November 18, 2025 • 33 mins
In today’s episode of Reddit Stories Podcast, a wild Karen completely loses it. You won’t believe how this one ends! Sit back, relax, and enjoy this binge-worthy Reddit Stories Podcast, featuring Karen freakouts, entitled people stories, and pro revenge tales.
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📌 **Every episode dives into trending Reddit stories, insane Karen freakouts, and dramatic pro revenge stories! We cover the wildest situations from r/EntitledPeople, r/AITA, and r/EntitledParents. If you love binge-worthy podcast compilations, long-form storytelling, and Reddit drama stories, you’re in the right place!
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🎧 Listen to More Reddit Stories Podcast Episodes Here:
👉 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ZVzMm0Pr3bwlM26VuVv8J
👉 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mr-redder/id1516821033
📌 **Every episode dives into trending Reddit stories, insane Karen freakouts, and dramatic pro revenge stories! We cover the wildest situations from r/EntitledPeople, r/AITA, and r/EntitledParents. If you love binge-worthy podcast compilations, long-form storytelling, and Reddit drama stories, you’re in the right place!
👉 📺 Love These Stories? Watch Full Video Episodes on YouTube! → https://www.youtube.com/@MrRedderYT
🎵 Music Credit: https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories-podcast-mr-redder--5571651/support.
Enjoyed this story? Follow the show and leave a quick rating.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, mister Redder here, welcome back to another episode
of Reddit podcast Stories. Our first story we'll be reading today.
Wild Karen demands to use my wheelchair in the antique store.
After that, try to steal my legally rented parking spot.
Enjoy getting fired, And after that, am I the jerk
for interrupting my son's date asking him to pick up
(00:20):
his little sister. Now, for every thumbs up, this video
gits one. Karen does not get to take anyone's wheelchair.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
The only thing I.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Want to take is a break from being in here
with you all day, Redded boy, So please smash that
like button and subscribe and turn on notifications for new
stories from Reddit every single day. Wild Karen demands to
use my wheelchair in the antique store. Cast We've got me,
We've got nails, an old man though he doesn't speak,
(00:49):
and we've got Harriet Karen. My husband and I rent
a display space in an antique slash Co assignment store
for our collective side hustles. I quilt in crochet, my
husband sells custom die cast cars, and Diorama supplies. Every
few weeks we go in and restock our space. This
store is very large, and can be a bit of
a maze. And this store has designated rest stops throughout
(01:12):
the aisles. One is across from our space. The store
does not provide mobility aids for customers, so it is
a bring your own policy if you need a walker
or a wheelchair. I'm a wheelchair user as I'm paralyzed.
My husband and I were at this store restocking the space.
My husband had just left to take one of our
totes out to the van, leaving me in our space
(01:33):
sorting through one of my tote bags. When I hear
someone huffing behind me, I don't really pay too much
attention to it, thinking that someone might have been taking
a break at the rest stop. I was just finishing
laying out my sets on the table in our space
when the person at the rest stop decided to talk
to me. Do you know if the store has wheelchairs
for people to use? I look up from my task
(01:54):
and I see an elderly couple across from our space.
The old man is standing next to the bench looking
kind of an while the woman has flopped on the
bench and an I can't take another step kind of way.
I honestly was concerned that she might have been having
a medical issue, as she was rather plump.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Are you okay?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I ask about to tell her or her partner to
use the phone above the bench to reach the staff
desk for help. This store is too big, Harriet exclaims,
I can't walk anymore. Me. The store has a chair
for medevac use. One of the employees can bring it
out to you if you need help leaving, Harriet. But
if we're not done shopping me, I don't think they
(02:34):
have wheelchairs to borrow. They've had issues with rowdy kids
riding mobility scooters, so they don't provide them anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
But if you use the phone above you, you.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Can ask a staff member. Just dial one and it
will connect you to the staff desk. There's a sign
next to the phone that states this. Harriet seems to
be thinking about her options, so I go on about
my work. Nells wanders down the aisle, possibly looking for
an escape route. Harriet, what about the word wheelchair you're
sitting in me, This is my personal wheelchair. It doesn't
(03:04):
belong to the store.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Can I borrow it?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
What? Surely she's not asking to take my chair to
go shopping, Harriet.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I want to use the wheelchair.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You're young enough that you can stand to walk for
a bit, I'll bring it back me, ma'am. I cannot
stand at all. I've been a paraplegic since i was twelve.
This wheelchair is not store issued. It's my personal property,
and it costs a lot of money. If you call
the staff, maybe they can let you use the medical chair,
or maybe they know of one someone has in their
(03:34):
space that you can buy. But I will not give
you my chair, and I cannot help you. At this point,
I've rolled out of our space.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I decided to.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Head towards the vendor door and just leave. Rumor has
it Harriet is still sitting on the bench waiting for
someone to give her a wheelchair. Try to steal my
illegally rented parking spot, enjoy getting fired. I'm a professional
driver as such. On the roads in the US, there
are different truck stops throughout the country that has a
paid a park system, usually about ten to twenty percent
(04:05):
of the lot marked off as reserved, with each space
running from fifteen to twenty five dollars. The truck stop
where this took place had parking for seventeen dollars, which
is relatively cheap for a guaranteed spot. The spots are
reserved for twenty four hours, starting at four pm local
time and extending to three pm the following afternoon. I
knew that I would have a late night delivery, so
(04:27):
I came to the truck stop around three thirty and
paid for a reserve spot. I told a manager on
duty that I had a delivery up the road that
night and would be back once delivery was completed, but
should still be able to clear out the spot by
the next afternoon today. She told me that this was okay,
and she would mark the spot as sold when I left.
That way, if someone else comes in trying to reserve
(04:49):
that spot, she could consult her notes and deny the sale.
Eleven fifteen pm rolls around, I take off from my delivery.
I don't get out of that facility until two thirty
am the next morning. This morning, so I groggy drive
back to the truck stop to reclaim my paid for spot,
only to find that the reserved parking spaces are all full.
(05:09):
I call the manager on duty, and, after giving her
my info, inform her that all of the spots are
full and that someone has parked in a spot and
hasn't paid for it. She sends her other employee out
to start checking trucks. The culprit was from a company
that is known for their bright orange trailers, and he
was a company driver. The other employee starts banging on
(05:30):
his door to inform him that he's parked illegally and
he has to move. Meanwhile, I can see the commotion
from my mirror with my vantage point in the fuel
island where I had been instructed to temporarily park. The
driver answers the door with the bottle of Heineken in
one hand and some sort of smoking implement in another.
I know what it is, but for the sake of
the mods, I'm not going to say it. I decided
(05:52):
to roll down the window to hear the commotion, and
I hear the employee tell the driver to either move
or he will get the towing company and police involved.
This driver is flat out irate that someone had the
audacity to tell him where he can and cannot park,
so he slams the door on the employee, threatening him.
Employee calls the police and the tow company and the
police show up first. I had worked for this company before,
(06:15):
so I know their policies and more importantly, what they
can and cannot have in their trucks. Alcoholic beverages are
not allowed in the cab. Anything that isn't a cigarette
or a cigar and a lighter also not allowed. The
coup de grass a pew pew of any kind absolutely
not allowed and absolutely not loaded. This driver had all
(06:36):
of that and some other not so legal substances in
his cab, so he was hauled away in cuffs. His
truck was hauled away on a wrecker. I made a
call after the commotion, died down to the company safety
director and informed them that their rig will be in
an impound lot and their driver is going to jail
over the not so legal stuff he had in his truck.
She thanked me and said that he will definitely lose
(06:59):
his job as especially over the alcohol and the other
not so legal stuff. I guess he played the mess
around and find out card and it bit him in
his career. Am I the jerk for interrupting my son's
date so he could pick up his sister. I'm a
single father forty three to two kids, Max who's seventeen
and Liza, who's eight. I usually have Liza in after
(07:21):
school clubs so that I'm able to pick her up
after work. However, last evening I was given some work
that had me working overtime. I did try my best
to negotiate out of it, but my manager told me
that the assignment was to be completed by that night,
so I just did it. It was nearing towards six
pm and I knew I wouldn't be able to make
it to Liza, so I called Max and asked him
(07:42):
to pick her up. He responded by saying that he
couldn't because he was on a date with his girlfriend
for their six month anniversary. I told him that I understood,
but that I really needed him to get Liza and
that i'd make it up to him for interrupting. He
just angrily turned off the phone, and I thought that
while he was mad, he had just decided to go
pick her up. Thirty minutes later, I receive a call
(08:03):
from Liza's school on where I was because the school
was close to closing down and no one was there. Luckily,
one of Liza's friends' mothers said that they had drop her.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Off and it was all good.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
However, I don't really like it when Liza goes off
with that particular friend. Not because of the friend, but
because of the mother. She has this habit of asking
math questions in the car that she knows Liza is
unable to answer, and then criticizes her over it. It's
all just very mean. I called Max and asked him
where he was and told him he was in big trouble.
When he got home, he just told me that he
(08:36):
was busy and to leave him the heck alone. He
came home at around nine pm and I told him
he was grounded and that he wasn't allowed to use
the car for a good three weeks. At that he
got all mad and said that it wasn't his fault.
I was failing as a parent and unable to afford
someone to collect Liza. Just want some insight on the situation.
Was I being too harsh? And am I the jerk
(08:57):
for interrupting his date?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Edit?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
This is the third time I've asked Max to pick
up his sister in the span of a year and
a half. Some people are asking why I don't have
a nanny. Money is tight. Max and Liza's mother are
not present in their lives, and no, I do not
think of socializing myself with the parents at Liza's school.
I'm at work most times, so i haven't found time
outside of the yearly parent meetings. Please refrain from insulting
(09:22):
my son. Not the jerk you're not feeling as a parent.
You had to work over time, not out drinking or
messing around. Your son was in the wrong here for
not helping, turning the phone off and calling you out
for it. But you two need to talk about this
and discuss expectations. If you expect him to be part
of the contingency plan, you need to be crystal clear
(09:43):
on that and what happens to car privileges when he doesn't.
Dad was at work. He didn't deliberately ruin son's date.
It was an exceptional work related situation and he needed
son to step up as a family member to pick
up sister. It seems Dad does his best to let
his son be free with enrolling his daughter in all
sorts of activities to help keep her busy until he
(10:03):
finishes work. Son could have stepped up on this one.
Not the jerk, Dad, and good thing you grounded your
son for his entitled behavior. Post like this make me
feel hopeless for us as a society. As a species.
You'll get a ton of responses from people who haven't
raised kids. Many still are kids, and they haven't been
taught responsibility and family. Asking your son to help on
(10:26):
an unexpected situation is not and should not be a problem.
Your son's response is entitled and gross. Honestly, while being
disappointed at the interruption would be fine, even appropriate, hanging
up on you is disrespectful, and refusing to help is
selfish and disgusting. Like societies, families only work when everyone contributes.
(10:46):
Your son using your car is a privilege, not a rite,
and it's up to you to extend that privilege to
him or not. The hanging up on you and the
disrespectful way he spoke to you is all on its
own enough reason to at the very least suspect that privilege.
You do not have to tolerate disrespect, no matter how
upset he was. Also, financial woes do not indicate how
(11:08):
good or bad someone is at parenting, something your son
is going to be painfully aware of very soon. If
you give him money for allowance or anything else, help
him learn by suspending that privilege as well. This is
a teachable moment. Let him see there are consequences for
his choices. Please, I implore you to ignore the ridiculous
comments here that are characterizing asking for help as anything
(11:30):
other than that. You should be able to ask your
family for help, including your nearly grown son. Do not
listen to anyone who says otherwise. There's a difference between
asking for help and an unexpected pinch and forcing him
to be a regular, unpaid babysitter. Do not listen to
this BS. You're not the jerk, and I hope you
stick to your guns about your car privileges being suspended.
(11:51):
His behavior was selfish and disrespectful and he needs to
experience consequences for that. Also, inform your employer that you
have responsibilities at home to take precedence, and you require
advanced notice if any extra hours required or you won't
be available. They cannot expect you to scramble to find
childcare at the last possible moment.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You're the jerk.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Don't be surprised when your son goes no contact with you.
Hate to break it to you, but your kid is
your responsibility, not his. You can't make your son fulfill
the role that you signed up for just because it's
convenient for you. You're basically teaching him that he has
to let people walk all over him in life. Is
it okay for you to ask if he's available to
pick her up? Sure, but if he says no, you
(12:34):
need to learn to take no for an answer and
stop being a controlling jerk. No refunds once you've stepped
out of the store. Fine, I won't step out of
the store. This happens in a large store in a
European country. When you purchase something from them and for
any reason, want to return the item, their policy is
that they never give money back. They only give you
(12:55):
a voucher redeemable same day only. I went to the
store today and I pray or just quite a long
list of items I got home. My wife looks at
them and says, we don't need some of them. I
go back to the store barely twenty minutes past. The
returns manager smiles at me as I tell her I
just purchased there and I would like to return them.
She tells me that I stepped out of the store,
(13:17):
so she can't refund, only gives me a voucher and
that I must buy something else. I'd already bought everything
I needed. Then she tells me to take the products
home and keep them for the next time I would
need to buy something. Then I can come and get
the voucher and redeem it. Imagine keeping a pair of
shoes in a bowl and remember to bring them with
you the next time you happen to need something. I
(13:38):
tried to reason, but she was adamant.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Those are the rules.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You stepped out of the store, you don't get a refund.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And then it clicked.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I asked, so, if someone wants to return an item
without leaving the store, they get the money back. Yes,
you see where this is heading. Well, it's just compliance
kicks in. I asked to return the items and get
the voucher. I take the valcher, go inside the store,
find a product to exactly the same amount. I buy
it with the voucher. Right after the cashier, there's the
(14:07):
returns manager. Straight from the cashier, I go to her,
hand her that random product I just bought and say
I would like to return this. I don't want it,
and I never left the store. She's looking at me
with barely contained rage in her eyes.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I kid you not. The awkward pause.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Was getting longer, and then the manager comes along, looks
at us, and I smile at him and say I
never left the store and I would like to get
a refund for this please. He nods, silent and not
looking at me. She proceeds to refund me the money
in cash company policy.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
My mother ruined my life, so I made sure she
ruined hers as well. My mother is a textbook narcissist.
So when I, at the age of six, called my
family crying because I knew something was wrong and she
didn't love me, my mother decided to punish me for
ruining her image.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
She spun this.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Story to my family. I was a pathological liar and
I was brainwashed by her mother to ruin her life.
She effectively cut me off from my family and from
the outside world, and made sure I had no internet
or cell phone access until I moved out. She prevented
me from getting a job and tried sabotaging my efforts
to get into college.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I went through so much with her.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
When I was younger, I retaliated in immature ways, but
as I got older, I was very, very careful with
how I talked to her.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I only ever told her the truth.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Remember, she convinced herself that I was a pathological liar,
So if I tell her the truth, she will now
think whatever I said is only intended to hurt her.
If I say you should bring an umbrella today it
looks like rain, she will make a point to not
bring one to spite me and get caught in the rain.
If a friend said something similar to what I said
and was genuinely trying to help her, my mom would
(15:52):
think that person is her enemy and remove them from
her life. She only has nasty people in her life
since she's removed herself from every one who cared. Some examples,
I would tell her about her friends that were plotting
behind her back. She didn't believe me and hung out
with them even more. They put her name on the
payment for an object she doesn't have and has to
pay tens of thousands of dollars for. You can't say
(16:14):
I didn't warn her. When she had job issues, I
would tell her exactly what she was doing wrong and
why people don't like working with angry, difficult people.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
She thought I was.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Trying to hurt her, so she doubled down on her behavior.
I hear she's fighting to keep her job. Would suck
to be fired right before retirement? You can't say I
didn't warn her. She called me looking for advice. She
was basically going to fly across the country to go
stalk someone, and I told her not to do that.
He'll dislike her even more and he could call the police.
(16:44):
I got in touch with her dad and told him
to try to stop her. She went because now she
was convinced it would work. The poor guy was hiding
in his workplace while she was outside crying for him
to come outside. Can't say I didn't warn her. I
hear she's in therapy now, but it doesn't seem to
be working much. I can imagine why. It must be
a very upsetting experience to have a professional tell you
(17:06):
the same lies your pathological liar of a daughter told you.
I think this is how you get someone with kindness.
Am I the jerk for renegging on my wife and
I's agreement? I, Pete and my wife Eve have an agreement.
The agreement says that if one of us has a
complaint or suggestion that we want to voice to the
other person, we have to preface it with at least
(17:29):
two compliments. So, for instance, if I wanted to approach
my wife about leaving her dirty clothes on the floor.
I might first tell her that I liked the new
shirt she bought and that I appreciated how she did
the laundry the previous week, and then I would ask
her if she could pick her clothes up. Yesterday, Eve
was making some oatmeal chocolate chip raisin cookies, a recipe
that she makes often by stirring together an oatmeal cookie
(17:51):
box mix with chocolate chips and raisins. I really dislike raisins,
so naturally, I've never cared for this recipe, and I've
even strongly implied my dislike for them on a number
of occasions, but my wife never seems to get the hint.
So yesterday, while Eve was getting out the ingredients to
make the cookies, I started with two compliments. I said
that it was a nice gesture for her to make
(18:12):
cookies for the family, and that I liked how she
cooked them for the perfect amount of time so that
they weren't too hard or too doughy. I then told
her that I didn't care for the raisins and that
I would appreciate if she made a few cookies without them.
Since the raisins aren't already mixed in, Eve adds them
and the chocolate chips to the box mix. My wife nodded,
so I thought that meant she was saying yes. Later,
(18:33):
she announced that the cookies were ready to eat, so
I came over and asked which ones didn't have raisins.
With a confused expression on her face, she asked me
what I meant.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I reminded her of.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Our conversation earlier. Eve replied that since I had given
her two compliments on the cookies but only one complaint,
she thought I enjoyed her raisin cookies more than I
disliked them, so she continued with the original recipe. She said,
they couldn't be that bad if two thirds of my
comments about them were positive. I was at a loss,
so I just sat down. I wanted to say something,
(19:03):
but I didn't know how to articulate my thoughts. Finally,
I decided to just go for it Eve, I began,
but before I could continue, Eve interrupted in a warning tone.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Careful, Pete, remember our agreement. At that point, I lost it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I stood up abruptly and told her I couldn't pretend anymore,
and that eating the raisin cookies like this was unbearable,
and that my feelings about the cookies were pretty much
all negative. I didn't preface that comment with two positives,
so I broke our agreement here.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
At first I thought I was justified.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But I talked to my friends who told me that
my wife doesn't owe me cookies and I should just
be grateful she made me cookies at all, and I
shouldn't have broken the agreement. Eve is still mad at me,
So am I the jerk for breaking the agreement. If
your agreement doesn't lead to clear communication and resolution, it's
a bunk agreement. Your wife is weaponizing your agreement to
(19:56):
essentially shut you up. Forced compliments aren't compliments. Yeah, this
two compliments thing is a terrible idea. Those compliments would
mean nothing to me if I knew they were forced
just so that my husband could criticize something. It's way
healthier to just compliment when you like something and have
an honest discussion when something is bothering you. In this case,
(20:17):
I think they're both being ridiculous making this big of
a deal about some cookies. It's super easy to make
a couple of cookies without the raisins. Just scoop a
few out and add raisins later.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
But it's also.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Ridiculous to expect your wife to cater to your tastes
when you've hinted at wanting them a different way, and
not just outright asked for a few cookies to be
made without raisins. Holy cal The communication in this relationship
is abysmal and what messed up world? Are you not
allowed to share that you dislike raisins without offering too
essentially unrelated complimentary preambles.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
This is so odd.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Maybe well intentioned to form more positive exchanges, but this
feels really extreme and counterproductive to me.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Not that jerk.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Your wife failed to uphold her part of the agreement
you'd made. Depending on your dynamic here, you're both kind
of dumb or she's manipulative. Think about it this way.
You're not allowed to voice a complaint unless it's prefaced
by two compliments. But if you preface a complaint with
two compliments, she then assumes the complaints don't imply magic
no complaints are ever made. I suggest you get to
(21:20):
therapy to get some intense guidance on how to actually
communicate in a partnership. Am I the jerk for telling
my brother in law to prioritize his family over a Rolex.
I'm thirty five. My brother in law, who's thirty seven,
is known for impulsively spending frivolously on things for himself
and does not have the money for, most recently a pizza, oven,
(21:41):
paddle board, and other costly non essentials. He very much
tries to keep up with the Jones as well. Anything
he gets is because he saw someone else by it,
because it's trending. He's up to his eyeballs in debt,
not making money at his commission job, and currently fighting
for his sobriety against a decade long addiction that he's
successfully hid from his wife until a few years ago.
(22:03):
I honestly believe his brain is stuck with impulsiveness, but
he swears he doesn't need rehab or therapy to fix
his issues. He has a nice truck with a six
hundred dollars a month payment that his wife, my sister,
who's thirty six, makes the payments on. Meanwhile, she drives
herself and their baby around in the same car she's
had since high school. That's not a good car and
(22:24):
it doesn't even fit today's safety standards. Brother in law
hits me up about wanting to buy a Rolex and
wanted some advice about buying one. I sold them for
a long time. At that point, I carefully worded my
response and advised that luxury watches are for people who
can afford them after everything else is taken care of,
and he needs to prioritize his family before buying one.
(22:46):
I also mentioned that, in my experience that people who
can truly afford a Rolex could also flush the cost
of one down the toilet and not be impacted even slightly,
and that we aren't in that economic class of people.
I've seen people over extend themselves on the watches just
to be able to flex, and that's exactly what he's doing.
I perhaps went too far by saying if he has
(23:06):
money for a Rolex, then he has money to put
his wife and baby in his safer car that was
built in this century. He got upset because I didn't
tell him what he wanted to hear, but I meant
what I said, and there is no one else there
to save him from himself. His wife is trying to
be very supportive of him and his recovery and usually
goes along with his impulse buys because it reduces their
(23:27):
fighting and the money isn't going towards something bad. It's
not my business, but I worry for my little nephew,
and considerably less my sister who enables him. I'll accept
the jerk designation if I crossed the line.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Here, not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
You're doing absolutely the right thing, and here's why. My
late husband had exactly the same tendency towards reckless spending,
and also had an alcohol problem and other addictions. He
sadly passed away in his fifties, and it was only
afterwards that I fully realized that his reckless spending and
the other addictive behaviors are all linked and can be
symptoms of depression and anxiety. They were all giving him
(24:04):
the temporary hit that he needed to feel better in
that moment, but then made him feel even more depressed afterwards.
Your brother in law might need some help with the
same issues. My mother is demanding I adopt my niece
and nephew. Myself, twenty six and my partner thirty two,
are child free and wish to remain so. Both of
our families know this. Recently, my partner's brother and sister
(24:27):
in law passed in an accident, leaving their son, who's twelve,
and their daughter, who's nine behind. My partner's parents have
been watching them for months, but they cannot do this
full time as they are both in their seventies and
have bad health. My partner's sister has also declined adopting
the pair, as she and her husband are both paramedics
and work.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Evenings and weekends.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Naturally, they came to us next and after weeks of discussion,
my partner and I decided that we would not adopt them.
We both know that we would make terrible guardians, which
is the main reason we have decided to be child free.
My partner's family are understandably upset that nobody can take
the kids, but they will now be adopted by family
on their mother's side. This means they'll be a few
(25:10):
hours drive from all of us. It's important to note
here that my in laws have been incredibly kind during
this process, have not pressured us at all and accepted
immediately that we would not adopt them. My mother, on
the other hand, has been on my back, saying I'm
making a horrible decision and that I need to put
the needs of the kids above my own. She has
also been mentioning that my partner and I will finally
(25:32):
have kids, despite me telling her that that is absolutely
not the case. She has always resented the fact that
I'm child free and wished to remain so, and I'm
worried that she's seen the kids as a way of
becoming a grandmother. I feel terrible that we aren't adopting them,
and I certainly feel like a jerk because of it,
but it just wouldn't work out in the long run.
I need to know, am I the jerk at it?
(25:55):
Just for clarification. The kids will be going to their
second cousin's house, who they are close with. They're not
going into the system, not the jerk. The kids are
going to guardians who want them. It would be bad
for them to be with someone who resented them, even
more so if they were there because your mother wants
grand babies.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Your mother is not thinking about those kids' needs. She's thinking, Yay,
now I get grandkids, and this will make them want more.
Those kids are not going into the system. They're going
to family who are capable of raising them. You and
your partner knew that you weren't able to do the
job of raising them, and have made the right decision
for those kids. Don't let anybody tell you differently. Am
(26:36):
I the jerk for making a joke about my brother's
affair at his wedding? When I was in elementary school,
I was the type of kid who got disrupt class,
often on their report card, so I never focused much
on school. My district had this system where they would
pair high schoolers with younger kids to help them with school, etc.
And my mom made me do that after I kept
getting in trouble. So my tutor was a freshman Abby.
(27:00):
She would come to our house after school to help
me with my homework or something I barely remember. My brother,
John was the same age as Abbe, so they would
talk to each other and ended up dating. She stopped
tutoring me officially after like a month, but since she
was at our house a lot, I also talked to
Abby a lot and we were close as well. Fast
forward ten years, Abby and John got married and had
(27:21):
a kid together. Five years later, John tells me that
he's getting a divorce because he's met someone new. It
sucked because I liked John and Abbey together a lot,
but whatever. Then he tells me he had had an
affair with his new girlfriend also sucks, and I told
him he shouldn't have hurt Abbey like that, but whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I also asked Abby how.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
She was doing, and she wasn't doing well, but she
told me she didn't want her to be the reason
I have a bad relationship with my brother. However, two
months before the wedding, Abby calls me and tells me
that my brother's girlfriend has been harassing her NonStop. She
showed me the texts, and his girlfriend was saying some
pretty disturbing things about how she he's so much better
than Abby, taunting Abby for having to share custody of
(28:03):
her kid now, et cetera, just making fun of her
and bullying her. I told my brother about this, and
he said he would ask his girlfriend about it. A
month later, I asked him if he ever brought it up,
and he said he did but saw nothing wrong with
the text, which upset me. I confirmed that he saw
the same texts I saw. Abby apologized for involving me
(28:24):
in the whole thing in the first place, and encouraged
me to still go to the wedding, where my brother
asked me to make a speech. The speech went well
until I made a joke. The gist of the joke
was me turning to his new wife and telling her
that if she's learned anything from this, she should know
that my brother will never let his wife stop him
from finding the love of his life. This got my
(28:44):
brother and his wife really mad, and they kicked me
out shortly after, and my brother has been calling and
texting me non stop, yelling at me, Am I the jerk.
You know how vigilantes are technically in the wrong, but
we all cheer them on. Anyway, You're the jerk. But
High five don't want to work on our assignment. Fine,
neither do I. This happened a few years ago in college.
(29:07):
I had a class about entrepreneur projects, and that semester
was building a business on paper. Basically, we had to
figure out what the business would be about, how it
would work, and how much.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Money it would need and make.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
I did this subject in a different class so I
could have fridays free. So I didn't know anyone in
there except for one guy, let's call him Mark. So
I teamed up with Mark and three other leftover people
to be in our group. At first, things were working
like a charm since we only cared about passing the
subject and didn't care about our grades. We would each
do a part on an assignment. We had to deliver
(29:41):
assignments each Wednesday, but we still got max scores on them.
Our grade would basically be based upon all of our
deliveries plus some points on individual tests. Important info for later.
Didn't take much time for things to go downhill. I
reached a point on the project that basically we couldn't
modulate the work anymore. Five of us would need to
sit together and brainstorm about the next steps. More specifically,
(30:04):
when we reached the point of how we would earn
money with our business, either that or one person would
do everything alone. My group chose the second option, and
this would basically be happening for six weeks. On Friday,
I would send a message on our WhatsApp group, like, guys,
we have to deliver this stuff on Wednesday. When do
you want to meet Saturday? No responses. Sunday, the two
(30:27):
checks would turn blue, meaning everyone read the message no response.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Monday. I would send a follow up message no response. Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
I would work hard and deliver it alone. Wednesday, two
hours before the deadline, someone usually Mark, would send a message, Hey,
how do you guys want to do it, which I
would answer it's already done, and they would thank me
and promise to release me from doing anything on the
next assignment, which wouldn't happen, and the cycle would continue.
After five weeks, I was fed up and got in
(30:57):
contact with the teacher. Her response ons was that it
was too late to do anything now, because she couldn't
assign me to another group and she couldn't give me
special treatment. But she told me to check my grades
because most likely I already passed the subject. I looked
on it, and with my individual tests plus what I
had already delivered on the project, I got a grade
high enough to barely pass the subject. This was kind
(31:20):
of messed up, but all the individual tests and project
as well grades were public, so I saw that no
one in my group had passed. The closest one was Mark,
but he didn't deliver one of the individual tests, so
he would still need to do something to pass. I
could then in there be the bigger person and say
something like, guys, I already passed the subject. Start doing something,
(31:41):
or I won't do anything anymore. But I can be
petty sometimes. On the sixth week, I didn't do anything.
Wednesday arrived and Mark tagged me in the group, asking
if I did anything. I remained silent. Panics started arising,
group members texting me in private. I removed the blue
scene icon in my WHAT'SAE and would read the messages
(32:01):
in airplane mode so they wouldn't see me online when reading,
except for the group messages, because they would see that
I read them regardless of leaving that setting on or off,
so I didn't read them. Apparently, when you don't do
anything related to the project in five weeks, it's hard
to figure out what to do next. Deadline passes, I
go to sleep. Class was at nights at distance because
(32:22):
of lockdown wake up the next day, several name callings,
assignment not delivered, and the group threatening to report me
to the teacher. My answer was simple, teacher is already aware.
I'm not doing anyone's work other than mine. You can
all buzz off and left the group. At the end
of the semester, only Mark and I passed. They got
their crap together in the end, but not enough for
(32:44):
the other dead weights to pass. Was the sweetest. Six
grades here go from zero to ten. Six is the
bare minimum to pass. I ever got Mark never talked
to me again, but it was for the best. Support
our channel by joining as a member today and we'll
give you a shout out in our next video, or
come watch this video next. You won't believe what Karen
(33:05):
does in that one.
Hey there, mister Redder here, welcome back to another episode
of Reddit podcast Stories. Our first story we'll be reading today.
Wild Karen demands to use my wheelchair in the antique store.
After that, try to steal my legally rented parking spot.
Enjoy getting fired, And after that, am I the jerk
for interrupting my son's date asking him to pick up
(00:20):
his little sister. Now, for every thumbs up, this video
gits one. Karen does not get to take anyone's wheelchair.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
The only thing I.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Want to take is a break from being in here
with you all day, Redded boy, So please smash that
like button and subscribe and turn on notifications for new
stories from Reddit every single day. Wild Karen demands to
use my wheelchair in the antique store. Cast We've got me,
We've got nails, an old man though he doesn't speak,
(00:49):
and we've got Harriet Karen. My husband and I rent
a display space in an antique slash Co assignment store
for our collective side hustles. I quilt in crochet, my
husband sells custom die cast cars, and Diorama supplies. Every
few weeks we go in and restock our space. This
store is very large, and can be a bit of
a maze. And this store has designated rest stops throughout
(01:12):
the aisles. One is across from our space. The store
does not provide mobility aids for customers, so it is
a bring your own policy if you need a walker
or a wheelchair. I'm a wheelchair user as I'm paralyzed.
My husband and I were at this store restocking the space.
My husband had just left to take one of our
totes out to the van, leaving me in our space
(01:33):
sorting through one of my tote bags. When I hear
someone huffing behind me, I don't really pay too much
attention to it, thinking that someone might have been taking
a break at the rest stop. I was just finishing
laying out my sets on the table in our space
when the person at the rest stop decided to talk
to me. Do you know if the store has wheelchairs
for people to use? I look up from my task
(01:54):
and I see an elderly couple across from our space.
The old man is standing next to the bench looking
kind of an while the woman has flopped on the
bench and an I can't take another step kind of way.
I honestly was concerned that she might have been having
a medical issue, as she was rather plump.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Are you okay?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I ask about to tell her or her partner to
use the phone above the bench to reach the staff
desk for help. This store is too big, Harriet exclaims,
I can't walk anymore. Me. The store has a chair
for medevac use. One of the employees can bring it
out to you if you need help leaving, Harriet. But
if we're not done shopping me, I don't think they
(02:34):
have wheelchairs to borrow. They've had issues with rowdy kids
riding mobility scooters, so they don't provide them anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
But if you use the phone above you, you.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Can ask a staff member. Just dial one and it
will connect you to the staff desk. There's a sign
next to the phone that states this. Harriet seems to
be thinking about her options, so I go on about
my work. Nells wanders down the aisle, possibly looking for
an escape route. Harriet, what about the word wheelchair you're
sitting in me, This is my personal wheelchair. It doesn't
(03:04):
belong to the store.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Can I borrow it?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
What? Surely she's not asking to take my chair to
go shopping, Harriet.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I want to use the wheelchair.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You're young enough that you can stand to walk for
a bit, I'll bring it back me, ma'am. I cannot
stand at all. I've been a paraplegic since i was twelve.
This wheelchair is not store issued. It's my personal property,
and it costs a lot of money. If you call
the staff, maybe they can let you use the medical chair,
or maybe they know of one someone has in their
(03:34):
space that you can buy. But I will not give
you my chair, and I cannot help you. At this point,
I've rolled out of our space.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I decided to.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Head towards the vendor door and just leave. Rumor has
it Harriet is still sitting on the bench waiting for
someone to give her a wheelchair. Try to steal my
illegally rented parking spot, enjoy getting fired. I'm a professional
driver as such. On the roads in the US, there
are different truck stops throughout the country that has a
paid a park system, usually about ten to twenty percent
(04:05):
of the lot marked off as reserved, with each space
running from fifteen to twenty five dollars. The truck stop
where this took place had parking for seventeen dollars, which
is relatively cheap for a guaranteed spot. The spots are
reserved for twenty four hours, starting at four pm local
time and extending to three pm the following afternoon. I
knew that I would have a late night delivery, so
(04:27):
I came to the truck stop around three thirty and
paid for a reserve spot. I told a manager on
duty that I had a delivery up the road that
night and would be back once delivery was completed, but
should still be able to clear out the spot by
the next afternoon today. She told me that this was okay,
and she would mark the spot as sold when I left.
That way, if someone else comes in trying to reserve
(04:49):
that spot, she could consult her notes and deny the sale.
Eleven fifteen pm rolls around, I take off from my delivery.
I don't get out of that facility until two thirty
am the next morning. This morning, so I groggy drive
back to the truck stop to reclaim my paid for spot,
only to find that the reserved parking spaces are all full.
(05:09):
I call the manager on duty, and, after giving her
my info, inform her that all of the spots are
full and that someone has parked in a spot and
hasn't paid for it. She sends her other employee out
to start checking trucks. The culprit was from a company
that is known for their bright orange trailers, and he
was a company driver. The other employee starts banging on
(05:30):
his door to inform him that he's parked illegally and
he has to move. Meanwhile, I can see the commotion
from my mirror with my vantage point in the fuel
island where I had been instructed to temporarily park. The
driver answers the door with the bottle of Heineken in
one hand and some sort of smoking implement in another.
I know what it is, but for the sake of
the mods, I'm not going to say it. I decided
(05:52):
to roll down the window to hear the commotion, and
I hear the employee tell the driver to either move
or he will get the towing company and police involved.
This driver is flat out irate that someone had the
audacity to tell him where he can and cannot park,
so he slams the door on the employee, threatening him.
Employee calls the police and the tow company and the
police show up first. I had worked for this company before,
(06:15):
so I know their policies and more importantly, what they
can and cannot have in their trucks. Alcoholic beverages are
not allowed in the cab. Anything that isn't a cigarette
or a cigar and a lighter also not allowed. The
coup de grass a pew pew of any kind absolutely
not allowed and absolutely not loaded. This driver had all
(06:36):
of that and some other not so legal substances in
his cab, so he was hauled away in cuffs. His
truck was hauled away on a wrecker. I made a
call after the commotion, died down to the company safety
director and informed them that their rig will be in
an impound lot and their driver is going to jail
over the not so legal stuff he had in his truck.
She thanked me and said that he will definitely lose
(06:59):
his job as especially over the alcohol and the other
not so legal stuff. I guess he played the mess
around and find out card and it bit him in
his career. Am I the jerk for interrupting my son's
date so he could pick up his sister. I'm a
single father forty three to two kids, Max who's seventeen
and Liza, who's eight. I usually have Liza in after
(07:21):
school clubs so that I'm able to pick her up
after work. However, last evening I was given some work
that had me working overtime. I did try my best
to negotiate out of it, but my manager told me
that the assignment was to be completed by that night,
so I just did it. It was nearing towards six
pm and I knew I wouldn't be able to make
it to Liza, so I called Max and asked him
(07:42):
to pick her up. He responded by saying that he
couldn't because he was on a date with his girlfriend
for their six month anniversary. I told him that I understood,
but that I really needed him to get Liza and
that i'd make it up to him for interrupting. He
just angrily turned off the phone, and I thought that
while he was mad, he had just decided to go
pick her up. Thirty minutes later, I receive a call
(08:03):
from Liza's school on where I was because the school
was close to closing down and no one was there. Luckily,
one of Liza's friends' mothers said that they had drop her.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Off and it was all good.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
However, I don't really like it when Liza goes off
with that particular friend. Not because of the friend, but
because of the mother. She has this habit of asking
math questions in the car that she knows Liza is
unable to answer, and then criticizes her over it. It's
all just very mean. I called Max and asked him
where he was and told him he was in big trouble.
When he got home, he just told me that he
(08:36):
was busy and to leave him the heck alone. He
came home at around nine pm and I told him
he was grounded and that he wasn't allowed to use
the car for a good three weeks. At that he
got all mad and said that it wasn't his fault.
I was failing as a parent and unable to afford
someone to collect Liza. Just want some insight on the situation.
Was I being too harsh? And am I the jerk
(08:57):
for interrupting his date?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Edit?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
This is the third time I've asked Max to pick
up his sister in the span of a year and
a half. Some people are asking why I don't have
a nanny. Money is tight. Max and Liza's mother are
not present in their lives, and no, I do not
think of socializing myself with the parents at Liza's school.
I'm at work most times, so i haven't found time
outside of the yearly parent meetings. Please refrain from insulting
(09:22):
my son. Not the jerk you're not feeling as a parent.
You had to work over time, not out drinking or
messing around. Your son was in the wrong here for
not helping, turning the phone off and calling you out
for it. But you two need to talk about this
and discuss expectations. If you expect him to be part
of the contingency plan, you need to be crystal clear
(09:43):
on that and what happens to car privileges when he doesn't.
Dad was at work. He didn't deliberately ruin son's date.
It was an exceptional work related situation and he needed
son to step up as a family member to pick
up sister. It seems Dad does his best to let
his son be free with enrolling his daughter in all
sorts of activities to help keep her busy until he
(10:03):
finishes work. Son could have stepped up on this one.
Not the jerk, Dad, and good thing you grounded your
son for his entitled behavior. Post like this make me
feel hopeless for us as a society. As a species.
You'll get a ton of responses from people who haven't
raised kids. Many still are kids, and they haven't been
taught responsibility and family. Asking your son to help on
(10:26):
an unexpected situation is not and should not be a problem.
Your son's response is entitled and gross. Honestly, while being
disappointed at the interruption would be fine, even appropriate, hanging
up on you is disrespectful, and refusing to help is
selfish and disgusting. Like societies, families only work when everyone contributes.
(10:46):
Your son using your car is a privilege, not a rite,
and it's up to you to extend that privilege to
him or not. The hanging up on you and the
disrespectful way he spoke to you is all on its
own enough reason to at the very least suspect that privilege.
You do not have to tolerate disrespect, no matter how
upset he was. Also, financial woes do not indicate how
(11:08):
good or bad someone is at parenting, something your son
is going to be painfully aware of very soon. If
you give him money for allowance or anything else, help
him learn by suspending that privilege as well. This is
a teachable moment. Let him see there are consequences for
his choices. Please, I implore you to ignore the ridiculous
comments here that are characterizing asking for help as anything
(11:30):
other than that. You should be able to ask your
family for help, including your nearly grown son. Do not
listen to anyone who says otherwise. There's a difference between
asking for help and an unexpected pinch and forcing him
to be a regular, unpaid babysitter. Do not listen to
this BS. You're not the jerk, and I hope you
stick to your guns about your car privileges being suspended.
(11:51):
His behavior was selfish and disrespectful and he needs to
experience consequences for that. Also, inform your employer that you
have responsibilities at home to take precedence, and you require
advanced notice if any extra hours required or you won't
be available. They cannot expect you to scramble to find
childcare at the last possible moment.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You're the jerk.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Don't be surprised when your son goes no contact with you.
Hate to break it to you, but your kid is
your responsibility, not his. You can't make your son fulfill
the role that you signed up for just because it's
convenient for you. You're basically teaching him that he has
to let people walk all over him in life. Is
it okay for you to ask if he's available to
pick her up? Sure, but if he says no, you
(12:34):
need to learn to take no for an answer and
stop being a controlling jerk. No refunds once you've stepped
out of the store. Fine, I won't step out of
the store. This happens in a large store in a
European country. When you purchase something from them and for
any reason, want to return the item, their policy is
that they never give money back. They only give you
(12:55):
a voucher redeemable same day only. I went to the
store today and I pray or just quite a long
list of items I got home. My wife looks at
them and says, we don't need some of them. I
go back to the store barely twenty minutes past. The
returns manager smiles at me as I tell her I
just purchased there and I would like to return them.
She tells me that I stepped out of the store,
(13:17):
so she can't refund, only gives me a voucher and
that I must buy something else. I'd already bought everything
I needed. Then she tells me to take the products
home and keep them for the next time I would
need to buy something. Then I can come and get
the voucher and redeem it. Imagine keeping a pair of
shoes in a bowl and remember to bring them with
you the next time you happen to need something. I
(13:38):
tried to reason, but she was adamant.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Those are the rules.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You stepped out of the store, you don't get a refund.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And then it clicked.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I asked, so, if someone wants to return an item
without leaving the store, they get the money back. Yes,
you see where this is heading. Well, it's just compliance
kicks in. I asked to return the items and get
the voucher. I take the valcher, go inside the store,
find a product to exactly the same amount. I buy
it with the voucher. Right after the cashier, there's the
(14:07):
returns manager. Straight from the cashier, I go to her,
hand her that random product I just bought and say
I would like to return this. I don't want it,
and I never left the store. She's looking at me
with barely contained rage in her eyes.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I kid you not. The awkward pause.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Was getting longer, and then the manager comes along, looks
at us, and I smile at him and say I
never left the store and I would like to get
a refund for this please. He nods, silent and not
looking at me. She proceeds to refund me the money
in cash company policy.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
My mother ruined my life, so I made sure she
ruined hers as well. My mother is a textbook narcissist.
So when I, at the age of six, called my
family crying because I knew something was wrong and she
didn't love me, my mother decided to punish me for
ruining her image.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
She spun this.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Story to my family. I was a pathological liar and
I was brainwashed by her mother to ruin her life.
She effectively cut me off from my family and from
the outside world, and made sure I had no internet
or cell phone access until I moved out. She prevented
me from getting a job and tried sabotaging my efforts
to get into college.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I went through so much with her.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
When I was younger, I retaliated in immature ways, but
as I got older, I was very, very careful with
how I talked to her.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I only ever told her the truth.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Remember, she convinced herself that I was a pathological liar,
So if I tell her the truth, she will now
think whatever I said is only intended to hurt her.
If I say you should bring an umbrella today it
looks like rain, she will make a point to not
bring one to spite me and get caught in the rain.
If a friend said something similar to what I said
and was genuinely trying to help her, my mom would
(15:52):
think that person is her enemy and remove them from
her life. She only has nasty people in her life
since she's removed herself from every one who cared. Some examples,
I would tell her about her friends that were plotting
behind her back. She didn't believe me and hung out
with them even more. They put her name on the
payment for an object she doesn't have and has to
pay tens of thousands of dollars for. You can't say
(16:14):
I didn't warn her. When she had job issues, I
would tell her exactly what she was doing wrong and
why people don't like working with angry, difficult people.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
She thought I was.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Trying to hurt her, so she doubled down on her behavior.
I hear she's fighting to keep her job. Would suck
to be fired right before retirement? You can't say I
didn't warn her. She called me looking for advice. She
was basically going to fly across the country to go
stalk someone, and I told her not to do that.
He'll dislike her even more and he could call the police.
(16:44):
I got in touch with her dad and told him
to try to stop her. She went because now she
was convinced it would work. The poor guy was hiding
in his workplace while she was outside crying for him
to come outside. Can't say I didn't warn her. I
hear she's in therapy now, but it doesn't seem to
be working much. I can imagine why. It must be
a very upsetting experience to have a professional tell you
(17:06):
the same lies your pathological liar of a daughter told you.
I think this is how you get someone with kindness.
Am I the jerk for renegging on my wife and
I's agreement? I, Pete and my wife Eve have an agreement.
The agreement says that if one of us has a
complaint or suggestion that we want to voice to the
other person, we have to preface it with at least
(17:29):
two compliments. So, for instance, if I wanted to approach
my wife about leaving her dirty clothes on the floor.
I might first tell her that I liked the new
shirt she bought and that I appreciated how she did
the laundry the previous week, and then I would ask
her if she could pick her clothes up. Yesterday, Eve
was making some oatmeal chocolate chip raisin cookies, a recipe
that she makes often by stirring together an oatmeal cookie
(17:51):
box mix with chocolate chips and raisins. I really dislike raisins,
so naturally, I've never cared for this recipe, and I've
even strongly implied my dislike for them on a number
of occasions, but my wife never seems to get the hint.
So yesterday, while Eve was getting out the ingredients to
make the cookies, I started with two compliments. I said
that it was a nice gesture for her to make
(18:12):
cookies for the family, and that I liked how she
cooked them for the perfect amount of time so that
they weren't too hard or too doughy. I then told
her that I didn't care for the raisins and that
I would appreciate if she made a few cookies without them.
Since the raisins aren't already mixed in, Eve adds them
and the chocolate chips to the box mix. My wife nodded,
so I thought that meant she was saying yes. Later,
(18:33):
she announced that the cookies were ready to eat, so
I came over and asked which ones didn't have raisins.
With a confused expression on her face, she asked me
what I meant.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I reminded her of.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Our conversation earlier. Eve replied that since I had given
her two compliments on the cookies but only one complaint,
she thought I enjoyed her raisin cookies more than I
disliked them, so she continued with the original recipe. She said,
they couldn't be that bad if two thirds of my
comments about them were positive. I was at a loss,
so I just sat down. I wanted to say something,
(19:03):
but I didn't know how to articulate my thoughts. Finally,
I decided to just go for it Eve, I began,
but before I could continue, Eve interrupted in a warning tone.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Careful, Pete, remember our agreement. At that point, I lost it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I stood up abruptly and told her I couldn't pretend anymore,
and that eating the raisin cookies like this was unbearable,
and that my feelings about the cookies were pretty much
all negative. I didn't preface that comment with two positives,
so I broke our agreement here.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
At first I thought I was justified.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But I talked to my friends who told me that
my wife doesn't owe me cookies and I should just
be grateful she made me cookies at all, and I
shouldn't have broken the agreement. Eve is still mad at me,
So am I the jerk for breaking the agreement. If
your agreement doesn't lead to clear communication and resolution, it's
a bunk agreement. Your wife is weaponizing your agreement to
(19:56):
essentially shut you up. Forced compliments aren't compliments. Yeah, this
two compliments thing is a terrible idea. Those compliments would
mean nothing to me if I knew they were forced
just so that my husband could criticize something. It's way
healthier to just compliment when you like something and have
an honest discussion when something is bothering you. In this case,
(20:17):
I think they're both being ridiculous making this big of
a deal about some cookies. It's super easy to make
a couple of cookies without the raisins. Just scoop a
few out and add raisins later.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
But it's also.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Ridiculous to expect your wife to cater to your tastes
when you've hinted at wanting them a different way, and
not just outright asked for a few cookies to be
made without raisins. Holy cal The communication in this relationship
is abysmal and what messed up world? Are you not
allowed to share that you dislike raisins without offering too
essentially unrelated complimentary preambles.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
This is so odd.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Maybe well intentioned to form more positive exchanges, but this
feels really extreme and counterproductive to me.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Not that jerk.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Your wife failed to uphold her part of the agreement
you'd made. Depending on your dynamic here, you're both kind
of dumb or she's manipulative. Think about it this way.
You're not allowed to voice a complaint unless it's prefaced
by two compliments. But if you preface a complaint with
two compliments, she then assumes the complaints don't imply magic
no complaints are ever made. I suggest you get to
(21:20):
therapy to get some intense guidance on how to actually
communicate in a partnership. Am I the jerk for telling
my brother in law to prioritize his family over a Rolex.
I'm thirty five. My brother in law, who's thirty seven,
is known for impulsively spending frivolously on things for himself
and does not have the money for, most recently a pizza, oven,
(21:41):
paddle board, and other costly non essentials. He very much
tries to keep up with the Jones as well. Anything
he gets is because he saw someone else by it,
because it's trending. He's up to his eyeballs in debt,
not making money at his commission job, and currently fighting
for his sobriety against a decade long addiction that he's
successfully hid from his wife until a few years ago.
(22:03):
I honestly believe his brain is stuck with impulsiveness, but
he swears he doesn't need rehab or therapy to fix
his issues. He has a nice truck with a six
hundred dollars a month payment that his wife, my sister,
who's thirty six, makes the payments on. Meanwhile, she drives
herself and their baby around in the same car she's
had since high school. That's not a good car and
(22:24):
it doesn't even fit today's safety standards. Brother in law
hits me up about wanting to buy a Rolex and
wanted some advice about buying one. I sold them for
a long time. At that point, I carefully worded my
response and advised that luxury watches are for people who
can afford them after everything else is taken care of,
and he needs to prioritize his family before buying one.
(22:46):
I also mentioned that, in my experience that people who
can truly afford a Rolex could also flush the cost
of one down the toilet and not be impacted even slightly,
and that we aren't in that economic class of people.
I've seen people over extend themselves on the watches just
to be able to flex, and that's exactly what he's doing.
I perhaps went too far by saying if he has
(23:06):
money for a Rolex, then he has money to put
his wife and baby in his safer car that was
built in this century. He got upset because I didn't
tell him what he wanted to hear, but I meant
what I said, and there is no one else there
to save him from himself. His wife is trying to
be very supportive of him and his recovery and usually
goes along with his impulse buys because it reduces their
(23:27):
fighting and the money isn't going towards something bad. It's
not my business, but I worry for my little nephew,
and considerably less my sister who enables him. I'll accept
the jerk designation if I crossed the line.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Here, not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
You're doing absolutely the right thing, and here's why. My
late husband had exactly the same tendency towards reckless spending,
and also had an alcohol problem and other addictions. He
sadly passed away in his fifties, and it was only
afterwards that I fully realized that his reckless spending and
the other addictive behaviors are all linked and can be
symptoms of depression and anxiety. They were all giving him
(24:04):
the temporary hit that he needed to feel better in
that moment, but then made him feel even more depressed afterwards.
Your brother in law might need some help with the
same issues. My mother is demanding I adopt my niece
and nephew. Myself, twenty six and my partner thirty two,
are child free and wish to remain so. Both of
our families know this. Recently, my partner's brother and sister
(24:27):
in law passed in an accident, leaving their son, who's twelve,
and their daughter, who's nine behind. My partner's parents have
been watching them for months, but they cannot do this
full time as they are both in their seventies and
have bad health. My partner's sister has also declined adopting
the pair, as she and her husband are both paramedics
and work.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Evenings and weekends.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Naturally, they came to us next and after weeks of discussion,
my partner and I decided that we would not adopt them.
We both know that we would make terrible guardians, which
is the main reason we have decided to be child free.
My partner's family are understandably upset that nobody can take
the kids, but they will now be adopted by family
on their mother's side. This means they'll be a few
(25:10):
hours drive from all of us. It's important to note
here that my in laws have been incredibly kind during
this process, have not pressured us at all and accepted
immediately that we would not adopt them. My mother, on
the other hand, has been on my back, saying I'm
making a horrible decision and that I need to put
the needs of the kids above my own. She has
also been mentioning that my partner and I will finally
(25:32):
have kids, despite me telling her that that is absolutely
not the case. She has always resented the fact that
I'm child free and wished to remain so, and I'm
worried that she's seen the kids as a way of
becoming a grandmother. I feel terrible that we aren't adopting them,
and I certainly feel like a jerk because of it,
but it just wouldn't work out in the long run.
I need to know, am I the jerk at it?
(25:55):
Just for clarification. The kids will be going to their
second cousin's house, who they are close with. They're not
going into the system, not the jerk. The kids are
going to guardians who want them. It would be bad
for them to be with someone who resented them, even
more so if they were there because your mother wants
grand babies.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Your mother is not thinking about those kids' needs. She's thinking, Yay,
now I get grandkids, and this will make them want more.
Those kids are not going into the system. They're going
to family who are capable of raising them. You and
your partner knew that you weren't able to do the
job of raising them, and have made the right decision
for those kids. Don't let anybody tell you differently. Am
(26:36):
I the jerk for making a joke about my brother's
affair at his wedding? When I was in elementary school,
I was the type of kid who got disrupt class,
often on their report card, so I never focused much
on school. My district had this system where they would
pair high schoolers with younger kids to help them with school, etc.
And my mom made me do that after I kept
getting in trouble. So my tutor was a freshman Abby.
(27:00):
She would come to our house after school to help
me with my homework or something I barely remember. My brother,
John was the same age as Abbe, so they would
talk to each other and ended up dating. She stopped
tutoring me officially after like a month, but since she
was at our house a lot, I also talked to
Abby a lot and we were close as well. Fast
forward ten years, Abby and John got married and had
(27:21):
a kid together. Five years later, John tells me that
he's getting a divorce because he's met someone new. It
sucked because I liked John and Abbey together a lot,
but whatever. Then he tells me he had had an
affair with his new girlfriend also sucks, and I told
him he shouldn't have hurt Abbey like that, but whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I also asked Abby how.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
She was doing, and she wasn't doing well, but she
told me she didn't want her to be the reason
I have a bad relationship with my brother. However, two
months before the wedding, Abby calls me and tells me
that my brother's girlfriend has been harassing her NonStop. She
showed me the texts, and his girlfriend was saying some
pretty disturbing things about how she he's so much better
than Abby, taunting Abby for having to share custody of
(28:03):
her kid now, et cetera, just making fun of her
and bullying her. I told my brother about this, and
he said he would ask his girlfriend about it. A
month later, I asked him if he ever brought it up,
and he said he did but saw nothing wrong with
the text, which upset me. I confirmed that he saw
the same texts I saw. Abby apologized for involving me
(28:24):
in the whole thing in the first place, and encouraged
me to still go to the wedding, where my brother
asked me to make a speech. The speech went well
until I made a joke. The gist of the joke
was me turning to his new wife and telling her
that if she's learned anything from this, she should know
that my brother will never let his wife stop him
from finding the love of his life. This got my
(28:44):
brother and his wife really mad, and they kicked me
out shortly after, and my brother has been calling and
texting me non stop, yelling at me, Am I the jerk.
You know how vigilantes are technically in the wrong, but
we all cheer them on. Anyway, You're the jerk. But
High five don't want to work on our assignment. Fine,
neither do I. This happened a few years ago in college.
(29:07):
I had a class about entrepreneur projects, and that semester
was building a business on paper. Basically, we had to
figure out what the business would be about, how it
would work, and how much.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Money it would need and make.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
I did this subject in a different class so I
could have fridays free. So I didn't know anyone in
there except for one guy, let's call him Mark. So
I teamed up with Mark and three other leftover people
to be in our group. At first, things were working
like a charm since we only cared about passing the
subject and didn't care about our grades. We would each
do a part on an assignment. We had to deliver
(29:41):
assignments each Wednesday, but we still got max scores on them.
Our grade would basically be based upon all of our
deliveries plus some points on individual tests. Important info for later.
Didn't take much time for things to go downhill. I
reached a point on the project that basically we couldn't
modulate the work anymore. Five of us would need to
sit together and brainstorm about the next steps. More specifically,
(30:04):
when we reached the point of how we would earn
money with our business, either that or one person would
do everything alone. My group chose the second option, and
this would basically be happening for six weeks. On Friday,
I would send a message on our WhatsApp group, like, guys,
we have to deliver this stuff on Wednesday. When do
you want to meet Saturday? No responses. Sunday, the two
(30:27):
checks would turn blue, meaning everyone read the message no response.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Monday. I would send a follow up message no response. Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
I would work hard and deliver it alone. Wednesday, two
hours before the deadline, someone usually Mark, would send a message, Hey,
how do you guys want to do it, which I
would answer it's already done, and they would thank me
and promise to release me from doing anything on the
next assignment, which wouldn't happen, and the cycle would continue.
After five weeks, I was fed up and got in
(30:57):
contact with the teacher. Her response ons was that it
was too late to do anything now, because she couldn't
assign me to another group and she couldn't give me
special treatment. But she told me to check my grades
because most likely I already passed the subject. I looked
on it, and with my individual tests plus what I
had already delivered on the project, I got a grade
high enough to barely pass the subject. This was kind
(31:20):
of messed up, but all the individual tests and project
as well grades were public, so I saw that no
one in my group had passed. The closest one was Mark,
but he didn't deliver one of the individual tests, so
he would still need to do something to pass. I
could then in there be the bigger person and say
something like, guys, I already passed the subject. Start doing something,
(31:41):
or I won't do anything anymore. But I can be
petty sometimes. On the sixth week, I didn't do anything.
Wednesday arrived and Mark tagged me in the group, asking
if I did anything. I remained silent. Panics started arising,
group members texting me in private. I removed the blue
scene icon in my WHAT'SAE and would read the messages
(32:01):
in airplane mode so they wouldn't see me online when reading,
except for the group messages, because they would see that
I read them regardless of leaving that setting on or off,
so I didn't read them. Apparently, when you don't do
anything related to the project in five weeks, it's hard
to figure out what to do next. Deadline passes, I
go to sleep. Class was at nights at distance because
(32:22):
of lockdown wake up the next day, several name callings,
assignment not delivered, and the group threatening to report me
to the teacher. My answer was simple, teacher is already aware.
I'm not doing anyone's work other than mine. You can
all buzz off and left the group. At the end
of the semester, only Mark and I passed. They got
their crap together in the end, but not enough for
(32:44):
the other dead weights to pass. Was the sweetest. Six
grades here go from zero to ten. Six is the
bare minimum to pass. I ever got Mark never talked
to me again, but it was for the best. Support
our channel by joining as a member today and we'll
give you a shout out in our next video, or
come watch this video next. You won't believe what Karen
(33:05):
does in that one.
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