December 24, 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):
Yeah, I divorced you, but you should still babysit my
kids for me, all five of them.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah that's good, Karen, you're good at that. You know that.
That's not the only thing.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm good advtted, but bound check around.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Let's not get carried away. Now. Our first story will
be reading today.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
My Karen, ex wife demands I babysit for her while
her husband is in the hospital. Things are complicated, but
I'll try to sum it up for you. I thirty
four male, met my ex wife seven years ago. We
dated for one year and were married for two before
we divorced. When we met, she already had two kids
from her previous relationship, Patrick who's thirteen, and Luna, who's ten.
(00:43):
We have one son together, Tony, who's five.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
My own relationship with her kids was good, but they
never treated me like their dad or something like that,
because their dad was involved in their life. Although my
wife had primary custody, we all understood I was a
stepdad and we were fine with it.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
My relationship with.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
My ex wife was good and I thought very loving,
although after our divorce I realized that she used to
talk a lot about her ex husband, comparing the two
of us and stuff like that, which is definitely weird,
but I didn't notice it at the time. Well, turns
out that she really couldn't forget her ex and she
ended up cheating with them. This was very hard to
process when I found out thanks to one of her friends,
(01:22):
and our divorce was not easy. When her family found
out about her infidelity, they got very angry at her
and went no contact with her. All of this happened
four years ago. Ever since, her and her husband had
two more babies together, one who's three and the other
is a few months old. Her husband got diagnosed with
cancer around November of last year. Even after everything they
(01:42):
did to me, I still feel sorry for them and
their kids. It's a sad situation which makes me think
I'm a jerk. My ex and I have shared custody
with our son, but ever since her husband got sick,
my son has been staying with me more days as
sometimes my ex's husband has to stay at the hospital
and my ex has to help him.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I'm okay with this, of course.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
However, my ex asked me if I can start taking
all of her kids home with me when I pick
my son up. In these kinds of emergencies. I told
her that I don't want to do that, and instead
she should ask a friend to take care of them
or try to pay a babysitter.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I pay good childcare, and I.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Know they're not spending all that money on my son
at the moment because he's mostly with me. I think
it'll be enough to pay for a couple of hours.
She told me her friends don't want to help her anymore,
and her family still doesn't talk to her. I told
them they need to figure out a solution. I will
only help take care of my son. I feel like
a jerk to be honest, like I'm being too petty.
I meant child support, not the jerk. Sounds like your
(02:39):
ex has burned a bunch of bridges and is trying
to make you her lifeline because you share a kid.
The whole situation is unfortunate, but it isn't your responsibility
to help her. You're right about her being able to
use the money you pay for child support to pay
for care for her other kids, but even without that,
it would still not be your responsibility. You sound like
a caring person, and she knows how to make you
(02:59):
feel guilty, but it's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
For you to refuse to help.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Why should you feel like a jerk when you don't
want to take care of five kids aged zero to
thirteen instead of just one.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
That's a big responsibility. Not the jerk. Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Your ex is cheated with her ex X, gets sick
and wants you to take care of her kids with X.
That is completely disrespectful to you. Take care of your kid.
In fact, get full custody and tell her to buzz off.
Am I the jerk for making my wife cry because
she threw my birthday party wrong? My wife is a
lovely person whom I love very much, and we have
(03:35):
a strong relationship. She is, however, agreed by all parties,
very emotional and prone to tears. That's fine. I knew
what I was signing up for. It's just relevant context. Recently,
I had a birthday. My wife asked what I wanted
to do for it. I said that I would really
like to just have a quiet day mostly at home,
wake up late, have coffee, play some video games, and
(03:57):
the two of us could go for dinner. If we
needed to do anything else, we could get a massage.
She tends to prefer parties and big events while I
like to relax. If she just got dinner reservation somewhere
low key and maybe even wore something nice, that would
be perfect. I wouldn't want anything else. That can be
hard for her to understand, I think, because it's so
different from her preferences. So she set up a big party.
(04:20):
She told me the morning of that she had invited
some people over to celebrate. I said, oh, okay, that's
not what I was expecting.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Who's coming.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I think she could tell that I was a little disappointed,
because she started to get kind of defensive, saying, it's
just a few of our friends and they want to
be with me on my birthday, et cetera. And that's fine,
it's not a big deal. It isn't like I hate
parties or our friends. So I said, okay, and we
went about the day. Some friends and a couple of
family members started arriving around noon, and people stayed until
about six pm.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It was nice to see.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
People, no major issues, just not what I would have
chosen for a big day off type of thing. I
tend to like to relax and re energize on weekends
and find out events like that when I'm in the
center of attention very draining. My wife seemed a little
on edge, though, and that night, while we were cleaning up,
she asked how my birthday was.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I said it was.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Pretty good, with a little bit of a shrug. Admittedly
that wasn't the best thing to say, but I don't
like to be dishonest. It was fine, but not spectacular.
She got really upset and burst into tears, telling me
she had worked hard on it and it's so challenging
when I won't participate or tell her what I want.
I said that it's okay, it's not a big deal
or worth being so upset over, and I appreciated the
(05:32):
effort she went to and it was nice to see people,
but I felt like I had been pretty clear about
what my preference would have been, and it seemed like
she didn't listen to me. That made her even more upset,
and she said she couldn't believe she did so much
for me, and instead of thanking her, I made her
cry I had thanked her earlier. The conversation didn't make
much progress from there that night, but it still feels
(05:52):
like a sore spot for us. She's been annoyed with
me the past few days for ruining my birthday. I
don't want to be ungrateful, but don't really feel like
I should be apologizing here.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Am I just being stubborn? Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
You did clearly say what you wanted. She did not listen.
You weren't nasty about it either, just sincere. I hate
it when people want to be praised for something that
was unasked for. I think you have nothing to apologize for,
not the jerk. Your wife made your birthday about her.
You told her clearly what you wanted, she chose to
do what she wanted, then she was upset because you
(06:26):
didn't like it. She sounds exhausting as someone who cries easily.
I hate it when people say anytime a woman cries,
she's being manipulative. That being said, your wife sounds extremely manipulative. First,
you did tell her what you wanted and a lot
of detail. Second, you didn't make her cry. She did
that on her own. If the issue is truly that
she cries easily, she should be mature enough to not
(06:48):
blame others for that. Third, she's the one who made
the mistake, but you're the one getting punished. Yeah, she
can get out of here with that mess.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Not the jerk?
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Am I the jerk for helping my niece pay for
her dream degree against her parents' wishes. I'm forty eight male.
My niece, Ella, who's seventeen, will soon be in her
senior year and plans to study history and university. She's
a good student and should definitely get in her safety
school at least. My sister and brother in law, both
forty six, are not happy with her choice. They want
(07:19):
her to get a degree that will lead to a
good job opportunity, like science or engineering. I make mid
to high six figures and I'm a single father, widower
to one daughter who's fifteen. I also am a big
believer of doing what you love because life is short.
I told Ella that if she can't get a scholarship,
I'll provide her with financial aid during university and she
(07:39):
can pay me back whenever. She's now working on her
early admissions and is doing volunteer work while cutting her
usual summer job hours at the local amusement park in half.
My niece's parents called me a huge jerk for doing this.
They said, I don't understand their struggle. My brother in
law studied liberal arts and works in HR for a
medium sized company, and my sister has an associate's degree
(08:00):
and is currently a manager at a chain restaurant. They're
doing okay, but they're not comfortable.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
They said.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
The only reason I get to throw my money around
is because I'm an engineer and my late wife was
a pharmacist. We got useful degrees that helped us get
ahead in life. They said, if I thought a degree
that won't make money is so great, maybe I should
pull my daughter out of the gifted science program she's
in at her school. I told them I know plenty
of people who studied various different degrees that are successful,
(08:27):
but they said the successful ones are far in between.
They also said they don't want Ella to set a
bad example for her brother, Ben, who's fourteen, who expressed
interest in being a veterinarian. I told them I'll support
Ella's decision no matter what, and if she's doing what
makes her happy, that shouldn't be a bad example, and
Ben is too young to settle his mind on anything.
I then threw them out of my house. Still, I
(08:49):
wonder if I'm the jerk here at it. I only
said for her to pay me back, only to make
sure she doesn't waste her opportunities. I intend to make
a gift of it upon her graduation. Not Your niece's
parents are understandably concerned about her future. However, they are
using their life experiences to try to force your niece
onto a path they wish they had taken. But it's
(09:10):
a path she doesn't want to take. Her dreams are important.
It's extremely generous of you to do what you're doing.
Stick to your guns, not the jerk. Your brother and
sister need to stop blaming their degree choices on their
careers and earnings. I did an English degree and now
in my thirties currently earn fifty thousand, which in the
UK is not bad at all. The history degree would
(09:32):
not be at all useless. She will gain a lot
of skills from this, and the fact that she's already
working so hard towards this strongly suggests she could be
one of the successful graduates.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I can't shake the thought that they're counting on a
successful daughter to provide their retirements. And if the Sun
can be dissuaded from becoming a DVM because his sister
majored in history, he hasn't got the commitment needed to
get through VET school.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, who do you think is the jerk? Op?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Or is niece's parents? Please let us know there's nothing
wrong with useless college degrees. Some of the best barristas.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I've ever known have them.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Karen, Do you realize how many people you're gonna upset
by joking like that?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Who said I was joking? Reddit Boy?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Am I the jerk for telling a vegan he could
have a cookie? Not too long ago, my coworker friend
made cookies, but she had to work off site that
day and asked me to distribute them to our friend group.
I thirty two female, had the cookies sitting on my
desk when one of our friends popped in to say hi.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
He's sixty plus.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Male asked what the cookies were for, and I explained
so and so had made them and that I was
planning on passing them out at lunch. This particular friend
eats mostly a vegan diet due to health issues, but
semi regularly eats milk, chocolate, chili, peppers, and fish sauce,
and several other questionably vegan items. He also cheats when
he travels abroad because many cultures don't understand the restrictions
(10:50):
of his diet anyway. He asked me if he would
be allowed to have a cookie, to which I immediately
said sure. He ate the cookie and said it was good.
The next day, the friend who made the cookies asked
how they went over. I said everyone liked them and
listed the people who had one. She was surprised that
our vegan friend had one, but I told her that
he's flexible with occasional treats. Later, she joked to him
(11:12):
that she was disillusioned about his diet and realized she
didn't have to worry so much about making things he'd
be able to eat. He then turned around and scolded me, saying,
I asked you if they were vegan. I responded with,
you absolutely did not. He said that by asking if
they were something he could have, he was obviously asking
if they were made with animal products. I told him
(11:33):
that I answered the question as he asked it, and
it never occurred to me that he wanted to know
about the ingredients. He acted like I was being deliberately obtuse,
and so I told him that his diet is not
my responsibility and that he needs to directly ask and
not assume that people will guess. He was upset with me,
and I ended up getting mad at him and refused
to apologize. So am I the jerk edit for infall?
(11:55):
It honestly didn't occur to me that that's what he
was asking. I wasn't trying to be pedantic. Maybe yeah,
I was naive. I know that he's flexible because I
have previously gifted him a box of chocolate that I
know he likes that contains.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Milk, and he ate them. I guess I could.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Try to be more considerate in the future, but to
be honest, having to guess people's meaning is a pet
peeve of mine. Just tell me what you want. I'm
not a mind reader.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Standard cookies are made with butter and eggs. He should
be an adult and take responsibility for his diet. And
the way he asked is absolutely how you interpreted it.
He was deflecting because he got called out by the
other coworker.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Who made them. Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Am I allowed to have one? And this case comes
across as the cookies weren't intended for me, but I
would like one anyway. Your friend worded his question poorly,
and while his cheets are his own business, they do
create a scenario orre you could reasonably expect that he's
not worried if the cookies are vegan. He needs to
be responsible for his own diet and his own poor
choice of words in this scenario. Oh look, a vegan
(12:54):
whose brain doesn't work right. What a surprise. Oh you're
on a roll today, aren't you. We're probably gonna lose
some vegan subscribers for that, right, Well, maybe we'll gain
some non vegan subscribers and even things out.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You are so rude?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Am I the jerk for wanting a separate Christmas without
my sister's kids? I male, twenty eight, have several siblings
all about my age. Only my youngest sister, who's female
twenty five, has kids, of which she has five of
I see nothing wrong with my sister wanting to be
a mom, and I love my nieces and nephews, but
I can't be around them much. I have a medical
condition that can cause seizures when I'm overstimulated and generally
(13:31):
messes me up. If I can't leave to decompress. When
we visit our parents for the holidays, I'll hang out
with my other siblings and their spouses. Then, when my
sister shows up with her husband. I'll greet them, visit
for a minute, then put in my headphones and go
somewhere else when noise picks up. If it was a
normal level of chaos, it might even be okay. I'm
pretty fine with the adults laughing and talking, but she'll
(13:52):
bring loud toys, turn on cocoa melon, and let the
kids run wild. I can't handle it for too long
without having to bail, and asking for things to be
quieter is usually met with a ha. Try living with
this not very productive. It sucks getting to visit with
my family for maybe two hours and then basically having
to leave the party. I've tried catching up with people
(14:13):
away from the group, but my sister takes it personally
and keeps asking why I don't want to talk to
her and her husband. She knows about the seizures. I
just think something isn't clicking in her brain, even though
I keep explaining why I can't stick around. Last year,
we had bad weather and my sister couldn't drive from
out of state to come to the Christmas party. Most
of us were already at our parents' place when she texted,
(14:33):
so we just had the party anyway, and planned to
follow up for them in a couple of weeks. It
ended up being a blast. I actually got to stay
for the whole thing. I didn't mind a bit that
I had to hang out in the kitchen for most
of the second party. I got the fun out of
my system and was just happy to see my sister
and meet her new baby. When my sister found out
that we basically did Christmas without her, she was understandably upset.
(14:56):
She and her kids still had presents to open and
we had a nice lunch, but there wasn't the same
adult party she had hoped she could join. Granted, her
joining the adults was her unleashing her kids and getting
tipsy while our parents struggle to keep them from destroying
their house.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But I get it.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Getting left out sucks. That being said, I loved having
two parties, and I asked my dad about doing this
every year. While he also enjoyed our party, we both
agreed that splitting up Christmas would really upset my sister.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Living out of state.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
With that many kids, it's basically impossible for her to
do both parties. We tried to think of other options,
but most of us spend New Year with our spouses,
and my sister would be furious if she found out
we didn't invite her to a non holiday family party.
I just don't think it's fair that I practically have
to skip Christmas half the time because she has so
many rowdy kids.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So read it.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Am I the jerk for wanting a separate party? Is
there another solution I'm not seeing?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
If she wants to be included, her kids shouldn't be
destroying the house and making work for everyone else. If
that's not possible, do the two parties till her kids
are old enough to learn manners follow rules.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Absolutely, not the jerk. This might be a.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Dreadful suggestion, but has your sister ever actually witnessed a seizure?
It might be worth engineering one when she's around so
she can see how awful they are. I have similar
health issues. Miltdown's also a really dodgy gut, and my
brother and his wife honestly didn't realize just how bad
they were until they saw both firsthand. It made them
a lot more accommodating. However, I realize it's an extreme suggestion,
(16:27):
and you may need to enroll the rest of your
family to support you, op I think if it were
possible for her to see one in private, it might
convince her that they are a real problem. But her
kids are at an age where I think it would
be terrifying for them to see if their uncle just
dropped and started short circuiting. I'm worried it would be pandemonium.
Maybe if things get to an extreme, it might be
(16:47):
something to consider, but I'd like to avoid it if
I can. Am I the jerk for refusing to give
up my neo pet's account to my niece? Okay, so
I'm upset and confused, and I told my sister and
brother in law I would post here to settle this
argument so they will be seen in reading this. For
those who don't know, neopets is a virtual pet game
site that was really popular around the late nineties and
(17:08):
early two thousands. It kind of died a bit for
a while, but has recently started to get popular again.
I've been playing it for years. My account is eighteen
years old, and it has the stats to reflect that pets, avatars, stamps,
gallery trophies, et cetera. If you don't play, it may
not mean a lot, and not to brag, but I
have a rather impressive account due to the fact that
(17:28):
I've been playing it for so long. I'm thirty four female,
have no kids, not child free, just don't have any.
My sister thirty two female and brother in law thirty
four male, have a daughter who's eleven, who's been very
sickly all of her life. I'll not go into exactly
what's wrong with her, but she's been in and out
of hospitals a lot in her young life, and it
recently had to go back in again for a few weeks.
(17:51):
I recently learned that she's been playing Neopets for a
few months to help pass the time when she's not
feeling well. She's really gotten into it, and from what
my sister says, talks about it a lot. She was
excited to learn I also play, and we talked about it.
When I visited her, I looked up her account and
gifted her a bunch of stuff, expensive stuff that would
be hard for a newer account to get in game
(18:12):
stuff using in game money, which can be kind of
hard to earn in large amounts. Anyway, long story short,
she asked how I can afford the stuff I sent her.
It was worth millions of points and how I have
all the stuff that my account has. I explained to
her that I had been playing for eighteen years, did
every plot and event, et cetera. Well, apparently she got
upset at the huge difference between our two accounts and
(18:34):
asked for more stuff. When I told her no, she
started crying to my sister and brother.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
In law about it.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
My brother in law came over and asked if I
could gift my account to my niece for her upcoming birthday,
which she has to spend in the hospital. Said it
would mean the world to her. I said no, I've
had this account since before she was born, before we
even met my brother in law. I don't want to
get rid of it. I still play on it literally
every day. Well, he got mad and tried guilt tripping me.
(19:01):
I'm an adult and she's a kid, and it would
make her happy and a rough time in her life.
I'm happy to help her learn the tricks and trades
of the game, but I'm not giving away my account.
He tried to buy it off me, but I still
said no. Now he's super upset and got my sister
and my parents on their side. I'm being hounded every
day for this and being called a jerk because it's
(19:21):
all my niece will talk about and she really wants it.
I feel bad because she's just a kid in the hospital,
and guilty for not giving it to her. I offered
to send a bunch of stuff to her account again,
but she wants my stats too, so that she's not
treated like a newbie who doesn't know anything by other
players too. I feel guilty for this, but I want
to keep my account.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Am I the jerk?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
You've been playing for eighteen years. It obviously means a
lot to you. I'm sorry for your sister and brother
in law that their kid is sick, but what a
bunch of entitled jerks to insist you just give these
eighteen years of your life up for your niece. Her
parents are obviously used to giving in to her every whim.
They should start parenting and teach her that the world
doesn't revolve around her. Not the jerk, and please don't
(20:06):
give her your account. She should learn to work for
something instead of having it handed over because she wants it.
Am I the jerk for babysitting my friend's kid and
refusing to leave when his girlfriend asked me to so
I twenty two female, have a friend, twenty five male,
who asked me to look after his son, who's four,
for a couple of hours. He said he'd pay me
ten euros an hour, so I accept it. While babysitting
(20:29):
his son, his girlfriend, who's twenty five, came over and
was surprised to see me there. She asked what I
was doing here, and I told her that I was
here to watch his son. She then asked if it
was like a last minute thing because his mother canceled.
I said no, he asked me about a week ago,
but I don't know if he previously asked his mom.
She said that's impossible because not even two days ago
(20:50):
he told her that the mother would be watching his son.
So I was like, well, the only thing I know
is that he asked me to babysit, said he'd pay me,
so I accepted. She got me and asked if there
was something between him and I. I denied, repeated that
I'm only here to babysit and that's it. She said
that since I knew he was in a relationship, I
should have declined, so I said, listen, I'm sorry he
(21:13):
lied to you, but I'm only here to get paid.
She said that nobody accepts to look over someone else's
kid only to get paid. I said, hum, yes, people
who want to get paid do. She said that I
was playing with her, that if I was respectful of
their relationship, i'd leave.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I refused.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I told her, if she's so mad, then she should
call her boyfriend and demand an explanation, but I was
staying here to do what I was paid to do.
She left and I didn't hear from her again until recently.
She texted me saying that I would never babysit for
her boyfriend again and that he agreed with her on it.
I didn't reply because I really don't care. I'm not
even that close to the guy, and like I said,
(21:51):
I only wanted to get paid.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I was paid and that's it.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
But when I talked about it to my mom and sister,
they said that I should have left. When she asked
me to to have any drama between them, I said,
that's not my problem. I was asked to watch over
his son, and I accepted if her boyfriend decided to
lie to her.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
About it, it was not my fault.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
But now I'm not really sure and I just want
to know am I the jerk for babysitting my friend's
son and refusing to leave When his girlfriend asked me
to edit? I texted him about what she sent me
to make sure he knew. I'm currently waiting on an
answer edit. He saw it, but he didn't reply. I
tried another text, but I doubt it'll work either, so
I guess that's it. I saw that it made a
(22:32):
few people confused. She's not the mother, she's just his girlfriend.
It won't let me post an update, but long story short.
He apologized for what happened with his girlfriend, said he
lied because he knew she would have been jealous. He
confirmed he knew about the text and did agree with it.
I said, okay, told him to lose my number and
that his girlfriend should do the same.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I hung up, and that was it. Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Imagine being so insecure in your relationship that you deny
the existence of babysitters. Not the jerk, and I would
not have left either. You were asked to be in
charge of his son's safety and well being. That doesn't
get passed off to some random girlfriend because she demands it.
Your responsibility to the kid ends when the parent takes
back the responsibility.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Am I the.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Jerk for arguing with my husband's doctor and acting like
a Karen. My husband has a sore foot, no injury
or medical condition that would explain the pain, but he
hasn't been able to walk properly for about a week.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Being the absolute pain in.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
My butt that he is, He's refused to go to
the doctor until today. Apparently he preferred to just complain
to me. It's gotten progressively more swollen looking, and today
it's turned a funny color and he can't put any
weight on it. So I called our GP, who has
sent him to the walk in clinic at our local hospital.
We finally get seen and the doctor refused to even
(23:48):
examine it, told him without even looking at the foot,
that it was just a sprain and he wasn't going
to prescribe him any painkillers, so not to ask. Then
he started demonstrating some kind of exercises that in going
up and down on tiptoes and flexing the toes.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I asked if he would please just look at.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It, because it's nearly gone black in some spots and
look similar to how my wrist looked when I broke
it a few years ago. He huffed at me and
asked where my medical degree was from. I demanded to
see another doctor or his senior I was the jerk
here because it wasn't me being treated, so I get
that he thought I was pushy. Husband would have accepted
the doctor's instructions without any questions about actually needing to
(24:28):
be examined. Doctor left and we heard him outside the
cubicle telling the senior doctor that they have a confrontational
spouse who thinks her webmdsearching qualifies her to instruct real
doctors on how to practice medicine. He also states that
he suspects my husband of exaggeration to get meds. By
the time the other doctor arrives, I'm seething and I
(24:49):
lay out exactly what went on and explained I only
want someone to look at the foot before sending us away.
He looks QX rays and MRI, the good painkillers and
a walking boot cast thing with potential to need surgery
because he's got seven stress fractures in that foot, probably
from running, admittedly worse than they needed to be because
(25:10):
he didn't get any treatment when it first started to hurt.
Second doctor and someone from the hospital admin came and
apologized for the first doctor and asked if we want
to make a formal complaint. So I did, because the
outcome of his not listening to the patient or family
could have been worse. Husband did not. Husband said later
that the first doctor may get sacked because of me complaining,
(25:32):
and I should have just left it because no real
harm was done. Was I the jerk for complaining? I
don't usually have Karen tendencies, but he was just so
patronizing and dismissive, and I kept thinking, what if it
was a young mother with a sick baby and he
dismissed it. Not everyone would stand their ground and there
could be serious consequences. Edit. Thank you for all the
comments and awards. I did not expect this to go
(25:54):
as mental as it did. I've shown Hobby the post
and he's starting to realize how serious it could have
been and is going to email the admin guy we
saw this afternoon. He gave us his contact details for
my complaint. He's also agreed that delaying treatment the way
he did was incredibly stupid, and has decided to take
up the counseling referral with the GP so he will
be less useful in future medical situations. Thankfully, we were
(26:17):
eventually given appropriate treatment and hopefully the follow up will
be positive. I'll stick an update on here if anything
interesting to report. Once again, thanks for setting my mind
at ease and sharing your opinions.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
You were right to be insistent. The doctor was not
doing his job. You did what you had to do.
I'm going to add that your husband is a huge
jerk here too. Not taking care of your health and
making yourself a burden on your spouse is downright selfish.
He needs a stern talking to. At the very least,
you need to stop enabling him and the future, stop
dealing with these instances. If he dares complain, call him
(26:52):
out on the need to take care of himself and
not to be a burden to you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Op.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
I accept that my husband should have sought help much early,
but he wasn't actually being a burden apart from complaining
long and tedious background, but he actually has a genuine
fear of hospitals so tends to either avoid them or
if he's there, he'll accept whatever is said to him
in order to get out as fast as possible. He
definitely has his jerk moments, but where hospitals are concerned.
(27:17):
He is genuinely in need of an advocate, which is
what I try to be. Your husband's mental health may
not be his fault, but it is his responsibility. He
needs to get a handle of this. He doesn't get
to walk around for days on a foot with fractures
and not take care of it.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Oh pe, I completely agree.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
However, that's a battle for another day, a day when
I am able to remain calm and discuss it rationally,
and not while I'm wiled up and emotional about what
could have happened. Also not the best idea Whilste's slightly
peeved at what I'm going to have to actually run
around at. Also not the best idea whilst I'm slightly
peeved that I'm going to have to actually run around
after him and his gimbi foot.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Now, not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Honestly, the doctor should be fired. He totally dismiss yours
and your husband's concerns. Progressive foot pain getting worse over time,
discoloration of the skin, cannot bear weight on the foot.
Husband is a runner. I think most medical personnel and
layman would agree that an actual physical examination of the.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Foot was in order.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Which this guy didn't even bother to do. You were
right to ask for another doctor. Good luck to your husband,
and I hope his healing goes well. I don't work here,
but now you get to come to my work. I'm
a correctional officer and I work nights. After work, I
normally just go home and sleep to get ready for
my next twelve hour shift. However, on my days off,
I take the time to do chores and housework. On
(28:37):
this day, I did not have the night off, so
I get done what I could before going to bed.
So I went home and picked up my wife and
kiddos to go grocery shopping. We get to the store
and start doing the usual. A lady comes up to
me and my family and starts asking for directions to items.
Some I know and some I don't, So I tell
her where the things I know are and I apologize
for the things I don't. Now, mind you, I'm in
(29:00):
full uniform, taser, crossdraw cuffs on each hip, fog her
on left thigh, spray, and all the other items I
use at work. On top of all that, I smell
of peppers, sweat, mold, and rust. As the facility I
work at is old and moist. She seems upset but
walks away. We continue shopping, and after a while we
meet up with the lady and she spots us and
(29:22):
comes down, but this time she's upset. She starts screaming
that I'm the worst employee ever and I should be
fired for not helping. She continues on about how I
should be catching shoplifters or back watching the cameras instead
of flirting with this lady. Yeah, she's one of those.
I interrupt her rant, and I said the usual words
of I don't work here. She of course fails to
(29:44):
hear them, as this is the usual on this sub
and she continues her rant, yelling and screaming that she
picked me to help her because I'm the asset protection
and I should know where everything is. I ask my
wife to take the kids and find a manager for this. Karen,
the lady from now on known as Karen, is none
too pleased to hear her secret identity out it and
increases her volume. I try to explain to Karen that
(30:07):
I'm a jailer, not lost prevention at a grocery store.
I tell her to go buzz off and find someone
that actually works here. I then turn my back and
start to walk away when I'm nailed in the back
of the head and I fall forward in a full
face plant. I'm hurting, dazed, and I can feel glass
all around me. I roll onto my back and feel around.
It's pasta sauce. This jerk just brained me with pasta sauce.
(30:30):
She's still yelling and screaming and raising another jar to throw.
I grab my taser, aim and pop down. She goes hard.
I get up, I stumble over. I flip her around
and cufferr. She's out like a light. My guess is
the fall. I then sit back down and take an
inventory of myself. I'm hurt pretty badly from my head,
(30:51):
but I seem to be all right. My wife, the
customers and management show up as I'm checking over Karen.
I pulled my med kid off the back of my
belt to get to the smelling stone. I then tell
them to call nine one one, and I continue checking
on Karen.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
She's awake, dazed, and blissfully quiet. The rest goes as expected.
The police arrive.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
They question me, question her, watch the cameras, and I
refuse medical treatment, but I do press charges as my
wife is a boss. I say that with reverence. She's
medically trained and will take good care of me.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I go home.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
She asked if I wanted staples or glue.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I chose glue.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
She glues my head and we take a shower, go
to sleep, and she wakes me up from time to time,
which I know isn't the best idea, but hey, a
few days later, I'm writing this, so I ended up
all right. I get a call a couple hours before
my shift ordering me to come in early to talk
to rank Dreading this, I follow my orders and get up, shaved, showered,
and dressed. I go in and have to explain the
(31:50):
whole thing again and again. Then they show me the
video from the store. It's exactly as I explained, though
I did note she could throw far better than I
could have dreamed. They order me not to wear my
uniform outside of work and tell me I'll be working
in booking tonight. I'm not very good at booking, but
look forward to the training and activity of it as
the rest of the facility is slow and boring. Eleven
(32:11):
PM rolls around and who do I see being escorted
into booking but Karen. I start to talk, but my
sergeant tabs me and hushes me. He talks to the
deputy bringing her in and they start doing the paperwork
while I watch and try to learn as much as possible.
She gets charged. Now Karen gets to live at my workplace.
I don't get to work in the female zones. But
(32:32):
the booking process was fun, though I wasn't allowed to
do anything but watch. After she's booked, I'm told to
report to another zone, and I end up finishing the night. Now,
for the past few days, Pasta jokes have been in abundance,
and her nickname is Pasta Lady. Her court date isn't
for a while, and she's reportedly not getting along with
the other inmates. I need you to do something for
(32:53):
me right now. Make sure you are subscribed to the
channel and you tick the bell for all notifications.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
I'll wait. I will literally wait right here until you
do it. As I stare into your soul, deep into
your soul.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Do it, do it and watch this video next that
one right there, right there, wee
Yeah, I divorced you, but you should still babysit my
kids for me, all five of them.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah that's good, Karen, you're good at that. You know that.
That's not the only thing.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm good advtted, but bound check around.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Let's not get carried away. Now. Our first story will
be reading today.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
My Karen, ex wife demands I babysit for her while
her husband is in the hospital. Things are complicated, but
I'll try to sum it up for you. I thirty
four male, met my ex wife seven years ago. We
dated for one year and were married for two before
we divorced. When we met, she already had two kids
from her previous relationship, Patrick who's thirteen, and Luna, who's ten.
(00:43):
We have one son together, Tony, who's five.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
My own relationship with her kids was good, but they
never treated me like their dad or something like that,
because their dad was involved in their life. Although my
wife had primary custody, we all understood I was a
stepdad and we were fine with it.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
My relationship with.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
My ex wife was good and I thought very loving,
although after our divorce I realized that she used to
talk a lot about her ex husband, comparing the two
of us and stuff like that, which is definitely weird,
but I didn't notice it at the time. Well, turns
out that she really couldn't forget her ex and she
ended up cheating with them. This was very hard to
process when I found out thanks to one of her friends,
(01:22):
and our divorce was not easy. When her family found
out about her infidelity, they got very angry at her
and went no contact with her. All of this happened
four years ago. Ever since, her and her husband had
two more babies together, one who's three and the other
is a few months old. Her husband got diagnosed with
cancer around November of last year. Even after everything they
(01:42):
did to me, I still feel sorry for them and
their kids. It's a sad situation which makes me think
I'm a jerk. My ex and I have shared custody
with our son, but ever since her husband got sick,
my son has been staying with me more days as
sometimes my ex's husband has to stay at the hospital
and my ex has to help him.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I'm okay with this, of course.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
However, my ex asked me if I can start taking
all of her kids home with me when I pick
my son up. In these kinds of emergencies. I told
her that I don't want to do that, and instead
she should ask a friend to take care of them
or try to pay a babysitter.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I pay good childcare, and I.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Know they're not spending all that money on my son
at the moment because he's mostly with me. I think
it'll be enough to pay for a couple of hours.
She told me her friends don't want to help her anymore,
and her family still doesn't talk to her. I told
them they need to figure out a solution. I will
only help take care of my son. I feel like
a jerk to be honest, like I'm being too petty.
I meant child support, not the jerk. Sounds like your
(02:39):
ex has burned a bunch of bridges and is trying
to make you her lifeline because you share a kid.
The whole situation is unfortunate, but it isn't your responsibility
to help her. You're right about her being able to
use the money you pay for child support to pay
for care for her other kids, but even without that,
it would still not be your responsibility. You sound like
a caring person, and she knows how to make you
(02:59):
feel guilty, but it's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
For you to refuse to help.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Why should you feel like a jerk when you don't
want to take care of five kids aged zero to
thirteen instead of just one.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
That's a big responsibility. Not the jerk. Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Your ex is cheated with her ex X, gets sick
and wants you to take care of her kids with X.
That is completely disrespectful to you. Take care of your kid.
In fact, get full custody and tell her to buzz off.
Am I the jerk for making my wife cry because
she threw my birthday party wrong? My wife is a
lovely person whom I love very much, and we have
(03:35):
a strong relationship. She is, however, agreed by all parties,
very emotional and prone to tears. That's fine. I knew
what I was signing up for. It's just relevant context. Recently,
I had a birthday. My wife asked what I wanted
to do for it. I said that I would really
like to just have a quiet day mostly at home,
wake up late, have coffee, play some video games, and
(03:57):
the two of us could go for dinner. If we
needed to do anything else, we could get a massage.
She tends to prefer parties and big events while I
like to relax. If she just got dinner reservation somewhere
low key and maybe even wore something nice, that would
be perfect. I wouldn't want anything else. That can be
hard for her to understand, I think, because it's so
different from her preferences. So she set up a big party.
(04:20):
She told me the morning of that she had invited
some people over to celebrate. I said, oh, okay, that's
not what I was expecting.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Who's coming.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I think she could tell that I was a little disappointed,
because she started to get kind of defensive, saying, it's
just a few of our friends and they want to
be with me on my birthday, et cetera. And that's fine,
it's not a big deal. It isn't like I hate
parties or our friends. So I said, okay, and we
went about the day. Some friends and a couple of
family members started arriving around noon, and people stayed until
about six pm.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It was nice to see.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
People, no major issues, just not what I would have
chosen for a big day off type of thing. I
tend to like to relax and re energize on weekends
and find out events like that when I'm in the
center of attention very draining. My wife seemed a little
on edge, though, and that night, while we were cleaning up,
she asked how my birthday was.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I said it was.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Pretty good, with a little bit of a shrug. Admittedly
that wasn't the best thing to say, but I don't
like to be dishonest. It was fine, but not spectacular.
She got really upset and burst into tears, telling me
she had worked hard on it and it's so challenging
when I won't participate or tell her what I want.
I said that it's okay, it's not a big deal
or worth being so upset over, and I appreciated the
(05:32):
effort she went to and it was nice to see people,
but I felt like I had been pretty clear about
what my preference would have been, and it seemed like
she didn't listen to me. That made her even more upset,
and she said she couldn't believe she did so much
for me, and instead of thanking her, I made her
cry I had thanked her earlier. The conversation didn't make
much progress from there that night, but it still feels
(05:52):
like a sore spot for us. She's been annoyed with
me the past few days for ruining my birthday. I
don't want to be ungrateful, but don't really feel like
I should be apologizing here.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Am I just being stubborn? Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
You did clearly say what you wanted. She did not listen.
You weren't nasty about it either, just sincere. I hate
it when people want to be praised for something that
was unasked for. I think you have nothing to apologize for,
not the jerk. Your wife made your birthday about her.
You told her clearly what you wanted, she chose to
do what she wanted, then she was upset because you
(06:26):
didn't like it. She sounds exhausting as someone who cries easily.
I hate it when people say anytime a woman cries,
she's being manipulative. That being said, your wife sounds extremely manipulative. First,
you did tell her what you wanted and a lot
of detail. Second, you didn't make her cry. She did
that on her own. If the issue is truly that
she cries easily, she should be mature enough to not
(06:48):
blame others for that. Third, she's the one who made
the mistake, but you're the one getting punished. Yeah, she
can get out of here with that mess.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Not the jerk?
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Am I the jerk for helping my niece pay for
her dream degree against her parents' wishes. I'm forty eight male.
My niece, Ella, who's seventeen, will soon be in her
senior year and plans to study history and university. She's
a good student and should definitely get in her safety
school at least. My sister and brother in law, both
forty six, are not happy with her choice. They want
(07:19):
her to get a degree that will lead to a
good job opportunity, like science or engineering. I make mid
to high six figures and I'm a single father, widower
to one daughter who's fifteen. I also am a big
believer of doing what you love because life is short.
I told Ella that if she can't get a scholarship,
I'll provide her with financial aid during university and she
(07:39):
can pay me back whenever. She's now working on her
early admissions and is doing volunteer work while cutting her
usual summer job hours at the local amusement park in half.
My niece's parents called me a huge jerk for doing this.
They said, I don't understand their struggle. My brother in
law studied liberal arts and works in HR for a
medium sized company, and my sister has an associate's degree
(08:00):
and is currently a manager at a chain restaurant. They're
doing okay, but they're not comfortable.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
They said.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
The only reason I get to throw my money around
is because I'm an engineer and my late wife was
a pharmacist. We got useful degrees that helped us get
ahead in life. They said, if I thought a degree
that won't make money is so great, maybe I should
pull my daughter out of the gifted science program she's
in at her school. I told them I know plenty
of people who studied various different degrees that are successful,
(08:27):
but they said the successful ones are far in between.
They also said they don't want Ella to set a
bad example for her brother, Ben, who's fourteen, who expressed
interest in being a veterinarian. I told them I'll support
Ella's decision no matter what, and if she's doing what
makes her happy, that shouldn't be a bad example, and
Ben is too young to settle his mind on anything.
I then threw them out of my house. Still, I
(08:49):
wonder if I'm the jerk here at it. I only
said for her to pay me back, only to make
sure she doesn't waste her opportunities. I intend to make
a gift of it upon her graduation. Not Your niece's
parents are understandably concerned about her future. However, they are
using their life experiences to try to force your niece
onto a path they wish they had taken. But it's
(09:10):
a path she doesn't want to take. Her dreams are important.
It's extremely generous of you to do what you're doing.
Stick to your guns, not the jerk. Your brother and
sister need to stop blaming their degree choices on their
careers and earnings. I did an English degree and now
in my thirties currently earn fifty thousand, which in the
UK is not bad at all. The history degree would
(09:32):
not be at all useless. She will gain a lot
of skills from this, and the fact that she's already
working so hard towards this strongly suggests she could be
one of the successful graduates.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I can't shake the thought that they're counting on a
successful daughter to provide their retirements. And if the Sun
can be dissuaded from becoming a DVM because his sister
majored in history, he hasn't got the commitment needed to
get through VET school.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, who do you think is the jerk? Op?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Or is niece's parents? Please let us know there's nothing
wrong with useless college degrees. Some of the best barristas.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I've ever known have them.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Karen, Do you realize how many people you're gonna upset
by joking like that?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Who said I was joking? Reddit Boy?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Am I the jerk for telling a vegan he could
have a cookie? Not too long ago, my coworker friend
made cookies, but she had to work off site that
day and asked me to distribute them to our friend group.
I thirty two female, had the cookies sitting on my
desk when one of our friends popped in to say hi.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
He's sixty plus.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Male asked what the cookies were for, and I explained
so and so had made them and that I was
planning on passing them out at lunch. This particular friend
eats mostly a vegan diet due to health issues, but
semi regularly eats milk, chocolate, chili, peppers, and fish sauce,
and several other questionably vegan items. He also cheats when
he travels abroad because many cultures don't understand the restrictions
(10:50):
of his diet anyway. He asked me if he would
be allowed to have a cookie, to which I immediately
said sure. He ate the cookie and said it was good.
The next day, the friend who made the cookies asked
how they went over. I said everyone liked them and
listed the people who had one. She was surprised that
our vegan friend had one, but I told her that
he's flexible with occasional treats. Later, she joked to him
(11:12):
that she was disillusioned about his diet and realized she
didn't have to worry so much about making things he'd
be able to eat. He then turned around and scolded me, saying,
I asked you if they were vegan. I responded with,
you absolutely did not. He said that by asking if
they were something he could have, he was obviously asking
if they were made with animal products. I told him
(11:33):
that I answered the question as he asked it, and
it never occurred to me that he wanted to know
about the ingredients. He acted like I was being deliberately obtuse,
and so I told him that his diet is not
my responsibility and that he needs to directly ask and
not assume that people will guess. He was upset with me,
and I ended up getting mad at him and refused
to apologize. So am I the jerk edit for infall?
(11:55):
It honestly didn't occur to me that that's what he
was asking. I wasn't trying to be pedantic. Maybe yeah,
I was naive. I know that he's flexible because I
have previously gifted him a box of chocolate that I
know he likes that contains.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Milk, and he ate them. I guess I could.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Try to be more considerate in the future, but to
be honest, having to guess people's meaning is a pet
peeve of mine. Just tell me what you want. I'm
not a mind reader.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Standard cookies are made with butter and eggs. He should
be an adult and take responsibility for his diet. And
the way he asked is absolutely how you interpreted it.
He was deflecting because he got called out by the
other coworker.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Who made them. Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Am I allowed to have one? And this case comes
across as the cookies weren't intended for me, but I
would like one anyway. Your friend worded his question poorly,
and while his cheets are his own business, they do
create a scenario orre you could reasonably expect that he's
not worried if the cookies are vegan. He needs to
be responsible for his own diet and his own poor
choice of words in this scenario. Oh look, a vegan
(12:54):
whose brain doesn't work right. What a surprise. Oh you're
on a roll today, aren't you. We're probably gonna lose
some vegan subscribers for that, right, Well, maybe we'll gain
some non vegan subscribers and even things out.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You are so rude?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Am I the jerk for wanting a separate Christmas without
my sister's kids? I male, twenty eight, have several siblings
all about my age. Only my youngest sister, who's female
twenty five, has kids, of which she has five of
I see nothing wrong with my sister wanting to be
a mom, and I love my nieces and nephews, but
I can't be around them much. I have a medical
condition that can cause seizures when I'm overstimulated and generally
(13:31):
messes me up. If I can't leave to decompress. When
we visit our parents for the holidays, I'll hang out
with my other siblings and their spouses. Then, when my
sister shows up with her husband. I'll greet them, visit
for a minute, then put in my headphones and go
somewhere else when noise picks up. If it was a
normal level of chaos, it might even be okay. I'm
pretty fine with the adults laughing and talking, but she'll
(13:52):
bring loud toys, turn on cocoa melon, and let the
kids run wild. I can't handle it for too long
without having to bail, and asking for things to be
quieter is usually met with a ha. Try living with
this not very productive. It sucks getting to visit with
my family for maybe two hours and then basically having
to leave the party. I've tried catching up with people
(14:13):
away from the group, but my sister takes it personally
and keeps asking why I don't want to talk to
her and her husband. She knows about the seizures. I
just think something isn't clicking in her brain, even though
I keep explaining why I can't stick around. Last year,
we had bad weather and my sister couldn't drive from
out of state to come to the Christmas party. Most
of us were already at our parents' place when she texted,
(14:33):
so we just had the party anyway, and planned to
follow up for them in a couple of weeks. It
ended up being a blast. I actually got to stay
for the whole thing. I didn't mind a bit that
I had to hang out in the kitchen for most
of the second party. I got the fun out of
my system and was just happy to see my sister
and meet her new baby. When my sister found out
that we basically did Christmas without her, she was understandably upset.
(14:56):
She and her kids still had presents to open and
we had a nice lunch, but there wasn't the same
adult party she had hoped she could join. Granted, her
joining the adults was her unleashing her kids and getting
tipsy while our parents struggle to keep them from destroying
their house.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But I get it.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Getting left out sucks. That being said, I loved having
two parties, and I asked my dad about doing this
every year. While he also enjoyed our party, we both
agreed that splitting up Christmas would really upset my sister.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Living out of state.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
With that many kids, it's basically impossible for her to
do both parties. We tried to think of other options,
but most of us spend New Year with our spouses,
and my sister would be furious if she found out
we didn't invite her to a non holiday family party.
I just don't think it's fair that I practically have
to skip Christmas half the time because she has so
many rowdy kids.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So read it.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Am I the jerk for wanting a separate party? Is
there another solution I'm not seeing?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
If she wants to be included, her kids shouldn't be
destroying the house and making work for everyone else. If
that's not possible, do the two parties till her kids
are old enough to learn manners follow rules.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Absolutely, not the jerk. This might be a.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Dreadful suggestion, but has your sister ever actually witnessed a seizure?
It might be worth engineering one when she's around so
she can see how awful they are. I have similar
health issues. Miltdown's also a really dodgy gut, and my
brother and his wife honestly didn't realize just how bad
they were until they saw both firsthand. It made them
a lot more accommodating. However, I realize it's an extreme suggestion,
(16:27):
and you may need to enroll the rest of your
family to support you, op I think if it were
possible for her to see one in private, it might
convince her that they are a real problem. But her
kids are at an age where I think it would
be terrifying for them to see if their uncle just
dropped and started short circuiting. I'm worried it would be pandemonium.
Maybe if things get to an extreme, it might be
(16:47):
something to consider, but I'd like to avoid it if
I can. Am I the jerk for refusing to give
up my neo pet's account to my niece? Okay, so
I'm upset and confused, and I told my sister and
brother in law I would post here to settle this
argument so they will be seen in reading this. For
those who don't know, neopets is a virtual pet game
site that was really popular around the late nineties and
(17:08):
early two thousands. It kind of died a bit for
a while, but has recently started to get popular again.
I've been playing it for years. My account is eighteen
years old, and it has the stats to reflect that pets, avatars, stamps,
gallery trophies, et cetera. If you don't play, it may
not mean a lot, and not to brag, but I
have a rather impressive account due to the fact that
(17:28):
I've been playing it for so long. I'm thirty four female,
have no kids, not child free, just don't have any.
My sister thirty two female and brother in law thirty
four male, have a daughter who's eleven, who's been very
sickly all of her life. I'll not go into exactly
what's wrong with her, but she's been in and out
of hospitals a lot in her young life, and it
recently had to go back in again for a few weeks.
(17:51):
I recently learned that she's been playing Neopets for a
few months to help pass the time when she's not
feeling well. She's really gotten into it, and from what
my sister says, talks about it a lot. She was
excited to learn I also play, and we talked about it.
When I visited her, I looked up her account and
gifted her a bunch of stuff, expensive stuff that would
be hard for a newer account to get in game
(18:12):
stuff using in game money, which can be kind of
hard to earn in large amounts. Anyway, long story short,
she asked how I can afford the stuff I sent her.
It was worth millions of points and how I have
all the stuff that my account has. I explained to
her that I had been playing for eighteen years, did
every plot and event, et cetera. Well, apparently she got
upset at the huge difference between our two accounts and
(18:34):
asked for more stuff. When I told her no, she
started crying to my sister and brother.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
In law about it.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
My brother in law came over and asked if I
could gift my account to my niece for her upcoming birthday,
which she has to spend in the hospital. Said it
would mean the world to her. I said no, I've
had this account since before she was born, before we
even met my brother in law. I don't want to
get rid of it. I still play on it literally
every day. Well, he got mad and tried guilt tripping me.
(19:01):
I'm an adult and she's a kid, and it would
make her happy and a rough time in her life.
I'm happy to help her learn the tricks and trades
of the game, but I'm not giving away my account.
He tried to buy it off me, but I still
said no. Now he's super upset and got my sister
and my parents on their side. I'm being hounded every
day for this and being called a jerk because it's
(19:21):
all my niece will talk about and she really wants it.
I feel bad because she's just a kid in the hospital,
and guilty for not giving it to her. I offered
to send a bunch of stuff to her account again,
but she wants my stats too, so that she's not
treated like a newbie who doesn't know anything by other
players too. I feel guilty for this, but I want
to keep my account.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Am I the jerk?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
You've been playing for eighteen years. It obviously means a
lot to you. I'm sorry for your sister and brother
in law that their kid is sick, but what a
bunch of entitled jerks to insist you just give these
eighteen years of your life up for your niece. Her
parents are obviously used to giving in to her every whim.
They should start parenting and teach her that the world
doesn't revolve around her. Not the jerk, and please don't
(20:06):
give her your account. She should learn to work for
something instead of having it handed over because she wants it.
Am I the jerk for babysitting my friend's kid and
refusing to leave when his girlfriend asked me to so
I twenty two female, have a friend, twenty five male,
who asked me to look after his son, who's four,
for a couple of hours. He said he'd pay me
ten euros an hour, so I accept it. While babysitting
(20:29):
his son, his girlfriend, who's twenty five, came over and
was surprised to see me there. She asked what I
was doing here, and I told her that I was
here to watch his son. She then asked if it
was like a last minute thing because his mother canceled.
I said no, he asked me about a week ago,
but I don't know if he previously asked his mom.
She said that's impossible because not even two days ago
(20:50):
he told her that the mother would be watching his son.
So I was like, well, the only thing I know
is that he asked me to babysit, said he'd pay me,
so I accepted. She got me and asked if there
was something between him and I. I denied, repeated that
I'm only here to babysit and that's it. She said
that since I knew he was in a relationship, I
should have declined, so I said, listen, I'm sorry he
(21:13):
lied to you, but I'm only here to get paid.
She said that nobody accepts to look over someone else's
kid only to get paid. I said, hum, yes, people
who want to get paid do. She said that I
was playing with her, that if I was respectful of
their relationship, i'd leave.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I refused.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I told her, if she's so mad, then she should
call her boyfriend and demand an explanation, but I was
staying here to do what I was paid to do.
She left and I didn't hear from her again until recently.
She texted me saying that I would never babysit for
her boyfriend again and that he agreed with her on it.
I didn't reply because I really don't care. I'm not
even that close to the guy, and like I said,
(21:51):
I only wanted to get paid.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I was paid and that's it.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
But when I talked about it to my mom and sister,
they said that I should have left. When she asked
me to to have any drama between them, I said,
that's not my problem. I was asked to watch over
his son, and I accepted if her boyfriend decided to
lie to her.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
About it, it was not my fault.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
But now I'm not really sure and I just want
to know am I the jerk for babysitting my friend's
son and refusing to leave When his girlfriend asked me
to edit? I texted him about what she sent me
to make sure he knew. I'm currently waiting on an
answer edit. He saw it, but he didn't reply. I
tried another text, but I doubt it'll work either, so
I guess that's it. I saw that it made a
(22:32):
few people confused. She's not the mother, she's just his girlfriend.
It won't let me post an update, but long story short.
He apologized for what happened with his girlfriend, said he
lied because he knew she would have been jealous. He
confirmed he knew about the text and did agree with it.
I said, okay, told him to lose my number and
that his girlfriend should do the same.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I hung up, and that was it. Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Imagine being so insecure in your relationship that you deny
the existence of babysitters. Not the jerk, and I would
not have left either. You were asked to be in
charge of his son's safety and well being. That doesn't
get passed off to some random girlfriend because she demands it.
Your responsibility to the kid ends when the parent takes
back the responsibility.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Am I the.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Jerk for arguing with my husband's doctor and acting like
a Karen. My husband has a sore foot, no injury
or medical condition that would explain the pain, but he
hasn't been able to walk properly for about a week.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Being the absolute pain in.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
My butt that he is, He's refused to go to
the doctor until today. Apparently he preferred to just complain
to me. It's gotten progressively more swollen looking, and today
it's turned a funny color and he can't put any
weight on it. So I called our GP, who has
sent him to the walk in clinic at our local hospital.
We finally get seen and the doctor refused to even
(23:48):
examine it, told him without even looking at the foot,
that it was just a sprain and he wasn't going
to prescribe him any painkillers, so not to ask. Then
he started demonstrating some kind of exercises that in going
up and down on tiptoes and flexing the toes.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I asked if he would please just look at.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It, because it's nearly gone black in some spots and
look similar to how my wrist looked when I broke
it a few years ago. He huffed at me and
asked where my medical degree was from. I demanded to
see another doctor or his senior I was the jerk
here because it wasn't me being treated, so I get
that he thought I was pushy. Husband would have accepted
the doctor's instructions without any questions about actually needing to
(24:28):
be examined. Doctor left and we heard him outside the
cubicle telling the senior doctor that they have a confrontational
spouse who thinks her webmdsearching qualifies her to instruct real
doctors on how to practice medicine. He also states that
he suspects my husband of exaggeration to get meds. By
the time the other doctor arrives, I'm seething and I
(24:49):
lay out exactly what went on and explained I only
want someone to look at the foot before sending us away.
He looks QX rays and MRI, the good painkillers and
a walking boot cast thing with potential to need surgery
because he's got seven stress fractures in that foot, probably
from running, admittedly worse than they needed to be because
(25:10):
he didn't get any treatment when it first started to hurt.
Second doctor and someone from the hospital admin came and
apologized for the first doctor and asked if we want
to make a formal complaint. So I did, because the
outcome of his not listening to the patient or family
could have been worse. Husband did not. Husband said later
that the first doctor may get sacked because of me complaining,
(25:32):
and I should have just left it because no real
harm was done. Was I the jerk for complaining? I
don't usually have Karen tendencies, but he was just so
patronizing and dismissive, and I kept thinking, what if it
was a young mother with a sick baby and he
dismissed it. Not everyone would stand their ground and there
could be serious consequences. Edit. Thank you for all the
comments and awards. I did not expect this to go
(25:54):
as mental as it did. I've shown Hobby the post
and he's starting to realize how serious it could have
been and is going to email the admin guy we
saw this afternoon. He gave us his contact details for
my complaint. He's also agreed that delaying treatment the way
he did was incredibly stupid, and has decided to take
up the counseling referral with the GP so he will
be less useful in future medical situations. Thankfully, we were
(26:17):
eventually given appropriate treatment and hopefully the follow up will
be positive. I'll stick an update on here if anything
interesting to report. Once again, thanks for setting my mind
at ease and sharing your opinions.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
You were right to be insistent. The doctor was not
doing his job. You did what you had to do.
I'm going to add that your husband is a huge
jerk here too. Not taking care of your health and
making yourself a burden on your spouse is downright selfish.
He needs a stern talking to. At the very least,
you need to stop enabling him and the future, stop
dealing with these instances. If he dares complain, call him
(26:52):
out on the need to take care of himself and
not to be a burden to you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Op.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
I accept that my husband should have sought help much early,
but he wasn't actually being a burden apart from complaining
long and tedious background, but he actually has a genuine
fear of hospitals so tends to either avoid them or
if he's there, he'll accept whatever is said to him
in order to get out as fast as possible. He
definitely has his jerk moments, but where hospitals are concerned.
(27:17):
He is genuinely in need of an advocate, which is
what I try to be. Your husband's mental health may
not be his fault, but it is his responsibility. He
needs to get a handle of this. He doesn't get
to walk around for days on a foot with fractures
and not take care of it.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Oh pe, I completely agree.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
However, that's a battle for another day, a day when
I am able to remain calm and discuss it rationally,
and not while I'm wiled up and emotional about what
could have happened. Also not the best idea Whilste's slightly
peeved at what I'm going to have to actually run
around at. Also not the best idea whilst I'm slightly
peeved that I'm going to have to actually run around
after him and his gimbi foot.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Now, not the jerk.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Honestly, the doctor should be fired. He totally dismiss yours
and your husband's concerns. Progressive foot pain getting worse over time,
discoloration of the skin, cannot bear weight on the foot.
Husband is a runner. I think most medical personnel and
layman would agree that an actual physical examination of the.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Foot was in order.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Which this guy didn't even bother to do. You were
right to ask for another doctor. Good luck to your husband,
and I hope his healing goes well. I don't work here,
but now you get to come to my work. I'm
a correctional officer and I work nights. After work, I
normally just go home and sleep to get ready for
my next twelve hour shift. However, on my days off,
I take the time to do chores and housework. On
(28:37):
this day, I did not have the night off, so
I get done what I could before going to bed.
So I went home and picked up my wife and
kiddos to go grocery shopping. We get to the store
and start doing the usual. A lady comes up to
me and my family and starts asking for directions to items.
Some I know and some I don't, So I tell
her where the things I know are and I apologize
for the things I don't. Now, mind you, I'm in
(29:00):
full uniform, taser, crossdraw cuffs on each hip, fog her
on left thigh, spray, and all the other items I
use at work. On top of all that, I smell
of peppers, sweat, mold, and rust. As the facility I
work at is old and moist. She seems upset but
walks away. We continue shopping, and after a while we
meet up with the lady and she spots us and
(29:22):
comes down, but this time she's upset. She starts screaming
that I'm the worst employee ever and I should be
fired for not helping. She continues on about how I
should be catching shoplifters or back watching the cameras instead
of flirting with this lady. Yeah, she's one of those.
I interrupt her rant, and I said the usual words
of I don't work here. She of course fails to
(29:44):
hear them, as this is the usual on this sub
and she continues her rant, yelling and screaming that she
picked me to help her because I'm the asset protection
and I should know where everything is. I ask my
wife to take the kids and find a manager for this. Karen,
the lady from now on known as Karen, is none
too pleased to hear her secret identity out it and
increases her volume. I try to explain to Karen that
(30:07):
I'm a jailer, not lost prevention at a grocery store.
I tell her to go buzz off and find someone
that actually works here. I then turn my back and
start to walk away when I'm nailed in the back
of the head and I fall forward in a full
face plant. I'm hurting, dazed, and I can feel glass
all around me. I roll onto my back and feel around.
It's pasta sauce. This jerk just brained me with pasta sauce.
(30:30):
She's still yelling and screaming and raising another jar to throw.
I grab my taser, aim and pop down. She goes hard.
I get up, I stumble over. I flip her around
and cufferr. She's out like a light. My guess is
the fall. I then sit back down and take an
inventory of myself. I'm hurt pretty badly from my head,
(30:51):
but I seem to be all right. My wife, the
customers and management show up as I'm checking over Karen.
I pulled my med kid off the back of my
belt to get to the smelling stone. I then tell
them to call nine one one, and I continue checking
on Karen.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
She's awake, dazed, and blissfully quiet. The rest goes as expected.
The police arrive.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
They question me, question her, watch the cameras, and I
refuse medical treatment, but I do press charges as my
wife is a boss. I say that with reverence. She's
medically trained and will take good care of me.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I go home.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
She asked if I wanted staples or glue.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I chose glue.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
She glues my head and we take a shower, go
to sleep, and she wakes me up from time to time,
which I know isn't the best idea, but hey, a
few days later, I'm writing this, so I ended up
all right. I get a call a couple hours before
my shift ordering me to come in early to talk
to rank Dreading this, I follow my orders and get up, shaved, showered,
and dressed. I go in and have to explain the
(31:50):
whole thing again and again. Then they show me the
video from the store. It's exactly as I explained, though
I did note she could throw far better than I
could have dreamed. They order me not to wear my
uniform outside of work and tell me I'll be working
in booking tonight. I'm not very good at booking, but
look forward to the training and activity of it as
the rest of the facility is slow and boring. Eleven
(32:11):
PM rolls around and who do I see being escorted
into booking but Karen. I start to talk, but my
sergeant tabs me and hushes me. He talks to the
deputy bringing her in and they start doing the paperwork
while I watch and try to learn as much as possible.
She gets charged. Now Karen gets to live at my workplace.
I don't get to work in the female zones. But
(32:32):
the booking process was fun, though I wasn't allowed to
do anything but watch. After she's booked, I'm told to
report to another zone, and I end up finishing the night. Now,
for the past few days, Pasta jokes have been in abundance,
and her nickname is Pasta Lady. Her court date isn't
for a while, and she's reportedly not getting along with
the other inmates. I need you to do something for
(32:53):
me right now. Make sure you are subscribed to the
channel and you tick the bell for all notifications.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
I'll wait. I will literally wait right here until you
do it. As I stare into your soul, deep into
your soul.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Do it, do it and watch this video next that
one right there, right there, wee
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