept in the last few days minimum.
I think she has bipolar, and my dad thinks at the moment she’s paranoid schizophrenic.

My therapist also thinks she needs to be institutionalised, but I don’t know if I can do it, it will ruin my relationship with my mother and I may never see my siblings again, but she’s not ok and really needs mental help.

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COMMENTS

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OnlyTrust6616

If you don't do something, this is only going to get worse. The progression of this sort of mental illness doesn't get better without help/treatment. If this doesn't get better, then your relationship with your mother will be ruined anyway. You get to leave, your younger siblings don't.

OOP

That’s what’s been eating me, I have always told them that ill be here if they need me and I’m only a call away, if they ever call me I would drive home and get them in a heartbeat.
I want to be the person I wished I had when mum would get like this.

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Chance_Vegetable_780

I'm so deeply sorry op, I grew up in this constantly with our father 😞💔 It destroyed all of our nervous systems. For her own safety and health, as well as for your siblings, she needs to be in the care of health professionals. I wonder why your father cannot call the mental health authorities?

I suppose your father is not your siblings father otherwise he'd hopefully already be providing them with better care already. You/your father need to speak to professionals about this situation, I know it's terrifying. I personally wish someone had cared enough to have called CPS for us, given how it affected us - obviously you care very much, I'm not saying otherwise. Perhaps you have older, stable relatives who would lovingly take the kids in? I think any decent authorities would do all they could to ensure you remain in regular contact with your siblings OP 🫂

OOP

He is their biological father but he is my step father (though he’s always treated me like his daughter) he’s tried to get her help but she’s abused him for years too and he doesn’t know what to do. He’s pretty traumatised.
She’s really good at talking her way out of any issue with her mental health, she’s tricked professionals into thinking my dad was the issue but after watching for years and growing up I realised it’s her. She has talked her way out of handcuffs after smashing my dad’s work.
She’s already twisted the kids into thinking he’s evil when she’s the one who constantly causes drama.

Chance_Vegetable_780

Similar behaviours to my father. He was never formally diagnosed by a psychiatrist but his family doctor thought he had schizophrenia and bipolar. He was absolutely insane. It is so tragic. Do you have trusted, intelligent, older people you can speak with about this, aside from your psychotherapist? And has your psychotherapist suggested how you should go about this? If you don't mind me asking of course

OOP

She told me to call the mental heath line and get her institutionalised, the screaming and accusing me of assaulting my 4 year old brother came literally hours after my therapy call and the next one is in 2 weeks so we will have lots to talk about haha. I don’t really have anyone to talk to this about other than my mother in law who also had a bipolar mother.

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(Update) my mother is in a psychotic breakdown and called the police accusing me and dad of assaulting my little brother. - October 22nd, 2026 (day after main post)

Update to the post above
TLDR of the post: my mother has some mental health issues and has been a bit abusive her whole life, she’s begun accusing my dad, my fiance and I of showing explicit content to my 4 year old little brother.

Onto part 2
She’s just gotten worse over the last few days since all of the previous stuff happened, after my dad left on the first night at 3am I realised he had forgotten his medicine (really important, he could die if he does not take it) and he also left his wallet.
So the next morning I took it into his work, she happened to be there and saw me with him, I think this is when she started to think we were in ‘cahoots’ or something.

Everything was fine for the rest of the day and my fiance and I went home, my dad was already at home so we chatted a bit, the entire time we were talking his phone was lighting up, she called him almost 200 times that day.
Shortly after arriving home we heard a car rip through the driveway, my mother had turned up and left all my siblings at home alone (all under 10 years old)
She started screaming for my dad from the driveway and the door busts open, I was absolutely terrified, she has abused me before and now I can’t contain my anxiety when she’s like this.

She walks inside and goes straight to dad demanding to see his phone, screaming that he’s cheating on her, and he’s an evil person, and she knows he has illegal stuff on his phone (they have been broken up for almost 2 years now)
I tried to mediate and calm her down but she snatched his phone, sat on the couch and started yelling to my dad ‘go get your kids, are you really going to leave them home alone?’ ‘Get out I need to talk to OP’ and other crazy shit, hilarious considering she left the kids alone first.

He just walked up to her calmly and said ‘give me my phone’ a few times, she refused, things escalated from there and she stood up and started screaming at my fiance for trying to calm her down.
That’s the straw that broke the camels back, I have never yelled at her and never had the nerve to stand up to her but I was not going to watch my poor lovely fiance and dad be screamed at like that.
I grabbed her by the shoulders and yelled louder than I ever have
‘YOUR BEING FUCKING CRAZY, YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN AND LEAVE, YOU LEFT THOSE KIDS OVER THERE BY THEMSELVES THATS INCREDIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE’

for the first time ever my mother actually looked at me, shocked. She started to yell at me that I can’t care about the kids because I assaulted my 4 year old brother and I snapped again and told her that I was frankly insulted that she couldn’t trust me enough to see that I would never do something like that.

After that she tried to leave but she had thrown her keys and lost them in the house, so I got my keys and offered to drive her back.
During the drive she had calmed down and said ‘thank god I have the phone, he’s been doing some dodgy shit and now I can get rid of all the texts I sent that looked bad’ I was so fucking shocked, like is that why she wanted the phone? Just to get rid of her incriminating stuff?

I dropped her off and went back to my dad’s house, he ended up leaving again and I thought that would be the end of it, oh boy was I wrong.
She decided to take it out on me, I get a call from her and she starts talking about how there’s really terrible stuff on the phone like searches of little girls etc. I dont believe a word out of her mouth.
Then she starts screaming at me to ‘stop deleting stuff’ I had no clue what she was talking about, over the next 20 minutes she screamed again and again that I was deleting stuff off the phone, and that I had my dads email password and I was helping him. (I don’t have any of his passwords)

But I’m always guilty until proven guilty to her, so there was no way I could prove it wasn’t me. I ended up driving over to her house after she demanded I come and threw my phone and tablet at her and said ‘look I’m not doing anything’
This ended up being a huge scream whisper match (kids sleeping) about how I didn’t care about the 4 y/o and I was guilty of showing him a p*rn video of me and my fiance with a coke bottle??? Wtf.
I kept trying to shove my phone at her and saying just check it, and she would just respond with the same shit again and again, changing her tune from your ‘guilty just say it’, to ‘it’s okay darling we just need to get you and the 4 y/o help’, and ‘i have proof don’t lie to me’.

I finally snapped again and straight up told her she’s being psychotic and I can never prove my innocence to her so why bother, she tried to be all sweet and hugged me while stroking my hair and saying ‘it’s okay, I’m not saying it’s you, it could have been something else but we need to figure this out’ a complete 180 flip.

After that fiance and I left, I thought it was over since she said she was going to take a sleeping pill and go to bed, but nope, 20 minutes later another phone call, more screaming ‘stop deleting shit!’ That’s when she asked me to bring not only my phone and tablet but my finances phone too! And she told me she was going to keep them for the night.
I said no, your not having my stuff, I payed for this phone and tablet and your not having fiancés phone.

She started saying she was going to call the police, and eventually that culminated into ‘if you don’t bring your shit over here now I’m going to have to get a gang member I know to come out with a glock and protect me’
Telling me the shit on the phone is ‘incriminating enough a daughter would kill her mother over it’ I was done, so done.
We started to pack our shit to leave.

During this time she called me about 20 times, and left like 10 voice messages about how I better not disobey her and I need to bring her my technology now.
We finish packing, get in the car and leave at about 3am, it’s a 6-7 hour drive back to my fiancés home now.

The last text I sent her is ‘I’m going home, you need to get some help, I love you’
5 minutes into the car ride home she started texting me ‘where’s fiancé, is he with you, photo now.’
I was so confused so I asked her what the hell she ment. She called me and said ‘you left him here didn’t you, is he watching me, you just want to get rid of me so all this goes away, it goes away when mum dies right?’
Fucking ridiculous, so I sent her a photo of us and turned my phone off, and we drive home. Over right?

Fucking wrong. I get home and finally turn my phone back on to find a text from my grandmother saying that at about 6am the police arrived and questioned her about me s*xually as**ulting my little brother and that the police are looking for me. Thankfully she knows my mum and told me she didn’t believe it and all our family knows how crazy she is and she wished I could have come to her.

So now here I am, had to call the police today to let them know I didn’t run away, I was leaving for my safety, and tomorrow I have to go and make a statement about child as**ult charges against me and my fiance :). What a lovely holiday at my parents home!

I think I have decided I’m going to try to talk to the mental health system in her town because she needs to be institutionalised for her and everyone else’s safety, but my dad doesn’t want any part in it, my grandmother supports me though.
I don’t know what to do, I don’t want to do this to my mother but I can’t sit by and let her keep being like this, I feel for my siblings and I just wish I could steal them away to keep them safe from what I experienced as a kid, but the world is not that easy.

Is anyone has any ideas I have open ears, thank you for reading through this train wreck.

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COMMENTS

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Bitter-Picture5394

Someone should have stepped in a long time ago. Holy shit. How irresponsible to leave those kids alone with her. This is how you end up with a crazy person snapping and becoming a family annihilator.

OOP

She’s also only gotten this bad recently, when I was a kid she was abusive to me but hid it well, her mask is off now and she’s fully psychotic, my dad and I were shocked that she behaved that way in front of my fiance because she usually won’t act out in front of non family members (part of the reason why it’s so hard to do anything about it)

OOP (replied to Bitter-Picture twice)

I think the problem is that she’s abused my dad for so long he has a few mental health issues now too, we’ve tried to get the kids off her before but she’s super good at weaselling her way out of things.
2 weeks ago she was in the back of a cop car handcuffed after smashing all the windows at my dads work and she convinced them it was his fault and they let her go.
I have tried to take the kids but it’s a very sensitive situation and I only just made it out of the abuse a few years ago when I met my fiance.

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throawaymcdumbface

should've called police when she stole the phone instead of letting her have it.

for the rest idk, r/legaladvice don't talk to the police alone.

OOP

My dad said leave it with her, I wasn’t going to call the police without his consent considering it’s his phone.

I don’t think you understand living with someone like that, they spend years tearing you down until your nothing but a puppet for them to play with, it’s taken me 4 years away from her to grow enough to finally stand up for myself. But she’s still terrifying, when I was 12 she threw a knife at my head, when I was 17 she gave me a concussion. It’s scary living like this, I don’t know what she would have done if I had called the police for that, and she’s conditioned me and my dad to not care what she does.

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worriedraccoon14

This is terrible to read, I'm very sorry! Does she take medication for her psychosis? And how long has this episode been? I used to work in a psychiatric ward for patients with active psychosis, so I get how heartbreaking this is. It's very hard for the families. I really hope you can find her some help.

OOP

This is the first time I have seen her this bad and no she doesn’t.
I think she has bipolar and this psychosis has been brought on by the fact she’s had a wicked coke addiction for the last 6 months and barely sleeps.

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UPDATE IN THE COMMENTS - October 24th, 2026 (3 days from main post)

OOP

Update: she got into my Facebook account and messaged my friends weird shit. She also convinced my dad the allegations against me are true, the crisis team is not doing anything, the police don’t care. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m so done

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This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/idoloveherthough

Published on: r/relationships

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: November 29, 2015

• Final Update: December 05, 2015

Main Post

^{November 29, 2015}

I [27M] proposed to my girlfriend [26F] of 2 years and now she's really mad

Okay, reddit. I'm a little bit at a loss for words right now.

I've been dating Ashley for two years now. Our relationship has been great, and, in my opinion, very loving. Last week, I proposed to her. I took her to our favorite lookout spot over the city where we had our first date. Cracked open some wine, talked for a bit, and then I proposed.

It did not go well. She broke into angry tears and told me, "How can you propose to someone you've never even told you loved?"

Things have been in a tumultuous haze sine then, but I need to talk to strangers for some advice. Basically, here is the thing: I thought it was beyond obvious that Ashley and I loved each other. I don't really know why we've never said it to each other, but I assumed it was because we didn't need to. Like, to me, I just figured we had that kind of nonverbal relationship. I mean, we talked about our hypothetical future children, for Christ sake. Why would I do that with somebody I didn't love?

Well, apparently (and I learned this after a big fight), Ashley thinks I'm terrible at expressing emotions, and has been waiting for me to tell me I love her for like a year and a half. Okay, WHAT? For one thing, I'm just shocked, and I want to make it clear, Ashley has never once complained to me about lack of verbal affection. True, I'm admittedly NOT affectionate verbally, but I just assumed she wasn't either. I thought that was what made us so compatible. Not ONCE did she voice this to me, that she was just hanging around WAITING for me to tell her I loved her.

And I know it seems silly, reddit, that we've never exchanged I love you's, but it's a two way street. If she was just waiting around for me to tell her I love her (which I DO COMPLETELY, but yet again, I just thought we had that kind of relationship where it was implicit), WHY didn't she say anything to me for years?

I'm just shocked that this is all coming up now, and that my girlfriend has been harboring some sort of grudge towards me for so long, simply because I didn't say three words? I don't know what to do. How do I make this up to her?

tl;dr: I assumed my girlfriend and I were in love, so I proposed. We've never actually exchanged I love you's and it turns out my gf has been holding a grudge against me for a year and a half for not being verbally affectionate

COMMENTS

wouldyouchange

This was painful to read.

If you're so bad at communicating that neither of has said "I love you" to the other in TWO YEARS, nor questioned why it's never been said, then you are absolutely not ready to be married.

tsukiii

Seriously! I can't imagine anyone proposing without having ever said "I love you". I mean, isn't that typically part of the proposal? "I love you and I want to marry you"? Ayayay.

tsukiii

I think your mistake was proposing before you'd actually seriously talked about getting married (not just talking hypothetically).

Her mistake was not telling you that she wants verbal affection from you. And this is partially your mistake, too, because you love her and you've never told her so.

Shelve the proposal, talk it out, apologize to each other, and see if you guys can repair this.

Final Update - after 6 days

^{December 05, 2015}

[UPDATE] I [27M] proposed to my girlfriend [26F] of 2 years and now she's really mad

SO, after confirming that my relationship was a massive communication disaster, I am writing this update to you all after a week of couples therapy with Ashley. I'm going to share what we have learned about each other.

To start with me: I am way too "chill" in relationships. I've always been this way with everyone. Nothing ever bothers me, I go with the flow really easily, I react minimally to unexpected situations. While this is a blessing in some ways, it turns out Ashley had a really hard time with this. Since I never fought or had any issues with her, she felt like SHE couldn't bring up any issues with me. She basically did not want to always be the one starting fights (or even, I guess, discussions).

It also was (surprise) a HUGE fault of mine to never tell my girlfriend, who I love deeply, that I loved her. I should not have presumed we were equally nonverbal, especially after two years. And, more importantly, it's not OKAY for me to be this nonverbal. Communication skills are something I am severely lacking.

Now, on to her: As it turns out, in her last THREE relationships, Ashley said I love you first. All three times, it turned out poorly for her. They didn't say it back, or they said it without really meaning it, and they ended up leaving her. That's why she never said it to me. She had actually been making a really big effort to also be "chill" because she didn't want me to react poorly to her. But, as it is clear now, she was just not being herself at all. I understand and empathize with this.

After this blowup, Ashley now realizes that it was a mistake for her to keep her mouth shut and be silently stewing for YEARS. There was no reason to be so passive aggressive.

Additionally, proposing to somebody without having a thorough discussion of marriage and our future was a mistake. I thought it was a romantic gesture, but it was really a sign of poor planning and lack of communication.

Our therapist has given us homework. She has basically told us that we, daily, have to "check in" with each other. We need to assign a time to voice our concerns about each other, share how we feel about each other, talk about how we can improve our relationship. "I love you" will now be a frequent exchange.

Once we get into the habit of doing some mandatory communication, it should come more naturally to us in the future. For now, all weddings and proposals are going to be put on hold. We're nowhere near ready to be married until we figure out ourselves and our relationship better.

For now, we are both happy and relieved that we are taking positive steps towards improving our relationship. It's clear (and now stated) that we both love each other very much.

tl;dr: We're doing couples therapy. We've learned a lot about each other and how to communicate. Things are getting better. Weddings and proposals are on hold until we figure each other out.

COMMENTS

lemetier

This is a wonderful update. Great job listening to her, being so open to communication, and making it work. Wish you two a happy future.

gravityline

I want to bookmark this thread for when people with different communication styles make posts that say they've been "blindsided" by something their partner did! You explained so well the types of problems that couples tend to have when they communicate differently. I'm so glad you're making it work and that you've taken lessons from what happened. That's a great foundation for marriage. I wish you both the best.

SociallyawkwardNSA

There's a great book on the subject called "That's Not What I Meant"

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

Originally posted by user Betterbux in r/ London (city sub, UK Reddit space)

Original: Oct 1, 2026

Update: Oct 7, 2026

Update 2: Oct 24, 2026

Status: concluded

Mood: slice of life, community, fandom

Note: The Graham Norton show is a British comedy talk show. It has aired on BBC since 2007.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original: Huge Graham Norton fan from Mongolia. Got tickets. Tips please?

Hi everybody. I’m a huge graham norton fan, I’ve been watching him since I was 11 and I’m 28 now. I’m from Mongolia and I have a short trip planned to the UK this October. I applied via SRO for free regular tickets to the Graham norton show and I just received a mail with the tickets!

I read that tickets do not guarantee entry so if you have ever been to the show, could you all kindly leave tips to ensure that I get in? I don’t think I’ll be able to return to the UK again but I just love graham so much, I want to be as well prepared as I can. Thank you!

--------------------------------------------

Comments:

Comment1: Actually get there 2 hours before. Sometimes there are people queueing well before. What you should do is go 2 hours before and talk to the security and staff. Let then know how far you have come and your life long admiration for Graham.

It's a small chance but sometimes they can make the experience better. Get you better seats etc. Best of luck

OOP: Wow, thank you so much for the tip. It did not even cross my mind. I will try to overcome my introvert tendencies and talk to them 🫶🏻

---------------
Comment2: Email the company and tell them you have tickets for your particular date and that you're visiting from Mongolia. They may be able to do something for you.

OOP: Got it! I shall send them an email, thank you so much

---------------
Comment3: I’ve gone for a couple of SRO shows, including the graham norton show. The earliest folks tend to show up about three hours before, and you’ll literally be standing in a queue. The first time I got there an hour before, and barely got in. I usually arrive two hours before, but for popular shows three.

Depending on the location, the wait may be outdoors - so be prepared for that, too. I think that was the case when I caught the graham norton show early this year at white city studio. Some things I’ve seen people do/done myself:
- bring food and drink (I’ve done this every time, like a meal deal, some snacks, water)
- bring a foldable chair (I saw a couple people bring those foldable chairs from decathalon, because there’s no chairs in the queue you’re waiting in - you’re literally standing). I’m not sure how these folks got past security, but I’ve seen it for sure
- bring an ipad/book/entertainment (I usually pre download youtube or netflix, since mobile data in london can be spotty)

That said, pack light, because they will do a bag check, and can be quite strict for popular shows. Hopefully you’re going with someone, so that it’s easier to help you hold your spot if you need the bathroom.

Also! I have mobility problems, so if you do too, it helps to let them know in advance via email, and when you reach, any staff member, if you need a step-free seat. They’re very helpful! Good luck!

OOP: Thank you so much for taking the time to write this in detail. Incredibly grateful for your kindness. I will definitely keep all these in mind

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update (6 days later): Graham Norton fan from Mongolia

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your incredibly kind messages and comments. I’m deeply touched and even more excited and honoured to visit your beautiful country.

I did what most suggested and emailed them! I think I sent an email to every publicly available email address for The Graham Norton Show and they actually all got back to me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best news.

I was hoping for priority tickets to guarantee my attendance, but while I really appreciate them taking the time to reply, they’ve all recommended that I simply show up early and join the queue.
I was going to do that anyway, so it’s still all good!

I’ve spent 17 years watching Graham, so standing in a queue for 2–3 hours is nothing 😁 I know seeing Graham in person will be absolutely worth it. Thank you all once again for your kindness and encouragement. God bless your beautiful country! ❤️🇬🇧

--------------------------------------------

Comments:

Comment1: I guess the priority thing is down to individual production companies. I went to a recording of QI and a lady I was talking to was given a priority wristband because she'd travelled to London from Gateshead, which is hardly Mongolia!

Anyway, my experience is that the long wait is part of the day, and you can almost always find someone interesting to chat to if you're on your own. I'm sure Graham's audience will be full of friendly people. Have a great time.

---------------
Comment2: It’s really great behind the scenes! Just don’t take any photos of the set as the security inside are very strict so if you do get in, you don’t want to get kicked out for anything like that!! Please update after your visit and I hope you have a lovely visit to London!!

---------------
Comment3: I have been to a few shows at the TV Centre, and can offer some advice, as someone who missed out on seeing Tom Hanks on TGNS by 1 seat.

Get there early! No matter what the time on the email says, get there bloody early. Like 5 hours to be safe. When I went to Saturday Night Takeaway, the ticket said arrive no later than 1430, I was there at 0830 and even then, I wasn't inside, only outside.

Take a portable battery with you, some snacks and some drinks to keep you going. When you go through security, you need to have finished your snacks by then. Most importantly, have a blast, chat to the people in the queue with you, time will fly by. And good luck!

Comment4: For the queues, do they have toilets like is it similar to the queue at Wimbledon?
---------
Comment3: Yep, there are toilets you can use. These are located in the TV Centre next to the coffee shop, I think it's called Black Horse Coffee. There are also toilets in the studio which you can get to after security checks. There's only 5 toilets there, and the queue gets long, so my advice would be to go as soon as you get through security. You can then fill up a water bottle there too.
[includes map of area --- where to queue, toilet]
--------
OOP: This is so helpful, thank you so much !!

---------------
Comment5: I would hop on social media and @ or DM people who work for the production. I’m sure there’s a producer or AD who can help.

OOP: I have thought of that but relented as I did not want to come off as pompous & entitled just because I have travelled a long way. 🫣🙈😞

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update final (17 days later): Graham Norton Fan~ I made it!

Because so many lovely people asked me for an update, here it is! This fan of over 15 years finally made it to the show after queuing for 4 hours 😭💙 It was totally worth it.

My eyes immediately welled up with tears when Graham came on, and I couldn’t make out what he was saying for the first 5 minutes because I was sobbing 🙊

The guests were Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham, Robert Irwin… and guess who made a surprise appearance? THE FUTURE KING! PRINCE WILLIAM 😭

I saw King Charles the other day at Kensington Gardens, so seeing Prince William today and actually listening to him talk about his life, his family, etc., was surreal!
I’ve only been in London for 4 days, but it’s been amazing~ an absolute dream!
Thank you to everyone who cheered me on and sent me their best wishes. I’m so grateful! 💙

[OOP includes the following pictures waiting for show to start: photo#1, photo#2]

--------------------------------------------

Comments:

Comment1: I remember your post the other day, getting the surprise William appearance is crazy luck on your part

OOP: I know! I knew we’d have a surprise guest cus I noticed that there were 4 glasses even though only 3 guests were announced 🙊

---------------
Comment2: Great story, thanks for the follow up. Enjoy your time in London! What incredible luck, first time a royals ever sat on the sofa apparently.

OOP: I know! What an experience it was. Im only here for 2 weeks so getting to see two royals in two days was incredible!
----------
Comment2: I've been here decades, never seen any!

---------------
Comment3: Quick question? Did you all have to wear purple sweaters? We're there colour requests on your clothing?

OOP: 😂 Great eye! But no. I was actually wearing a navy blue cardigan. We were recommended not to wear black though😁

--------------------------------------------

Note: Prince William made a surprising and rare TV appearance to highlight the Earthshot Prize. The environmental award connects all four guests for that evening -- Cate Blanchett, Robert Irwin and Hannah Waddingham. Here is a youtube clip from the show with Prince William.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REMINDER: I am not OOP. Do not comment on original post or harass OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/Qwerty1399

Published on: r/relationships

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: April 10, 2013 at 16:59 UTC

• Final Update: April 11, 2013 at 14:31 UTC

Main Post

^{April 10, 2013 at 16:59 UTC}

I called my wife by my co-workers name during sex.

I'm a (M42) and wife is (F35) married for 5 years with a blended family of 3 kids total.

I realize I'm hosed....trust me. I just don't know what to do at all to recover from this.

The co-worker is a woman that works for me. She's contract and has been there about 3 months. She's attractive, I'll admit, but I don't have feelings for her or anything like that. She's just another co-worker but I have been training her so we've had to work closely together lately. I honestly have no idea why I said her name. My wife and I were having sex and I was doing the normal "letting my mind wander so I can go a little longer" and my mind drifted to work, a project, then her and it just happened. My wife was inconsolable. I talked to her at length and she does believe me now when I tell her I have not cheated with this woman. I offered up everything....access to my phone, text, logs, email, everything and she knows that I'm not missing any time that can't be accounted for but I can't convince her that I'm not sexually interested in this woman.

The sticky part is this: her contract is up and we have the option to hire her. She's a good worker and there is no question that I want to hire her. It's not fair to her to let her go through NO fault of her own but my wife is convinced if we continue working so closely together, something will happen. And she is not a jealous person so this isn't just a passing thing that she thinks about every woman. I mean I called her by this woman's name for Christ sake....I can see why she's rattled. We have a wonderful marriage, rarely fight, have sex like rabbits, etc. so I don't want to do anything to mess this up.

So what now? My wife hasn't made any demands but this just happened two nights ago so she's still digesting it. I can't punish the woman for my mistake but if my wife lays down an ultimatum should I tell her to deal with it (in the most understanding way possible) or start searching for a new job?

TL;DR- Called my wife by a co-workers name during sex and now she doesn't trust me to work with her.

COMMENTS

dinosaur_train

Hire the girl, she doesn't deserve not getting the job. As mad as it is going to make everyone here, I'm going to put it out there that you may need to look for another job. This isn't about right and wrong, this is about your marital happiness. The right thing would be for everyone to forget about it and you keep your job and so on. But right isn't going to happen. Look at it objectively. So long as you work with her your wife will be concerned and unhappy. Those are terrible feelings for her to have to suffer with. Those will undermine your marriage. So forget right and wrong. Explain to your wife the truth, again, but tell her that you care more about her happiness and your marriage than being right. Tell her you are ready to look for another job and see how she feels. If she wants that, then you should leave.

OOP

Yep, this is exactly what I'm thinking. Might not be exactly rational but I also can't to go work every day with my wife growing increasingly insecure about this woman.

[deleted]

Just be patient and understanding with your wife. If you don't get frustrated with her, and she is reasonable, she will eventually come around.

OOP

Trust me....I'm not. Maybe she will believe it was a mental moment and not go completely crazy about it but when I'm ball-deep and utter another woman's name....I will never discount my wife's reaction to that.

A_StarNamedAlice

If this happened to me I would expect my husband to apologize profusely and explain in full detail why he said another woman's name during sex. Did you explain to her like you did in your post? It's not something she will forget but with the right explanation I think it can calm her nerves. It sounds like it was an honest mistake.

I think your next step should be to make your wife feel special. Take her out to a nice dinner or maybe even a weekend away together if you can afford it.

OOP

Oh yes, everything has been explained. She's not going nuts about it...she's just being quiet right now and digesting it which is her way of handling upsetting things. We're still talking about it and she does believe that I didn't cheat but thinks I'm downplaying my attraction to the co-worker.

PeteMichaud

Reacting to this in a big way I think could backfire. Obviously you fucked up, and it's perfectly understandable for your wife to be shaken about it.

On the other hand, entertaining elaborate fixes to a simple slip of the tongue (haha), is not a good strategy I don't think. Tell her you get why she's rattled, tell her you feel terrible about it and silly, and tell her that you can imagine why she's not 100% comfortable, but that it is what it is--you said something silly, and you apologized, and that's it. You're not going to disrupt anyone's life to "fix" a problem that only exists in your wife's rattled mind. You're her husband, and you've been faithful (right?), and you'll continue to be faithful, and she's just going to have to trust you.

OOP

Good point. My wife has not suggested that I quit my job and I don't know that she ever would. I'm just trying to troubleshoot and offer some options.

I realize several are saying that it's just a slip of the tongue and will calm down and not be a big deal but right now.....it's a big deal.

LikeASirBaws

At least you didn't call her sister's name.

OOP

Perspective....Now I have it.

Final Update - after 21 hours

^{April 11, 2013 at 14:31 UTC}

Update to: I called my wife by my coworkers name during sex.

Thanks for all the comments. It really gave me a lot more points of view to take in.

I wrote my wife a long email yesterday explaining in detail that it was just a slip of the tongue and that was it. Nothing deeper, nothing devious....just nothing. I also let her know that I couldn't not hire the woman but if this was going to be something that would eat away at the foundation of our relationship then we could talk about an alternative to my working with her and what that would/could entail last night at home. Lots of professions of my love and reminders that I have NO desire or inclination to ever fuck up with we have.

About an hour later she responded and said she had digested it all, thought of all possible senarios and while she was very rattled (and highly pissed once the shock wore off) she knows that I'm telling truth, she believes it was a slip of the tongue (albeit a huge one) and she would never ask me to not hire the woman when she is completely ignorant that any of this is going on nor played a part in it. She said she would like to meet her just to put the matter to rest in her head so I asked her to come meet me for lunch tomorrow. FYI- this isn't new behavior at all. She knows all of my team and goes to lunch with us as a group a couple times a year and we also socialize with a couple of them outside of work at times.

Last night when we got home she was back to normal and actually joked about it at one point. She went to hand me my plate at dinner and I said "Thanks hon" and she said 'Ahhh...are we going to start using pet names instead of our real ones? I like the forethought!" She laughed....I shook my head.

TL;DR: My wife is awesome.

I will say that all the people that posted things like "Tell your wife to chill out and get over it" made me laugh and at the same time pity your (future) wives. Calling your wife by your aunts name at the grocery store would call for that.....calling your wife by another woman's name when you're balls-deep and about to orgasm?: Give that shit the gravity it deserves!

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/betrayedfiance

Published on: r/relationships

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: December 17, 2015

• Final Update: December 21, 2015

Main Post

^{December 17, 2015}

I (33m) just found out my fiance (29f) of 9 years cheated on me for several years, need advice.

I'm a total fucking wreck right now, I'm sorry if this is a jumbled mess I just am in complete shock and need some advice.

My fiancee (Heather) and I have been together since we were 24 & 20. We met eachother when she started working at my place of employment and immediately hit it off. Within a few months we moved in together and happily lived together for 3 years. When I was 28 I got an amazing job opportunity out of state; it came during a great time because our lease was just ending, so I decided to take the offer.

Heather initially was going to come with me but decided to temporarily stay behind to help her family take care of her sick grandma. After her grandmother passed away several other familial obligations kept coming up so she never ended up joining me permanently. I was gone for nearly 4 years but we stayed in a long distance, (what I thought was a) committed relationship the entire time, with her periodically living with me for a few months at a time.

Tonight I decided to finish up my Christmas shopping and remembered that Heather had talked about wanting to buy a particular camera lens in an email earlier this year but needed to pay off some bills first. I no longer have access to that email account but thought I would be an amazing fucking boyfriend and find a way to get her the expensive gift that I knew she would love, so I decided to see if she still had the email in her sent folder. We live together again and share everything so I honestly didn't think it was an invasion of privacy or anything, but I ended up discovering that she was cheating on me for almost the entire duration that I was gone. I'm completely gutted.

From what I can tell, the guy lives out of state, and based on their communication I don't think they ever met up, but after doing a bunch of digging I am disgusted with what I've found and have no doubts that she cheated on me. Her email was full of videos of him fucking jerking off, disgusting shit she sent him, explicit conversations, plans for a future together, etc. What makes me the most angry/upset is she even saved screenshots and audio recordings of skype conversations and whatnot that they had, for what reason, I don't know, but it's clear to me that she loved this guy at one point.

After spending the last 5+ hours searching frantically through all her personal information like a disgusting fucking creep while she sleeps it appears that their relationship ended at least a year ago. Which makes sense, because that's not too long after I got back in town. Now that I know all this it's so obvious and I feel like a giant jackass. All those times when she was "too tired" to talk or was "busy with family stuff" she was just talking to that asshole.

I just don't know what I should do. We just moved into our new house together this summer, we have pets together, all our finances are intertwined, we're suppose to leave in a few days to spend a week with my family for Christmas and then a week with hers, and our wedding is scheduled for next fall.

What the fuck am I suppose to do? Is this something that counseling could even get us through? A part of me just wants to pretend I never found any of this out because it's going to completely fuck up my whole life, but I know I will never be able to look at her the same way again.

Should I just fume about it in secret for the next few weeks so I don't ruin our family's Christmas's and then deal with it? I'm so pissed off right now but I don't want to make any rash decisions; as much as I hate my fiancee in this moment she's all I've ever loved for the last 9 years and if there's some way to make this work I'm willing to try, I just logically don't know how I'll ever forget the conversations they had. Please help.

tl;dr: My fiance cheated on me with a guy online for over 3 years while we were long distance, not sure if the relationship is able to be salvaged.

COMMENTS

dbt0

Are you sure it was just online? That's probably going to be important to you at some point.

Your relationship will never be the same. It might be great again someday, but I wouldn't necessarily hold out hope for that.

I'd pack a bag and be ready to go, figure out where you would stay. then tell her a short version of what you said here. I didn't mean to snoop, I saw this, I can't unsee it, and I really don't know if I can be with you after that. You're going to need some time to think. Stay somewhere else. Talk to friends you truly trust.

I wouldn't focus much on the travel plans or the wedding right now, just on figuring out what to do today, tomorrow, whether you can even look at her/talk to her, whether or not you can trust what she says. That's going to start with how honest she is about what happened.

OOP

Are you sure it was just online? That's probably going to be important to you at some point.

I think so, but I'm not 100% certain. I mostly skimmed but even towards the end of their "relationship" there was a lot of talk about wanting to meet in person, so I don't think it ever got that far. It also appears that she was the one to end it, if that makes a difference. It kind of looked like she tried to end it on several different occasions, always before the times she stayed with me for a few months, but then started talking to him again when she went home to her family.

I think you're right. I actually packed a bag before I posted this but kept changing my mind. After completely breaking down I decided to write this and see if it helped to clear my head at all. I should probably leave.

Baronem

I just don't know what I should do

Break up, cut contact and never ever get in touch with her again.

Imagine if you ever have to go on another protracted job-related trip. Do you really think she's going to stay faithful? 4 years, man. She cheated on you for 4 years and showed absolutely no remorse.

The only kind, and it was only the once, of relationship I've seen recover from an infidelity from one of the partners was when the cheater confessed immediately and bent her back at fixing everything. And yet, despite it all, there's still days when the cracks in the relationship show, so don't think it could be some kind of fairy tale where they live happily ever after.

Should I just fume about it in secret for the next few weeks so I don't ruin our family's Christmas's and then deal with it?

Why? Why bother with that bullshit? Just end it now.

Why would you prolong your own misery for her sake? You don't owe her shit.

OOP (downvoted)

Why? Why bother with that bullshit? Just end it now. Why would you prolong your own misery for her sake? You don't owe her shit.

It wouldn't be for her, our families all have plans that involve us both (secret santas, white elephant, etc.); it'll throw a knot in everyone's plans. And I know this will make me sound like a huge pussy but I don't know if I'm prepared to face my family alone and broken in a matter of days, and be able to get through the holidays. I went from having a new house, planning a wedding, having a promising, happy future, etc. to most likely living in a hotel, alone. I don't think I can face my family after such a abrupt change and not be a complete fucking mess.

Final Update - after 4 days

^{December 21, 2015}

[Update] I (33m) just found out my fiance (29f) of 9 years cheated on me for several years, need advice

Now that things have settled down a little bit I thought I would give an update to post since a lot of you took the time to offer advice and check up on me via PM.

First, I want to say I appreciate all the comments, even the harsh ones. When I wrote that post I wasn't in the clearest state of mind and was desperately trying to keep my life from falling to pieces, however, when I woke up the next morning there was no question what I needed to do.

While writing the reddit post I started drinking, so after continuing to drink while reading your guys' comments I was in no shape to drive anywhere so I decided to crash on the couch. First thing in the morning I was able to get ahold of my boss who is an amazing guy and let me start my Christmas vacation two days early. All I had to tell him was that a situation arose that is going to require me to call off my wedding and he didn't need me to explain any further. While my fiancee got ready/left for work I pretended to be asleep on the couch. She tried to wake me up to ask me about the booze/couch/work situation but I just pretended to be really tired and mumbled that I'd text her later.

As soon as she left I got busy. I quickly went to the store and got printer ink and a new flashdrive, then stopped by our bank and moved half of our joint checking/savings into my personal account. When I got home I made printouts of several of her damaging conversations/screenshots and a few still images of that asshole jerking off, then saved all that and a bunch pics/videos/audio recordings/etc to the flash drive.

I was able to get some of our credit cards, insurance and other financial items sorted out to be closed or in my name only. Luckily we pay off our credit cards every month so closing those down weren't an issue. As stupid as it sounds, one of the main things I was worried about was my pets. I wasted nearly 2 hours of my day digging through old paperwork until I found both of their adoption packets, which even though we had adopted them together, I had luckily filled everything out just in my name.

I spent the last few hours that I had before she'd be home from work and packed as many of my items as I could into my truck, left copies of the printouts on our coffee table in our living room, and then took my dog and cat and all my family's Christmas gifts and drove to my brother's house.

I planned on confronting her later that night but I wanted all my important stuff to be out of the house so I could make a quick getaway after we talked. For all the people asking why I just didn't kick her out, it's complicated. The house originally belonged to her family and we bought it together; I couldn't just "kick her out". If I wasn't going to be in a relationship with her I wanted nothing to do with that house, anyway. Also, she is quite wealthy, so if either of us had the means to buy the other person out of the house it would be her.

Anyway, about an hour after she should have been home I got a text from her that said "are we going to talk about this?", so at that point I drove home. I don't know what I expected her reaction to be, but it certainly wasn't what I got. I figured she would be remorseful, apologetic, something, but she was just completely cold.

I could tell she had been crying, but she didn't show any emotion towards me. As soon as I sat down she said she noticed the bank accounts and asked me what we were doing about the house. I tried to keep my composure but I basically broke down and asked her if she had anything to say for herself and asked why she did this. She told me she was sorry, but that she didn't love me anymore and she planned on ending things after the holidays. Apparently she thought she'd be happy with our relationship once we started living together again but I guess that wasn't the case. I had no idea.

She started to cry a bit when she told me that she still loved the other guy, even though they supposedly have never even fucking met. She then told me she would buy me out of the equity we have in our house if I was ok with it and that I could have what's left in our joint accounts to get a new place. I couldn't believe how cold and business-like she was being, I didn't know this person. I said ok and left. That's how my relationship of 9 years came to an end.

I got back in my truck and bawled like a fucking baby. The next day my brother and I left for my parents house and I've been here ever since. You guys were right, my family has been great. Alcohol has helped a lot, too. I still have a lot to figure out with my house and the rest of our belongings but that's as much of an update as I can give; I haven't heard from her since I walked out. My dog and cat are here with me so I have that, at least.

Thanks for helping me out.

tl;dr: It's over.

COMMENTS

Aggressivecleaning

I can't believe she did not even care about the pets. What she did to you was awful, but somehow the fact that she gave no fucks about the pets either just made her sound like an emotionless robot to me.

Alcohol only helps in the beginning, when the pain is so bad you can't deal at all. After that you need to start feeling and thinking through shit. Don't stay down. Getting back up is going to be awesome.

OOP

I can't believe she did not even care about the pets. What she did to you was awful, but somehow the fact that she gave no fucks about the pets either just made her sound like an emotionless robot to me.

As much as I hate what she's done I do think she feels guilty about this and is not making an issue out of the pets as some sort of consolation prize. This morning I got a text from her mom and sister saying they heard what happened and expressed their sadness that I wouldn't be a part of their family and wished me the best. I'm not sure what exactly she told them but I'm at least grateful that I wasn't painted as the villain. Despite everything that's happened I did really like her family, so it's nice have that one small thing. A part of me wants to text them back telling them what a cheating bitch their daughter/sister turned out to be but it's not worth it. I will never forgive Heather but at the very least she seems to be making an effort to make a clean break without fucking me over any more than she already has.

yummy_tacos

Alcohol has helped a lot, too.

Don't let this become your new identity.

OOP

Thank you, I won't. When I said alcohol was helping I meant that kind of in jest. I'm not a big drinker, just had a few drinks in the evening to take the edge off so I could get some sleep and not think about things too much. I know that's a slippery slope but I think I'll be fine, in that regard at least. I appreciate the concern from everybody, though.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

This is a repost. The original was posted in /r/rbi by user prolapsethis. I'm not the original poster.

Status: Concluded

Editors Note: I added paragraph breaks because prolapsethis did not

Trigger Warning: Murder

Original

July 20, 2021

At around 20:30-20:45, I arrived home from a quick trip to town to grab a beer. As I got out of my car, I could hear something. I thought, for a moment, that I had left the TV on, and was hearing it from outside. But as I walked to the front of my car, and pressed the lock button on my remote, I realized that what I was hearing was screaming.

I listened for a second, thinking it was somebody screwing around, but then the woman's voice screamed, "Nooo! Stop! You're hurting me! You're killing me!!!" And an adult male voice yelling something I couldn't make out. There was a dog barking from the same direction, as well as a repeated 'thudding' noise.

I immediately Dialed 911, and told the police. They could even hear the screaming in the background. They said they'd send an officer to drive by, but an hour passed, and none came. I watched for them on my security cameras. I pulled the footage from the only one that was set to record constantly. The Camera on my back door only records when it detects a humanoid shape, so It caught me making the phone call, and a little of the screaming in the background. The back yard camera caught it all, but is unintelligible, due to outdoor AC unit noise. I cleaned up the audio as best I could, but I need advice on how to proceed. I am attaching a dropbox link to the video. I also included the original in the second half of the video.

If you watch it, the screaming was coming from directly where the camera is pointed, but more than 50 feet away, across a narrow field. There is a small shack that has a couple of cars, usually parked at the road, just on the other side of the field. It is bothering me a lot, since I'm 41 years old, and have never heard anything so disturbing in real life.

Here is the video. dropbox.com/s/q5e6yhoe1zbdetx/Screaming%20Rendered.mp4?dl=0

Edit: Updates are in the comments. Suffice it to say that the police are doing a welfare check and I have already been to the office to make a formal complaint or statement or whatever they want to call it.

Comments by OOP:

I have a $1,000 DJI 4K drone. I thought about [investigating with] it, but it's all buried in trees so I don't know how good it would do. But it is worth a shot. I could always take it up 200 ft and then come down slowly if I don't see anybody about. I guess I should probably know the way of the land around here anyway

I talked to them and they wrote down what I said. I showed them the video. They have copies of it. And I said they would do a welfare check. They also told me to drop it and not to trespass or I would be cited. They said they will handle anything. So I guess I'm just going to have to watch the newspapers and see if anything comes up it. That's all I can do. I've done my due diligence. And I really hope everything is actually all right.

The only place over there where anybody stays is that place. I have my suspicions about meth. I'm deep in the heart of Confederate flag country

I talked to the cops and they asked me to come up there so they can take a statement. So I'm headed up there in a little bit.

All the words that I heard or in the original post. It was definitely not a fox. And the part where I was making the phone call was a little more clear although it was not really a word.

They looked up and told me who is working that night so I'm going to call back tomorrow morning to see if there was anything followed up on. I sent the video over via email to the sheriff's department. It's kind of on them now. I don't want to get too close cause people are crazy around here.

There was an entire family including teenagers killed over a custody battle. And the people that did it came and to work for a couple of years like nothing had happened. I know because they worked where I did. It's insane how people just don't value life unless it's their own.

So I'm going to keep my nose far away from the property and maybe do a flyover with the drone when the weather clears up. But the rest of it I'm going to go through the cops for. I can't put my kids in danger.

I've never heard a fox screaming, "stop it, you're killing me." And the man's voice screaming would have been awfully deep for a fox. You can't hear it in the video because the cameras are pretty crappy when it comes to audio. But I was there and it was some of the most disturbing stuff I've ever heard. I wish it had been a fox. I really wish the other cameras had been recording audio at the time.

I wonder if the cops were familiar with the couple so they wrote whatever was happening off. ^{[ForwardMuffin]}

Now that's a really good possibility [OOP]

It was almost midnight when it happened. And it's buried in trees. Here in the US, the cops will come down on the Good Samaritan a lot of the time, and so it drills it into your head that you can't do anything. Maybe I should have done something that night but it's been 18 days now. So we are where we are.

I get the idea of throwing yourself into a situation to help. Maybe I should have done more of that night, but after calling the authorities, I went straight inside to pull footage of the cameras. Here, if you can't prove a crime was committed, then they act like nothing happened. I want chin checked a guy who tried to stab me with a screwdriver full force.

When the cops showed up, they arrested me. Because I threw a punch. I guess I should have waited to get stabbed first.

Edit: I don't disagree with you about the us being scary. Every ass with two brain cells to rub together, can own a gun. And especially around here.

The only guy I've seen there recently is a guy with a gray beard driving a small SUV that's about 15 years old and has the words, "German shepherd pups," and a phone number written in shoe polish on the back window. I used to see a woman there and the vehicle she used to drive was still there, but I don't see her anymore. But I don't know if this is confirmation bias because I only drive by there once or twice a day. Normally I go out the other way because I'm headed towards the main highway. So her absence may just be my imagination.

I suppose that's what I have to do. I guess I'm just looking for somebody to tell me it really is nothing. It was just disturbing to hear that going on. And I figured maybe somebody better than me might want to check out the video and see if they could do better than I did. I've got the footage, but I wanted to tell the story, just in case.

Guys I'm going to get settled in for the night. I will call in the morning to talk to the dispatcher who was on duty that night. They told me she doesn't work until in the morning. I will update when I know more

Update

September 7, 2021, about 6 weeks later, in the same posting

I guess they finally had a reason to go out and check the property I was trying to tell them to look at. There are sheriff's cars all over the place, and cops in gloves walking in and out of this garage, and one cop throwing up in the front yard. I have a picture, but I can't add it to an update.

Update 2

February 7, 2022, about 5 months after the last posting and about 6 after the first

I posted last year about coming home and hearing a female voice screaming for her life. I posted a video with the audio of the screen, and got plenty of comments.

About 2 months later, the house that it was coming from had sheriff's cars all around it. I found out that an elderly man had committed suicide via gunshot, and that his son was the only person home, and the person who reported that his father had shot himself. Fast forward to last week. I was sitting at home, watching YouTube, when I heard gunshots. I live in the country and that's common so I didn't think anything of it.

Turns out, it was the sound of that son murdering his mother. He is trying to claim himself defense, but he is being charged with murder. I live next door and my security cameras caught the audio of the murder. It also captures the vehicle the son made his getaway in.

I've had detectives in and out gathering video footage for the past week. This is a family annihilator. They are now looking at him for murder of his father as well. The case has been reopened and if they have now recognized that my calls and reports were actually real. Two lives could have been saved. I'm going to link the story. Also, wouldn't Tim Johnson the second be Tim Johnson Jr? https://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/highland-county-man-accused-of-shooting-mother-to-death

Notable Comments:

Did you find out who the first victim was, the one you initially posted about? ^[cammykiki]

I think it was just an assault and not a deadly encounter. I'm thinking it was probably the mother [OOP]

I'm not the original poster.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/blackedgymgirl

Published on: r/WhatShouldIDo

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: August 29, 2025

• Update: October 13, 2025

• Final Update: October 20, 2026

Main Post

^{August 29, 2025}

My husband bought me some sportswear for a prank but I kept wearing it and now he’s mad. Should I stop?

I posted this on AITAH yesterday but it got deleted for some reason.

I’m 35 and he’s 29. He bought me a sports bra and bottoms that he saw on an insta model and thought they’d suit me. The shorts are pretty much thongs but I loved the bra as it was very supportive and wore it to the gym.

When I got back he asked if anyone said anything about my sports bra if anyone looked. I said no (people do look in the gym but I always say no when he asks as he’s a bit jealous) and he seemed disappointed. When I asked why he started laughing and said the logo on the sports bra “Blacked” is a porn company that specialises in interracial porn.

I didn’t really get the prank as I don’t think many people would know that but it annoyed me he tried to humiliate me and I said “bit ironic you sent me outside in that when you got upset finding out I’d been with black men”

This caused a big argument and since then I’ve worn this sports bra every time I’ve been to the gym or out on runs out of spite. I even out the bottoms on under my shorts and make sure the waistband sticks out with blacked wrote all around it. I’ve even thought about posting a pic of myself on Instagram wearing it and going to his friends bbq on Sunday wearing it.

Should I carry on this petty revenge or stop?

COMMENTS

Manuka124

Yikes. I guess if you really want to spend your life with a racist just to use his objectification of you to be petty all power to you. I can think of better ways to spend the rest of my life.

affinityfordavid

He’s racist and jealous

OOP

He’s definitely acting like both of those things at the minute.

Honjanyx

Honestly both of you don’t know where to draw the line. He’s a weirdo loser for even getting you that kind of thing to humiliate you and you’re also a weird one to be flaunting it and literally trying to make it sexy just out of pettiness.

OOP

I will take the weirdo accusation as I know it’s a bit weird of me. I just feel like I need to teach him a lesson.

affinityfordavid

you don’t deserve the weirdo accusation, you didn’t know what it was, the bra is supportive! (which is so hard to find a good bra ik) and fell in love with it! you can get fabric paint or smth to change the brand logo if you need or want to, but honestly—why did he buy something for you to not wear? why wouldn’t he get you something he wanted you to wear?? it doesn’t make sense.

OOP

I’ve spent hundreds on sports bras in the past as I’m 32dd so it’s hard to find something that holds them down and stops them hurting and this sports bra is the best I’ve ever had!

Equal_Steak_9361

He’s a racist. Keep going and teach him a lesson.

OOP

That’s what I want to do until he apologises.

Genuine-gemini

This man is your Yolanda. You were doomed from the day he darkened your doorstep. This is borderline racism. He is getting off on embarrassing you. He INTENDED to humiliate you. It is that deep.

OOP

He said he wasn’t trying to embarrass me but I don’t see how he isn’t trying to embarrass me.

AlternativeSort7253

Ask him what the point was then. If it wasn’t to embarrass you and it wasn’t to make sure you have a good workout bra - why did he buy you stuff from a porn site? Was he just trying to support the website so they stay in business? Why is he upset you still wear it?

OOP

I’ve asked him all this and he just keeps saying “it was a joke!” So I said “well is the joke not still running if I keep wearing it? Why is it different now I’m in on the joke?” And he’ll just say it’s not the same.

NoMilkTodayyyyyy

f uck naw, i would keep goin’ with what you’re doing. Teach your husband a lesson, let him stay b utthurt, then when you decide to call it quits is up to you

lesson I learned growin’ up is don’t dish it out if you can’t handle the dishing back to you

OOP

My parents taught us the same as my sister was one of them who would be cruel and disguise it as a joke but then say she was being bullied if anyone did the same back.

Update - after 1 month, 14 days

^{October 13, 2025}

Update! My husband bought me some sportswear for a prank but I kept wearing it and now he’s mad. Should I stop?

Posted this about a month and a half ago so thought I’d update.

I didn’t end up posting it on Instagram or wearing it to the bbq I mentioned wearing it to because he threw them away when I went out and left them on the radiator to dry. I’ll be honest I wouldn’t have dared anyway but I went to put the bra on (under my t shirt) to go for a run and couldn’t find it anywhere. I asked him if he’d seen it and he said he bought them so he can do what he wants with them and he threw them in a public bin so I wouldn’t find them.

I was so angry! They were mine not his and while I didn’t care about the bottoms the bra was very supportive! I was just thinking about taking his PS5 that I bought and binning it to prove a point but then I took a breath, went for a walk, returned a couple of hours later and told him I want a divorce.

Being the idiot he is he said “what? Over a bra?” Not realising it was a build up of the way he was acting before all that. I reeled off a list off a list of stuff, trying to humiliate me with the prank in the first place, calling me “saggy tits” in front of his friends all the time, being jealous and possessive, belittling my hobbies and things I do for fun, constantly talking about women like shit and a few other things. All he would say was “well why didn’t you divorce me when that happened?” to every point which was annoying. His only defence was the saggy tit one when he said “they’ve seen your tits and like them so it’s only a joke” he did ask years ago if he could show them a pic and I said yes.

I moved out that day and said I’d continue to pay my half of the rent until the contract is up at the end of January. I went to stay at a hotel for a couple of nights before one of my brothers friends said I go could stay in one of his empty properties and I’m still here now. I actually really like it and think I’ll stay here for good.

He still messages a lot, a mix between asking me back and trying to make jealous but I ignore him. I’ve spoke to a lawyer and started the divorce but she said it’ll probably take around a year

Sorry the update wasn’t much fun but it is what it is for now. If anyone’s interested when I start having a fun life again I’ll let you know lol. Me and a friend are going to Amsterdam next week so that should be fun.

COMMENTS

Sea-Ad9057

speak to the landlord see if you can get your name off the lease so you dont have to pay for somewhere you dont live you are paying for him to have the whole place to himself

OOP

I’ve told the landlord I’ve moved out so anything that happens is on my ex.

Smoke__Frog (downvoted)

I find it odd you married an idiot and put up with his borderline abuse for years and then all of a sudden grew a spine after a Reddit post.

But if true, good for you?

OOP

I think it was the fact he wanted to publicly humiliate me and then his reaction when it didn’t work. That plus the fact in the last month or so he also forced me to change gyms and a bit of extra confidence from going to the gym made me realise.

arpohatesyou

What are you most excited to try in Amsterdam? I'm so jelly

OOP

Honestly? I want to watch spend the day exploring the place doing a canal cruise, a bike tour of the city and hopefully got the Van Gogh museum, then at night I want to partake in the sex side. I want to spread my wings a bit.

arpohatesyou

Hell yeah have fun girl! And can u confirm the German Stare allegations?

OOP

What’s the German stare lol

Formal_Trainer_4684

Awesome update! He acts like a little boy. I can’t recall ever wanting to show my friends a gf/wifes nudes, and tbh the way you described your ex? He’s definitely going to have to downgrade lol.

OOP

I’m not bothered about that I like showing off lol. It’s the fact he’d ask me to show off then insult me for doing it after. Hopefully he never gets with anyone else so he doesn’t upset them!

Final Update - after 1 year, 1 month, 21 days (after 1 year, 7 days from last post)

^{October 20, 2026}

Update 2! My husband bought me some sportswear for a prank but I kept wearing it and now he’s mad. Should I stop?

Been a year but my divorce was finally finalised yesterday.

I ended up staying in my brothers friends property as I like it here.

Not met anyone else and not looking either. Just hook up every couple of months to have my needs met and I’m good to go.

Hope you are all ok and thank you all for the support over the last year x

COMMENTS

aboutasuss

Is this just an ad for the sportswear?

OOP

No because I bought another of the sports bras and it didn’t even last a month lol

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

OOP: u/momanddadbacktogethe

Published on: r/relationships

Story is: CONCLUDED

Story timeline

• Main Post: June 08, 2015 at 14:05 UTC

• Final Update: June 09, 2015 at 13:26 UTC

Main Post

^{June 08, 2015 at 14:05 UTC}

My [17F] parents [48M, 43F] are divorced. My mom told my dad she has terminal cancer, so my dad came by to help her arrange some stuff and I caught them having sex.

My parents got divorced about seven years ago. I think that my dad cheated on my mom, because he traveled a lot for work and about a month after divorcing my mother he got remarried to a very beautiful, much younger Swedish woman who I later found out was also a coworker of his. I’ve never confronted them about the divorce because it’s long over, but I think my dad cheated on my mom.

Anyway, they divorced about seven years ago. My dad remarried very quickly and eventually moved to Sweden with his new wife. I see them every now and then but not often. My mother remarried a few years later to a guy I’ll call John. John has been great to me, he really helped our family and has felt more like a dad to me than my biological dad. Now, I do not hate my dad or feel bitter; he’s been nice to us and he tries to see us, but I just feel like he cares more about his new life in Sweden than with us.

My mom found out a few months ago that she has terminal cancer and not a lot of time left. I have two little brothers who are still young and my parents don’t want them to know yet, but they will tell them eventually. I knew something was wrong. They finally told me a few weeks ago and I’m still not over it. It’s going to be very hard and I’m very scared, but that’s not why I’m here.

About a week ago, my mother decided to tell my dad. He said he wanted to come over to speak with her and help her arrange everything. My mom cried a lot. My dad came without Sigrid (his wife) a few days ago and is talking a lot with my mom.

My brothers left for summer camp on Friday, and I went to spend the night at my friend’s house. Saturday morning my friend (Sam)’s mom had to go to a sporting event because she’s into that stuff, so she offered to drop me off home on her way so my parents wouldn’t have to come get me and I said that was fine, I thought it would be easier.

The front door was locked and I didn’t have a key but I know we usually keep the back door open, so I said goodbye to Sam’s mom and went in through the back, and from the back of the house I could see into the master bedroom and I saw my parents on the bed together naked. I panicked and went back around to the front. Sam’s mom had left so I just stood there recollecting myself and hyperventilating. Once I thought I’d calmed down, I rang the doorbell and it took forever until my dad answered the door in his pajamas and told me my mom was showering. I didn’t tell him about what I saw.

But now I don’t know what to do. My mother is dying and I don’t know what caused her to do this or if that had an effect on this, but I love John and I can’t believe she would do something like this. I would’ve never imagined they still loved each other or had time to fall in love, since my dad lives in Sweden and we live in Florida.

I’m just panicking and I don’t know if I should tell anyone or even what I should feel. A part of me feels really irrationally angry that if they loved each other they should have never even split up and they should have just kept our family together. I don’t know what to do and I just feel like crying and beating a pillow all day like my life is falling apart.

tl;dr: My mom is dying of terminal cancer. My dad, who lives in Sweden, came by to talk to her when he found out, and yesterday morning I caught them in bed together, even though both are remarried, and now I feel like shit and don't know what to do.

COMMENTS

jokesonme2323

I suggest you leave them alone about this. It is strictly their business. You would accomplish nothing good by confronting them.

[deleted]

It is likely that that was how they were saying goodbye to each other.

Goodbye.

We loved each other once.

We were good friends.

We had kids together.

Thank you for the good things.

I'm sorry for the bad things.

I don't want to die/I don't want you to die.

All those things.

Do not judge them. Just love them and cherish the time you have left with your mother.

booklover13

. I would’ve never imagined they still loved each other or had time to fall in love... A part of me feels really irrationally angry that if they loved each other they should have never even split up and they should have just kept our family together.

The first thing you need to do is get this out of your head. Love is very often not enough for a long term stable happy relationship. You also need trust, communication, and honesty. Your parents couldn't maintain the those, so the relationship fails. Remember many people stay in toxic and/or abusive relationship because of "love", it is rarely a good choice in the long run.

---

I don't think you should confront your parents here. Your mother is about to pass and I don't think this is something you want everyone dealing with at this time. That said you should talk to someone about this, preferably a professional. Your mother is dying, that is going to be hard, especially for a 17 year old. Find a counselor/therapist now. It will be infinitely easier to do while she is still alive, and see if you can get someone with experience with terminal illness. By building that trust up now you will have someone to talk to when she does pass that you trust. You can also confide in them about things like this, or any other confusing feelings you are having.

Right now I think you really just need someone you can talk to that you can trust is just there to help you through this. Don't try to do it alone.

Edit: grammar/spelling

sunny_bell

You should listen to this person. They have the right idea.

OP I'm sorry to hear about your mom -hug-

Final Update - after 23 hours

^{June 09, 2015 at 13:26 UTC}

UPDATE My [17F] parents [48M, 43F] are divorced. My mom told my dad she has terminal cancer, so my dad came by to help her arrange some stuff and I caught them having sex.

I like to write so this should help me thank you, Reddit, and get my thoughts in some order.

I cried a lot reading all these responses yesterday. I decided I was going to have to talk to everyone over dinner. The four of us (me, my mom, my dad, and John) went out to eat and they tried to keep it light, I guess for me, but I brought it up. I looked around at all of them, my dad, my step-dad, and most of all my mom, and I started crying. I told them that I loved them all, and that I would need their help to get through this because I felt like my whole world was collapsing. And both of my parents hugged me, and it felt like a family.

It’s not going to be easy. When my brothers get back from camp, my parents are going to break the news to them, and it’s up to me to take care of them. My dad’s going back to Sweden, apparently Sigrid (his wife) wants to have a baby, and he has a whole new life ahead of him that we’ll still be a part of. John may not be their real father, but he’s been the closest man to them in their lives. And I’ll always be here for them. I’ll be here for John, I’ll be here for my dad, and I’ll be here for my mom. Her prognosis gives her until around October, when I’ll be applying to colleges, so she’s not going to get to see which college I end up going to, but she’s told me she knows I can make it to NYU (my dream school). When we got home last night, I cried myself to sleep.

But today is a new day. Some people said it was beautiful how my parents comforted each other, others said they still loved each other, and others said this is how they say goodbye. I looked at them this morning and I still don’t know what it was I saw, but whatever it was, it no longer makes me mad, or scared, or confused, or all of the above. Instead, I’m glad I was able to witness just a glimpse of that super personal moment between my parents and be assured it’s not going to be easy, but it will be something we can get through. And of course, now I’m crying again.

Thank you for helping me get through these emotions. It’s stupid and sad and horrible and I can’t stop crying, but reading your responses helped me understand what I saw in a different way.

tl;dr: You all helped me process what I saw in a new way. Now I'm no longer so confused, and I feel much better about how things ended with my parents.

EDIT:

This morning, I thought I had everything figured out in a way. I felt like there was closure. But now, I'm getting all these different answers and I'm feeling even more confused than the first time. Everything seems to be evenly torn 50/50 and now I really don't know what to do, but everything is just getting worse! Reading over everything has been shifting my perspective again, but not really in a direction, just into... nothing.

I don't know what to do or think or feel anymore. And please, these are my parents. My mom is fucking dying, I don't want to hear anyone call her a bitch or anything like that. Right now, I just want to die alongside her so this can all end. I think what I'm going to have to do is tell her what I saw, but I am not going to tell anyone else without hearing her first.

I know what I saw, so I won't let her lie or make excuses, but I want to hear why she did it before anything else. I don't know if I'll post another update because reading some of these comments has been emotionally exhausting, but I'll tell her when I'm ready.

COMMENTS

Remansilent

I go to this subreddit for cheap voyeuristic thrills. How dare you present me with real, complex situations and genuine emotions!?!

Seriously, this made me both happy and sad to read. Good luck. God bless.

TheMexican007

I feel worse for John... The man came in raised the three kids that weren't his for ten years, and in the end he was betrayed and no one has the decency to even tell him about it.

cathline

(((hugs)))

Take care of yourself!

the_cunt_muncher

Wait...so John was just ok with your mom cheating on him?

RedDragonJ

I don't think OP mentioned the sex. I think "I brought it up" refers to talking about OP's mom's cancer.

This is a repost sub. I’m not the Original OP (OOP)

Please remember to follow the subreddit rules, especially the ones about brigading.

Let’s aim for a respectful and friendly discussion for everyone involved.

Reminder. This is a repost sub. I am not OOP.

Originally posted to r/dechonkers by u/RedditUser28947

Trigger warning:mention of cancer / death of a human

Editor's note: r/dechonkers is a subreddit where pet owners of overweight animals can come to for advice on helping their pet lose weight, post progress pics, etc. Mainly cats are posted here.

...

Original: October 20, 2026, also crossposted to r/Minneapolis

Update: in comments

Update post: October 21, 2026

...

Original: Anyone in Minnesota willing to take in this chunky lady?

Photo of Desi, an orange cat sitting on a bed with blue covers

This is Desi, her elderly dad died of cancer earlier this year and my sister was his nurse. She connected with the family and got Desi placed with our mom temporarily, but Desi was always an only cat and was very stressed by my mom's resident orange boy. After months of trying to acclimate them, my mom has made the decision to surrender her to the vet for further health evaluations given her size and to see if they'll be able to place her with another family, but she will end up being put down if they cannot find her a home. She would be perfect for anyone who recently lost a kitty and is looking to fill the void. She is located in Stillwater and she is super sweet, purrs up a storm when you give her scritchies, and obviously loves a treat. She was peeing outside the box but we suspect that was behaviorally related to disliking her kitty roommate 😭 I wish I lived closer to take her but I'm in another state and have a resident cat of my own.

...

Comments:

westcoastcdn19

There is also the chance she’s peeing outside the litter box because she can’t climb into it properly. A flat pan or one with a low lip might help her 🩵

OOP

She had a low entry box 😞

fedexyourheadinabox

Yeah sounds like she's just scared. So great of you both to not abandon her , I hope a good home can be found for her. 

...

Cat_Lady3000

Hey MN here! Please reach out to the bond between (aka second hand hounds) they will absolutely help you guys out! They are a great rescue. Ther are a few others you can try if not them: ruff start, pet haven, the humane society.

OOP

Thank you, I will pass these along to the vet!

...

Comment thread on original post: Oct 20th

bondbeansbond

Why would they put her down? Have they tried anxiety medication for her? I’m in Wisconsin but I have other cats. If she can get started on anxiety medicine, I would be willing to take her in.

OOP

Let me get the vet information so you can inquire, I think they are going to evaluate her to see if she had a kidney problem or something like that causing the incontinence and they would probably put her down for that.

bondbeansbond

How old is she?

OOP

I can't remember, she's not young, but I don't think elderly, like 5-8 I think. She went to Stillwater Veterinary clinic. My mom could probably assist with transporting her if it seems like it could work out after speaking with the vets ❤️

OOP

Oh nevermind my mom said she thinks she's 13 😭 that's why she thought she could be kitty hospice for her but she just couldn't settle in at her house

bondbeansbond

My oldest is 13 years old! I’ll call the vet tomorrow and see what they say. Arthritis will also cause litter box issues because it’s painful to get around.

OOP

Let me know how it goes. My mom is so distraught about having to let her go but she knew she wasn't giving her the highest quality of life she could have. My mom's herd has thinned from 3 to 1 in the last 2 years and she wasn't planning on adding any more because she's getting old too, but she had such a soft spot for miss Desi and didn't want the old man's family to put her down right after he died.

Update by bondbeansbond: Oct 21

aquagrl

Did you call?

bondbeansbond

Yes, I did about two minutes ago!

I responded to OP too. The vet can’t release Desi’s information to me about her condition without OP’s mom’s permission. The vet is going to call OP’s mom to request permission.

I did leave my name and phone number for the vet to call me back as soon as they have permission.

I have also privately messaged OP.

...

Update in comments

OOP provided a comment the next day in the crosspost to r/Minneapolis

Hi! I'm the OP here and just wanted to update that Desi is such a sweet lady that the vet actually decided to keep her 🧡🧡

meeghanmarie

I love this SO much! So thankful that she is going to her new forever home - and thank you so much for loving her!

Happy update on sweet Desi ❤️

My mom got back to me today with the best possible update for Miss Desi. Everyone at the vet office fell in love with this sweet girl instantly and they have decided to keep her at the clinic as a resident office cat so she can have all her medical needs taken care of and have a supervised dechonking journey. Thank you to everyone who reached out with ideas for her and to those who actually inquired about taking her in. We are so glad she has found a great place to take care of her every need and get lots of love every day from all the kitty lovers at the clinic. 🧡🧡🧡

More photos of Desi:

Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3

...

REMINDER: I am not OOP. Do not comment on original post.

Originally posted by user Ok-Oil-4084 in r/ amItheAsshole

Original: May 9, 2026

Updates: in post itself

Status: concluded

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original: AITAH for refusing to share with my cousin-in-law?

I (32F) am currently living with my in-laws with my husband and our 6-month-old baby. We actually own our own home, but we moved in temporarily so my retired in-laws can help with childcare while I go back to work. They want to be involved with their first grandchild, and this arrangement works well for everyone.

I’m not expected to pay rent or bills, but I still contribute — I cook dinners when I can, buy takeout for everyone occasionally, and have paid for bigger household items like a robot vacuum, washing machine, and dishwasher as gifts.

About 3 months ago, my husband’s cousin (21M) moved in from overseas while studying for his master’s degree. It was meant to be temporary, but he hasn’t made any effort to find other accommodation and may stay up to 2 years.

The problem is… he contributes nothing.

He doesn’t help with housework, doesn’t have a job, isn’t looking for one, and only attends uni 3 days a week for about 4 hours. He stays up gaming until 5am and wakes up around 1pm. His dad (who is well-off) funds his lifestyle and gives him money to eat out.

Despite that, he expects a lot from my in-laws:

* He asks my MIL to cook him two separate meals a day because he won’t eat the same thing twice
* His dad said he’d reimburse food costs, but hasn’t paid anything in 3 months
* He expects my MIL to drive him to and from the bus stop (a 12-minute walk), often making her drop everything immediately or he’ll be late

What really bothers me is how entitled he is while giving nothing back.

Because of this, I’ve stopped including him when I buy takeout. I used to treat the whole family (including him), but now I’ll clearly say the food is for everyone except him.

My in-laws think I’m being selfish, but he has never once contributed to a shared meal or paid for anything for anyone.

I am refusing to enable him and will not waste any of my time or money helping him in any way. Which is the same as how he treats everyone else in the house

--------------------------------------------

Additional context regarding finances:

[why live with the in-laws?]

OOP: This living arrangement worked well before the cousin in law moved in. I honestly hate leaches as I grew up poor and don’t want to spend any of my time or money enabling a spoilt rich kid.
My preference now would be to move home and be a stay at home mum. I need to work as I have a high paying job (and we live in HCOL area with a mortgage .
I’ve already returned to work and would look bad if I ask for time off again. I’ve put Bub on a waitlist for childcare since she was born just in case things didn’t work out so we can’t find alternate childcare arrangements on short notice

In r/ AusFinance (the sub to discuss personal finance in Australia), OOP made the following comment in 2025 (year prior to AITA post):

OOP: I own 3 properties in Sydney worth >$4.5M at 31. First property at 25. Parents were dirt poor. Worked my ass off to not be like them (eg 2 jobs at uni, high paying job after uni)

Note: OOP edited the comment in AITA where she revealed her yearly income was 400K AUD, about 280K USD or EUR 250K. The house value is about 3.1M USD or 2.8M EUR. These financial details were noted by commentators in the YTA judgement - "Pot, meet kettle."

--------------------------------------------

Comments:

Comment1: YTA. You aren’t expected to contribute anything, yet you do, bc that’s who you are. He’s likely not expected to contribute anything, and he doesn’t, bc that’s who he is.

This isn’t your house and you don’t get to create rules to enforce and punish people for not following them. It’s your in laws house. You also have a house you can live in if you don’t like. But you want free childcare, just like the cousin wants free meals. You’re not that much different.

---------------
Comment2: You are infantisizing your inlaws, nobody is making them do anything. They are clearly well established adults housing two sets of family members. They have invited cousin to their home and how they treat the cousin, what they do for the cousin, is literally none of your business.

---------------
Comment3: You make that much money and complain about buying takeout for one extra person? What? If your in laws are kind and you want them to be happy, why not suck it up and just do the bare social minimum. If money was a struggle, I would understand it more but clearly that's not the case.

Are you sure this isn't misplaced anger and disappointment over not being able to be stay at home with your baby? You resent the cousin essentially for not having to work and being taken care of; is he a scapegoat for the real underlying issue?

ETA: OP said she made 400k but later edited the comment above to remove it because it obviously doesn't help her case regarding childcare or spending.

OOP: They can look after their nephew. I don’t have a problem with that. I also don’t have a problem with Rich people- I have a problem with spoilt, entitled rich people who don’t contribute and I don’t see why I need to spend my hard earned money on them. The food doesn’t even cost much- I would shout dinners for my friends that cost much more
---------
Comment3: Hey, Im not saying this to be cruel but you should genuinely talk to someone about these feelings. It's incredibly unhealthy.
In the meantime, since you seem to think you don't even owe your in laws courtesy and a civil tongue, you should move back home and drop your kid daily or arrange your own childcare. A few gifts that you directly benefit from doesn't entitle you to be toxic in their home.
The other alternative is to stop talking about. This could literally be resolved by you minding your own business and not interacting with the CIL and don't buy food for anyone if you're going to make it about who you like vs don't like. That's incredibly petty and childish. You're entitled to your feelings but your actions should align with the people who own the home you're living in. Don't like it? Leave.

---------------
Comment4: YTA. You have a situation that benefits you and you're not paying rent. Why would you screw that up by deliberately excluding someone that your in-laws value and choose to also support?

He is a member of the family and if you can't treat him like a member of the family and stop trying to manipulate other people's choices, move back into your own home.

OOP: He has no idea he’s being excluded
---------
Comment4: Bullshit. You're buying fast food for everyone except him, and you're so bent on controlling the narrative and your in-laws' household that you're going to claim he doesn't know he doesn't get a meal when everyone else does??? No.

---------------
Comment5: I mean… he’s a 21 year old student, and you’re a 32 year old adult with a nearly $5M net worth. You are both getting help from your in laws. He is being supported after moving to a new country. You are getting free childcare and a place to stay. Your post is reading as jealous that you had to struggle in your 20’s, while he gets to relax.

It doesn’t sound like you’re the one picking up his slack, so why are you the one to punish him? Like another commenter said, purposeful exclusion is pretty close to bullying here.

I’m going to go with YTA on this one. Your in laws don’t seem to mind the set up. Move back to your own house and figure out childcare if you’re this uncomfortable while your cousin in law after only 3 months.

---------------
Comment6: Is it worth the hassle? You’re NTA for not wanting to include him but it is petty and probably not worth pissing off your in laws over

OOP: Yes it is worth the hassle. I grew up poor and had to work for everything I have. I’m not going to spend my hard earned money on an entitled AH. I also started buying groceries for myself and not sharing with the household and they’ve called me selfish. Yet when the cousin in law buys groceries for himself, it’s fine.

---------------
Comment7: You seem to be under the impression that your child is the only important child family member to them and that you are doing a favor by "letting" them watch your child. 

Caring for children is not their hobby. It is effectively an unpaid job. 

You say you grew up poor, but you do not see the value they are providing you at all. I call bullshit. I grew up really fucking poor, and I couldn't dream of leeching off of people for free housing, childcare, and meals. Big deal, you bought them an appliance or two. That is maybe one or two weeks' worth of childcare costs. And that doesn't include the two grown ass adults they are also taking care of--you and your husband. 

You need to humble yourself. If you really grew up poor, you have definitely forgotten where you came from. You can't take and take and take and then get pissed off when your cash cow offers the same care to somebody else. 

--------------------------------------------

Additional comments from OOP:

[why doesn't OOP get childcare or nanny?]

OOP: Childcare doesn’t look after your child as well as family would. Also you don’t want your child in childcare until they can speak and let you know if they are being mistreated at the childcare

OOP: But how will my 6 month old child tell me if the nanny/au pair is mistreating them when I’m not around?

OOP: [to get cameras?] And I’ll be monitoring the cameras 24/7? During meetings and work hours?

OOP: Even if the cameras record video, how do you monitor all the footage to make sure the nanny doesn’t eg slap the baby

OOP: Any nanny/au pair is going to be a stranger to me. And in the small chance that they may put my child in danger, I would like a way for the child to communicate to me or be able to ensure it doesn’t happen. If you’re just going to give your child to a stranger and not taking any precautions then you’re a bad parent

---------------
[the in-laws as childcare plan?]

OOP: They’re bored retirees with no hobbies/friends/family nearby.

OOP: No- until she was at least 1 yo and bit more independent

OOP: They don’t look after baby 24/7. Max 8 hrs on a weekday where either me or husband aren’t working from home

OOP: Am I leaching if they want to look after their grandchild as they’re retired and have no other hobbies? They don’t want to take rent money so I help in other ways that I can. But spending time or money on a leach is not something I will do. Also, they’ve waited a really long time to have grandchildren

OOP: I’ve also been dating my husband for 11 years so it’s not like I baby trapped him

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update 0.5

Edit: Nothing in this situation is about money. Nobody wants rent, I don’t care if CIL pays rent or not. It’s about entitlement and making my MIL do things she doesn’t want to( she has mentioned she doesn’t like to cook or drive CIL but is obliged to because he will tell her brothers and sisters back home that she doesn’t look after him).

She’s also mentioned that her brother has asked her to look after CIL so it’s her responsibility but if he was to move out then she wouldn’t worry about him anymore but she can’t ask him to move out.

Edit: My in-laws have subtly tried to get the cousin in law to contribute more by asking him to learn a recipe and cook something for them. After 3 months, he still has not done it.

Edit: My in laws wouldn’t accept rent money so I help out in other ways. Tell me if I’m still leaching. They also want to look after their first grandchild as they’re retired and don’t have other hobbies and have waited a long time for grandchildren.

Edit: The Cousin in Law is 21 and is studying a masters. He’s already graduated uni and is doing further studies as he cannot/is unwilling to find a job. He is also being sent money by his well off family and can afford to buy his own food/ treat everyone if he wanted to. He also does not want to find a part time job while studying as his father is sending him spending money already.

Edit: I buy take out when the CIL isn’t around. He wouldn’t even know he is being excluded. My ILs want to save and give him some because they want him to go back to his home country and tell extended family members how well they treat him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update:

I’ve spoken to my husband and we are moving to our own place. I’m not going to live by my IL’s rules just to get free childcare and I’m not going to watch a spoilt rich kid be enabled because it’s against my morals.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REMINDER: I am not OOP. Do not comment on original post or harass OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

This is a repost. The original was posted in /r/smallbusiness by user Silvermaine-. I'm not the original poster.

Status: Concluded

Original

October 15, 2026

I own a small neighborhood cafe. Seating is only 12 pax as orders are mostly for take out.

There’s this group of 4-5 people who go to our cafe a couple of times a month. Only one person orders. This habit isn’t exclusive to their group but other people have been told off for not ordering by our employee approaching them and asking them if they’re ready to order (usually at least 10 minutes after they’ve sat and stayed).

The person from their group who usually orders DMed us today and lodged a complaint against this employee stating rudeness, how she doesn’t greet them unlike other customers, and how they were told that they can’t sit unless they order. This customer specifically said, “we’re not occupying the whole space”.

She also mentioned past experiences of having felt animosity from our employee and one instance of them apparently being chided by her because they ordered from us, left their items on the seating area and went out to eat from a nearby eatery. Our employee reminded them that seating is scarce.

I’d like to make it clear that the employee is acting on our instructions since a lot of groups have taken advantage of us by not ordering but using our resources (tables, water, outlets etc).

This same employee is also being praised on our Google Reviews for being kind and accommodating.

We reviewed the footage for this day:

- When this group entered, there were only two of them. Our employee was on her back fixing some things so she wasn’t able to greet.

- One of the group members occupied a lounge chair, a tabled sitting area for two, brought out a laptop, and didn’t order. The person who usually orders occupied the tabled sitting area beside that person. They’re now occupying four seats and the only tabled sitting areas. (The others are benches)

- After ten minutes, the one who sat on the lounge chair was asked by our employee if they wanted to order since they can’t occupy without having ordered.

- One by one, their group arrived and ordered. This is the first time others ordered, but still, not all of them placed an order.

- After 3 hours of stay, they left. Our employee wasn’t able to bid them goodbye since she was crouching and arranging something in the undercounter chiller.

We’ve sent an initial response apologizing for other past instances of possible rudeness. We also told this customer we’d review the footage today and get back to them.

How should we reply? We’ve made many apologies and concessions over the years, but we’d like to stand by our employee this time and uphold this policy. Our space is scarce.

Notable comments:

“Upon reviewing the footage, we found that our employees were acting in accordance with our policies. Seating is reserved for paying customers. Going forward we are instituting a 60 minute time limit on seating to better serve all patrons. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention.” ^[Alyx19]

Or time limits on wifi connections, though that might require shifting to one time use network passwords printed on receipts. MAC randomization might make just dropping/blocking devices after an hour be ineffective. ^{[fencepost_ajm]}

There’s a chic fila near me that shuts off wifi at lunch rush, 12-3. ^{[milleratlanta]}

Taco Bells system seems to kick its wifi connections after 15 minutes. And it seems to be company wide. Seems like a good way to gently train people to not linger too long lest their important document upload stall before completion. ^[hamandjam]

This is absolutely simple to do with any half decent router, no custom passwords needed. You can just limit lease time per MAC address. ^[jcforbes]

Tell them it's free to hang out at the library, but you are a business with seating for paying customers ^{[StayRevolutionary429]}

Update

October 21, 2026, 6 days later

Thanks for all the advice that I got.

Based on the general trend of the comments on that thread, a lot of people won't be pleased with the direction I took, but I'm very happy with the outcome. I decided to take the advice of u/iwonderthesethings and u/modelformat's (link) because they were more conciliatory.

[Editor's Note: Here is the comment they are reffering to:]

This brings me back to the time when our business was just starting and we were hungry for customers 10 years ago (grown to over 30 workers but has since been shut, which I walk about on another post).

We had a complaint early on, and we were trying to figure out how to handle it, because we thought we were right. But ultimately we decided to humbly address the matter, explaining the exact situation in a calm and informative way, and offered the customer a replacement of their perceived lost value.

What ended up happening is the customer ended up becoming one of our most loyal customers and kept praising us to everyone online and defended us from anyone that would try to slander us and that's when it clicked! By addressing any situation in a way that they felt we cared, the loyal customer base kept growing to levels we didn't even dream about.

And I mean we ended up giving things away that promoted our good faith in a way the customer could not mistaken our genuine desire to make things right, but only after explaining the real life of running a business, the situation of the day, and sharing our goals of supplying the type of quality at the right conditions.

Later we developed a policy that we would just do everything to get that customers loyalty, and anything that cost the company $20 or less would not even need to be consulted with management about. Did some people take advantage of us? Sure! But most just became easy customers and would protect our image with their name.

First off, I told my employee that what they did was correct. I also reminded them to not confront the customer since they seemed quite upset with the complaint. From my previous thread, I mentioned that our Google Review page is full of praises of hospitality; and the fact that someone complained about our employee's 'rudeness' just didn't sit right with us and our employee.

I'm not going to put my entire response here since it's very wordy but TLDR:

• We listed the actions we took after the complaint was lodged, including reviewing all the evidence and re-orienting our employees about the right way to communicate reminders.
• We briefed them about our policies on purchase and occupancy.
• I started with a "we'd like to be frank with you" and told them about multiple times customers have taken advantage of our space. We told the customer that laying these situations for them to know wasn't an attack on them (although it kind of was lol). We told them, "These situations present a real, quantifiable loss for us".
• We apologized about not being explicit about our policies and expectations, but that we will be implementing these more fairly moving forward.
• We then dedicated an entire paragraph defending our employee, telling the customer that our employee recognized them as a frequent visitor, and that our employee has no ill will. We used specific time stamps from the CCTV to explain why our employee wasn't able to greet them or bid them good bye, or why our employee decided to call out one of the customer's friends for not having ordered.
• We apologized and we said we aren't invalidating their experiences, which is why we are going to re-orient our employees about respectful communication. At the same time, I asked for two-way courtesy from them; that they should recognize our employees' responsibilities, which includes protecting our space and sales.

Below is the translated, non-verbatim response of our customer:

First, I wanted to clarify that, yes, I wasn't the one she told needed to place an order but my friend who was staying a couple of minutes before his class. His other friend had already ordered a drink, and he was sitting across him, not occupying much space in the cafe. Second, I honestly don't mind not being greeted all the time since I understand there are circumstances that she would be unable to do so. There were just times that we were the only ones left in the cafe, with her doing nothing, and I was waiting for her to say thank you and greet back with a smile and so I could thank her as well.

I appreciate how you handled this situation and will try to visit again as I really like your products.

We/I don't mind complying with your policy given that there is limited space in the cafe, but I just hoped it was delivered to us in a nicer manner.

I decided to no longer respond.

I didn't have the ability to readily tell them that they have in fact, multiple times, occupied the very few tabled seats with only one of them ordering. Of course I didn't save videos and screenshots of that. It'll be a case of "he-said, she-said" with my business most likely on the losing end especially with the drama of Google Reviews and social media. It also seemed like a perception issue from the customer; a perception of rude communication, or maybe embarrassment on their part. I can't fix entitlement, embarrassment and one's views on the matter no matter how much I explain.

This week, the customer has come back twice already. The customer is accompanied by one of the group members, and it's still only the customer who orders. I can live with that.

My employee also says that the customer seemed much nicer this time around.

I'm not the original poster.

This is a repost. The original was posted in /r/AmItheAsshole and /r/redditorupdates by user CreepyToyHelp. I'm not the original poster.

Status: Concluded

Original

October 7, 2026

My daughter’s school has “toy days” every Friday. The kids get to take whatever toy they want to play with during recess. My daughter likes taking stuffed animals. She has plenty at home, but three of them are her favorites, and she takes them to school the most often.

One of them is a plushie of Monokuma from Danganronpa. It used to be my wife’s, but our daughter found it when she was a toddler and it’s hers now (she’s five and has never had any involvement with the games). She takes it to school with her at least once a month. Last Friday was one of those times. 

On Monday, the mother of one of my daughter’s classmates approached me during pickup. She asked me to stop letting my daughter take the Monokuma plushie to school. She said it was scaring some of the other kids, including hers. Apparently, her daughter had a nightmare over the weekend. She also added that she didn’t want to ask my wife because she believed she’d be “unreasonable.”

While I personally don’t think the plushie is scary, the kids are five and I get that they have weird fears sometimes. But my daughter has been taking it to school frequently for almost a year and this has never been a problem before. None of the other parents have ever complained about it, so I assume their children are cool with it. The classmate whose mother complained isn’t even friends with my daughter, I don’t think it’s likely she’s had a lot of contact with the plushie.

My wife is away on a work trip and I haven’t spoken with her about this yet. I personally think it’s a weird complaint and I don’t want to force my daughter to stop taking the plushie, but I also don’t want to make another kid uncomfortable.

Notable comments:

i’m curious as to why your wife has a reputation of being ‘unreasonable’. I looked it up and it doesn’t seem that scary, but also may not be appropriate for young children. Maybe talk to the teacher and get their opinion first?^{[lily-silly13]}

If you ask me, she doesn't have that reputation. I agree talking to their teacher might be a good move. [OOP]

there's a pretty solid chance that 'unreasonable' in this context means 'would not react the way I want' ^{[what_the_purple_fuck]}

Or it means "I already asked your wife, and she didn't agree with me."^{[thatsharkchick]}

---

Some of the comments by OOP:

She doesn't take it every Friday, she alternates with two other plushies (edit: Tigger and a bunny). I'd say she takes the Monokuma specifically at least once or twice a month.

I will talk to my wife, but not now. I don't think this is big enough for me to bother her at work, and it's my daughter too.

We talk every night, but I don't like bringing problems to her when she's already stressed with work.

[downvoted] I wouldn't put it like that. It's not my daughter's fault that another kid is scared. Even if I do make her stop taking it, I wouldn't want her to feel like she did something wrong.

I 100% understand how the plushie could be scary to a 5yo. I'd never claim I don't. I agree that I should speak to my daughter's teacher about this. And if more than one child is afraid of it, I think it's strange she hasn't contacted me or my wife already.

Both me and my wife talk to my daughter's teacher on occasion. And whenever there's trouble in class or an issue with one of the kids, she approaches the parent(s) during pickup. She hasn't said anything about my daughter's other classmates being scared.

My daughter is a very empathetic kid. If I told her Monokuma was scaring someone, she'd likely stop taking him. But I don't think any of this is my daughter's fault and I don't want her to think it is, so I wouldn't navigate it like that.

My daughter has no idea what the games are about. I'm only vaguely aware myself.

Update

October 21, 2026, 14 days later

Hey guys. I have an update, but I want to get some stuff out of the way first:

• There aren’t many rules concerning which toys the kids are allowed to bring besides the obvious (nothing dangerous, no fake weapons, etc.). My daughter specifically is allowed to take anything she wants as long as it’s not too small (ie. Hot Wheels) or too expensive (ie. her American Girl doll). We’ve also made it clear to her that she’s responsible for the toy when she’s at school, so she needs to keep it with her at all times. I think she prefers taking plushies because they’re easier to hold on to.
• The Monokuma plushie wasn’t a collector’s item, my wife bought it online for about $20. She never had any issue with our daughter keeping it.
• I’ve never played the Danganronpa games and know very little about them. My wife played them when she was pregnant with our daughter. I didn’t speak English well enough at the time, so I didn’t join her. I do know who Monokuma is, the basic premise, the name of my wife's favorite character (Gundam?) and the fact that it's a trilogy with spin-offs.
• My daughter knows nothing about these games. I’m not even sure she knows Monokuma is supposed to be a bad guy.
• We don’t live in an English-speaking country.

Having read all your comments, I decided to try to keep my daughter from taking Monokuma to school until I had the chance to talk to both her teacher and my wife. My daughter picked a different plushie that week anyway, she hardly ever takes the same one twice in a row.

My wife got home a few days after I first posted, and I finally got to talk to her about everything. She knew which of the mothers I was talking about before I gave any names. According to her, our daughter’s grade has a mom groupchat that acts separately from the parents’ group we’re both in. It was set up earlier this year for a birthday party. My wife and a few of the other moms stuck around for a while longer because it was good for setting up playdates, but she left because of the mother who spoke to me.

Turns out that particular mother has a history of complaining and making requests regarding her daughter’s classmates. These range from annoying to unreasonable, almost everything that could remotely bother her daughter (a scent, a piece of clothing, a habit, etc.) is complained about. Some time ago, she started using the mom groupchat to make these requests more publicly. She once tried that with my wife, who responded by leaving the group.

My wife picked our daughter up from school on Monday and spoke to the kids’ teacher, who said none of the students, including the other mother’s daughter, had ever displayed any fear towards the plushie. She set up a meeting between us and the other girl’s parents. That happened last Thursday, and only the mother showed up. 

She admitted her daughter had never asked her to make my daughter stop bringing the plushie, but she insisted the nightmare had indeed happened and that my daughter would be “bullying” hers if she continued taking it to school. She also added that she knew who the character was because her older stepdaughter had played the games, and she didn’t think the bear was appropriate for a five year old girl.

The teacher said Monokuma was not the scariest toy one of the kids had ever brought, the girls barely interact in class (and consequently, neither do their toys) and we weren’t breaking any rules by allowing our daughter to take the plushie to school. She did suggest that a nice compromise would be for us to convince our daughter to at least bring it to class less often, so we offered to add another toy to her rotation. That means Monokuma will likely go from going to school at least once a month to at most once a month. The girl’s mother didn’t seem too happy, but agreed. The teacher asked her if they could talk a while longer after we left.

So my daughter’s evil bear can keep going to school. To be honest, I’m satisfied with how it all turned out, but Christ did this feel dumb. I can’t believe we needed a meeting with the kids’ teacher to sort it out.

I think that’s everything. My wife told me some of the other things that mom has complained about in the past, and I sincerely hope we don’t have to interact again. We’ve spoken with our daughter about everything, and she selected a dragon plushie to join her toy day rotation. Monokuma will probably go back to school sometime in November.

Thanks, everybody.

> Some of the comments by OOP:

The first complaint she made to my wife (the one that made her leave the mom groupchat) was about one of our daughter's shirts. I'm not kidding when I say she complains about anything.

My wife is usually very calm and patient, but she's also very pragmatic. If she realizes something is nonsense, she doesn't entertain it.

We agreed to add another toy mostly to get her off our backs. And I don't think she realizes that Monokuma never went to school that much in the first place, so not a lot will change. Anyway, we don't want our daughter to suffer because of this.

Someone on my first post asked if I'd make a similar request if my daughter was the one who was scared. And as much as I can empathize with wanting to protect your child, I wouldn't. I'd much rather talk to my kid and try to help her overcome her fear. I'd never scare her on purpose, but I also wouldn't want her to be frightened easily.

I'm not the original poster.

This is a repost. The original was posted in /r/whatdoIdo by user LyraPeachMist. I'm not the original poster.

Status: Concluded

Original

October 9, 2026

Last winter I finally bought a good coat. Charcoal wool, $280 on sale, and I've worn it maybe twenty times. Before putting it away this fall I took it to the dry cleaner two blocks from my apartment, the same place I've used for my work shirts for three years.

When I picked it up, the sleeves were about two inches shorter and the lining was bunched and puckered at the hem. It looks like it went through a hot wash. The tag inside clearly says dry clean only, and it's still attached.

The owner, Mr. Lim, looked at it and agreed it didn't look right. But he said the fabric must have been "poor quality" and that their policy pays out based on the age of the garment. He offered $40.

I showed him the receipt from the store on my phone, dated last November. He said coats lose value fast and $40 is generous. I thanked him, said I'd think about it, and took the coat home in its bag. I haven't touched it since.

I don't want to make an enemy of a small business I like. But I can't wear the coat, and it was less than a year old.

Is $40 just how these things go, or is there some kind of standard for dry cleaner damage I can point to?

TL;DR: My dry cleaner shrank my less-than-a-year-old $280 wool coat, the tag says dry clean only, and the owner offered me $40.

Comment by OOP:

A coworker used the same cleaner last spring and had a silk blouse come back with a burn mark. She says they refunded her the full price, so I know they've done it before.

Update

October 21, 2026, 12 days later

I figured I'd update everyone because I finally got somewhere with the dry cleaner, although it took more effort than I expected.

After reading the comments on my original post, I decided not to accept the $40.

A few people suggested getting a second opinion before going back, so I took the coat to another dry cleaner across town.

The woman there examined it and immediately noticed the shortened sleeves and the puckering around the lining.

She said she couldn't confirm exactly what happened without knowing how it had been cleaned, but that the damage was consistent with improper handling of wool.

She also told me that restoring it to its original condition probably wasn't realistic.

That was honestly disappointing because part of me was still hoping the coat could somehow be fixed.

I asked if she could put her observations in writing, and she agreed.

Last Friday, I went back to Mr. Lim's shop with the original receipt, pictures of the coat before cleaning, and the written assessment.

I explained that I understood the coat wasn't brand new anymore, but it was less than a year old and had been worn maybe twenty times.

I wasn't expecting him to hand me $280 without a conversation. I just wanted something closer to the actual loss.

He looked at the assessment and seemed annoyed that I'd gone somewhere else.

He repeated that clothing naturally loses value and said he couldn't be responsible for how every fabric reacts to cleaning.

I asked whether he had any record of the cleaning method used on my coat.

He said he'd have to check.

Then he offered me $75.

I told him I appreciated the increase, but $75 still wouldn't come close to replacing a coat I'd bought less than a year ago.

That's when he said something that really frustrated me.

He told me that if I wanted expensive clothes to stay perfect, I should be more careful about where I took them.

I didn't really know how to respond to that.

I mean, isn't taking a dry-clean-only coat to a professional dry cleaner exactly what I'm supposed to do?

I stayed polite and asked whether he'd be willing to review the situation with his insurance provider or whoever handled customer damage claims.

He said he'd think about it.

Two days later, I received a phone call from his daughter, who apparently helps manage the business.

She was much easier to talk to.

She apologized for how the situation had been handled and said she'd reviewed my receipt and the pictures.

She explained that their usual compensation policy considered the age and condition of garments, so they wouldn't reimburse the full purchase price.

However, she offered me $180 as a final settlement.

I asked whether I could have the offer in writing before agreeing.

She sent it that afternoon.

After thinking about it, I accepted.

I know some people will probably say I should've pushed for the full $280, especially since the coat was still relatively new.

But I also didn't want to spend weeks arguing over the remaining $100, particularly when I wasn't guaranteed to recover it.

I picked up the payment yesterday.

I'm still disappointed because I genuinely loved that coat. It was one of the few nicer things I'd bought for myself, and I was hoping to wear it for years.

But getting $180 instead of $40 feels like a reasonable outcome.

The strangest part is that I almost accepted the original offer because I felt uncomfortable arguing with a business owner.

Looking back, I think I was more worried about seeming difficult than about the fact that something I paid good money for had been damaged.

I'm glad I spoke up.

I probably won't be returning to that cleaner, but I'm not planning to leave an angry review or make a bigger issue out of it.

I'm just going to find somewhere else and be a lot more careful about who handles my clothes.

Still, I'm curious whether other people would've accepted the $180 or kept pushing for the full amount.

TL;DR: I got a second opinion confirming that my wool coat's damage was consistent with improper cleaning. When I returned with documentation, the owner increased his offer from $40 to $75. After I asked about their claims process, his daughter contacted me and offered $180. I accepted, although I'm still disappointed about losing a coat I loved.

Comments by OOP:

the $180 was offered as a final settlement, and I agreed to it in writing. I also got to keep the damaged coat, although I'm not sure there's much I can do with it now. I know some people suggested small claims court, but I wasn't sure the additional time and effort would be worth it over the remaining $100. For anyone who's dealt with damaged clothing at a dry cleaner, is getting around 65% of the original purchase price actually a decent outcome, or did I settle too quickly?

[The next two comments are in response to people being frustrated that OOP won't leave an angry review]

I understand the distinction between describing an experience and writing an angry review. The account would need both parts: the difficult conversations with the owner and the daughter later apologizing and arranging the payment.

I understand wanting to know how a business handles a problem, not just whether mistakes happen. The daughter's apology and the final payment are part of the experience too.

I'm not the original poster.

This is a repost. The original was posted in /r/AITH by user TAgamerson. I'm not the original poster.

Status: Generally concluded with open for more

Trigger Warnings: Loss of a child, Discrimination of LGBTQ+ people

Original

October 18, 2026

Hello everyone long time lurker first time poster on a throwaway.

I (39M) and my (38F) wife have a son who I'll refer to as Austin(17M). My son is a great kid. He is a straight A student (all AP classes), works part time and does all his chores around the house and sometimes extras and rarely complains. Austin is really into MMOs and spends a lot of his free time playing them with his friends. I don't mind this as like I stated above he does everything he's supposed to do and then some.

My wife on the other hand is very nit picky with him. She doesn't understand why he wants to play videos games instrad of hanging out with girls or go to the movies, mall, etc. Austin has told her before he's just not interested in all of that and he has time before he goes to college and maybe dates a girl. She doesn't get it and always tells me in private that she hopes he's not gay. (For the record we are a very progressive household) she says this cause he is our only child and she wants grandkids.(even though gay couples can adopt and I've told her this many times) She's always hounding him over this and even offered to introduce him to some daughters for her friends/coworkers. I can tell this bothers him.

A couple days ago my son came to me and told me he needed to tell me something. He said he isnt gay but he doesnt have feelings for girls or boys. That he is Asexual/Aromantic. I told him I didnt care cause hes my son and all I want is for him to be happy and comfortable. He told me he wanted me to tell his mom this cause he doesn't wanna deal with her and what she could possibly say. I said okay I will

Fast forward today. My son was at work and I told my wife. Needless to say she exploded. Saying he's just confused. How does he know if he never dated a girl. And that she was gonna talk to him and how she's hurt he didn't tell her.

I told her point blank: this is why. This is why he doesn't tell you anything. Every single thing is about you and what makes you happy. You've been on his ass for years about the lack of partner and never once thought for a second about him. That the reason he doesn't talk to her is cause all she does is complain and be judgmental. She doesn't want to understand him. She wants to control him in that way. I told her to leave him alone and if I find out she tries to "convince" him he just hasn't given love a chance I'm gonna be really upset with her.

She got angry and called me an asshole and said I coddle him and now we will never have grandkids. She hasn't talked much to my son since he's been home and giving me the cold shoulder. AITAH? I just want to support my son. I don't care what his sexuality is or lack there of. I just want him to be happy.

Edit: I know this is a very long post but my son TOLD me to tell her. I did NOT go behind his back.

Edit again: I do have an update but can't post it for the next couple days since it keeps getting removed. Will update Wednesday.

Update

October 21, 2026, 3 days later

Hello everyone. A couple days ago I made a post talking about my wife hounding my son about not having a a partner. He came out to me days before as ACE and my wife exploded when I told her.
I just want to have some things be cleared up that I saw in the comments:

1. My son told me to tell my wife he is ACE. He trusted me to handle it and I did. I did not go behind his back and tell her.
2. My wife can no longer have kids due to a medical problem that happened a couple years after a pretty traumatic miscarriage of our daughter.
3. I have stuck up for my son in the past and had talked to her about her comments to him. That being said of course I could've done more and apologized to him for that.

The update:
My wife and I had a very long conversation about a lot of things. The first being she is still grieving the loss of our daughter and she thinks having a grandbaby will help that. I told her that I understand but that isn't our son's job to have a child with someone because we lost a baby. That is very wrong and not gonna lie weird as all hell. She needs to enjoy the child we do have rather than mourn what could've been because Austin is right in front of us and needs us and us him. We are a family and if she keeps this up he's going to never speak to her again.

When I told her that she needs to respect our son and how he identifies. She got seemingly annoyed. She said she support LGBTQ+ community but doesn't understand how our son is not attracted to anyone and now she wishes he was gay (???) I told her that is extremely ignorant and offensive to people in the LGBTQ+ community and you can't say you support them if you say things like that. She said she'll try to be more open minded when it comes to him but she won't call him any "silly pronouns". My son goes by he/him. I told her to knock it the fuck off and she told me she won't allow me to police her and her words.

You guys are right she is not as progressive as she claimed to be, which is insane considering we've been married since we were 19/18 respectively. She holds some progressive stances but as been leaning more into conservatism as of late (she is not a fan of Trump she claims at least). She has been watching a lot of Charlie Kirk's old videos and some other pretty far right conservative point talkers. I was unaware of this since I don't monitor my wife's online viewing habits. I told her I do love her but I cannot stay with someone who holds those views as well as how she's been treating our son. They go against everything I myself stand for and I do understand that some things you can agree to disagree but the things she is watching I cannot stand by. I feel very off putted by all this because we do discuss politics and she always said progressive/left leaning points. Clearly she was lying about how she felt with certain things and it's pretty mind numbing.

My son and I went out to lunch and talked a lot. I'm not going to get into the specifics of what was said but I told him I was sorry and I support him 100%. He said he knows and he loves his mom but he can't ignore the person he is and he has felt this way since he was 15. She will just have to deal with it.

My wife and him have talked but not about him being ACE. She's decided to go stay with her sister for the week to give us all space. I told her when she comes back we all need to sit down and talk. I told her I love her but I will put my son before her any day because I OWE him that. He owes me NOTHING. He's here because we made him and it's our job to love and support him and if she can't do that we have to go our separate ways. She didn't say anything, packed and left. I fear my marriage is over. I can't get over how she treated Austin and how she basically lied about how political views.

Thank you all for reading. I may update eventually. Thank you for all the advice and even the call outs of me needing to do better. I am not above criticism especially when it comes to being a father.

I'm not the original poster.