January 7, 2026 • 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):
I want to have a baby, and you're going to
pay for my IVF to have a baby. Hey there,
mister Redder, here and the soon to be baby mama me.
Welcome back to another episode of Redded podcast Stories. Our
first story will be reading today. Am I the jerk
(00:20):
for refusing to pitch in money towards my sister in
law's IVF treatments? My brother Reid and sister in law
and Nora have always wanted to have kids. However, they're
unable to conceive naturally. Nora had multiple ovarian cysts and
eventually needed to have both of her ovaries removed as
a teenager. Read and Nora are in their early thirties
and are very urgent about needing to try sooner than never,
(00:43):
because they say that they're approaching an age where ivf's
success rates start to decline. Because of Nora's past medical issues,
I'm told that she will need extra care and her
round of treatments will be especially expensive. A little over
twenty seven thousand dollars, Read and Nora already have nine
thousand dollars set aside in savings for IVF. They've raised
(01:03):
one thousand dollars from friends. The rest of the family
is pitching in smaller amounts as well. My mother is
giving two thousand dollars, Nora's sister Lauren is giving one thousand,
and her parents are giving four thousand, which leaves about
ten thousand dollars left. Their insurance will not help to
cover it because they don't consider it a medically necessary procedure.
Reed and Nora also have had difficulty qualifying for an
(01:25):
IVF loan as they have some poor credit. Reed and
Nora are asking me to help because according to the
loan advisor, I'm allowed to take out the loan on
Reed and Nora's behalf. Ten thousand dollars is a huge
ask for me, and the fact that Reed and Nora
have poor credit shows they already don't have a good
track record of paying back loans. When I questioned why
they didn't ask Lauren, they claimed they couldn't because she
(01:48):
isn't single and childless like I am. They see it
as me not having any dependence. My mother and parents
in law don't have a lot of savings, and their
earlier mentioned donations were already a huge gift for them.
Makes a long time to correct a bad credit score,
and it makes things much more difficult and harsh as
it is to say. I don't want to take out
thousands of dollars and a loan for a procedure that
(02:09):
has a good chance of not even working. So I
told Read and Nora no, and that their future kids
are not my responsibility. I also wanted to put my
foot down now because next it's going to be private
school tuition or a college fund, and that shouldn't be
my responsibility just because I'm currently single and childless. Nora
was obviously disappointed, but told me she respected my choice.
(02:31):
Reid was angry. He told me that he would remember
this for when I'm ever in a time of need,
so that I will know how it feels to have
family turn their back on me. The rest of the
family members have essentially told me, we're not mad at you,
just disappointed because Norah worried for years that she would
never be able to have kids or be a mother.
They say Read and Nora would be wonderful parents, and
(02:52):
it isn't right that they can't conceive naturally, which I
do agree with. However, I still stand by Norah and
Reid's future kids not being my responsible I don't think
that it's fair that I should delay or give up
the possibility of starting my own family in order to finance.
Read to Nora's am I the jerk, not the jerk,
And as a mom, I wonder if they can afford
(03:13):
having a kid, if they can't even take a ten
thousand dollars loan. Oh no, not the jerk. That is
not your responsibility. I'm sorry that they're struggling, but common
sense would beg the question. If they can't afford IVF,
how could they afford the kid? The treatment may not
even be successful. In addition, being single and childless and
child free doesn't mean you don't have your own obligations
(03:35):
and causes to which you'd want your money to go.
Best of luck to you, not the jerk. Never loan
money or co sign a note for people who can't
get a loan on their own. There's a reason banks
reject them. It's astounding to me that people are so
brazen you should put your financial stability at risk just
because they'd want you to. That's nuts. Finally, maybe Read
(03:58):
and Norah should wrap their heads together or around the
idea that they cannot afford IVF and should consider something
radical like adoption. Adoption is actually more expensive than IVF.
From the conversations with people around my age who adopted
or considered it, it's typically fifty to eighty thousand dollars.
From what I've been told. You can do foster to adopt,
(04:18):
but that is not a setup which everyone can handle,
and if they only want a fresh newborn baby, they
probably won't want to do that. Since it's usually toddlers
and older. We adopted and it was less than your numbers.
Adoption has a lot of possibilities. My cousin has done
foster to adopt for two infants and had expenses of
less than two thousand dollars in total. Here's the reality.
(04:39):
Some people want to be parents, they can adopt. Some
people want to be pregnant. There's nothing wrong with that,
and adoption doesn't satisfy it. I wish people would distinguish
these more often. If a person can't get pregnant, that
doesn't mean they will never be a parent. However, it
may mean they will never experience pregnancy. For some people,
that's devastating. Bruh this the dude really thinks it cost
(05:01):
eighty thousand dollars to adopt a kid calm down, Karen,
it's ready. You know how these people are. I made
a customer cry. So. I had a table a long
time ago with a nice couple who were at the
restaurant during our dying down hours. Everything was pretty quiet
at this point. We were close to closing and I
was bartending, so I had started my cleaning duties for
that well. This couple had been extremely pleasant. I offered
(05:24):
different items to upsell the check and they were happy
I was giving suggestions. I made them several drink refills.
They were very polite and just enjoying their night, but
they were pretty quiet. I didn't mind, though, I was
busy cleaning up and closing down the bar. After I
give them their meals, I say, all right, you guys,
if everything looks okay, I'll leave you to it. If
(05:45):
you need anything, I'll just be cleaning behind the bar here,
so you can wave me or call me over if
you need something, but I'll still be keeping an eye
on you guys and checking up a few times. I
usually only offer this towards the end of the night,
since I'm kind of distracted with scrubbing things down, dishes
and other bar related things. But this couple was content
with just quietly eating their meals. They didn't need any
(06:06):
more drinks or anything, so I just cleaned. When I
noticed they had finished their meals, I went over and
offered a dessert for them to try upselling, of course,
and they happily said sure, so I went and grabbed
it for them. I also grabbed two new spoons, since
I had cleared their table already. Well, I had my
nails done at this time, and I'm not quite sure
how it happened, but when I sat down the plate
(06:27):
with the dessert, I went to hand the woman her spoon. Somehow,
the spoon slipped from my fingers as I was handing
it to her, and it flung and pelted her kind
of hard in her chest. I immediately went from professional
service voice to panicked, unexpected voice and rushed together, Oh
my goodness, I'm so sorry. I swear I wasn't trying
to throw that at you. This sweet woman just started
(06:49):
laughing and laughing and laughing until she was crying uncontrollably
at her table, And when she finally caught her breath,
she said, that was the funniest thing to ever have
happened to me. In a rest, she started laughing and
crying again, so I started to chuckle once I knew
she wasn't upset, and her partner was just smiling while
he ate his cake and said, if you knew the
(07:09):
day she had today, you'd know how much it means
that you got her to laugh this hard. I just
chuckled again and said, well, I'm glad I could make
you laugh. Did you hear that panic in my voice?
I was so worried I would have accidentally upset you,
which caused her to laugh and cry even harder, and
say between laughs, that's what's making me laugh so hard.
You sounded so panicked compared to your service voice. After
(07:32):
I laughed and apologized again, I decided to just leave
them at that point to enjoy the rest of their meal,
And as I was cleaning up some more behind the bar,
the woman was still laughing and eating her dessert. She
laughed all the way until her and her partner walked
out of the door. The guy left me fifty dollars
with a note thanking me for making his wife's stay
better and to not throw spoons at any more customers.
(07:54):
Am I the jerk for telling my brother it was
a dumb decision to invite his new girlfriend to our
nephew's birthday. I'm twenty mail. My brother Ron is twenty seven.
He met his late girlfriend Linda when they were sixteen,
and they started dating shortly after. To say the family
adored her would be an understatement. Linda was beautiful, smart,
and had an amazing sense of humor. She's been part
(08:15):
of the family for so long that most of us
don't remember a time without her. Most of our best
memories have her in them. Linda was very close to
my nephew, Drew, who's six. Drew is disabled and he's autistic,
so he has a hard time connecting to other people.
I don't know how to describe the relationship between Drew
and Linda. They just sort of clicked from the moment
he was born. She was his best friend and would
(08:37):
often watch over him. Sadly, Linda passed at the end
of January after she was hit by a drunk driver.
The entire family was devastated and we're still mourning her.
Drew took it especially hard since he doesn't really grasp
what death means yet. He constantly asks where is Linda
and when will she be coming back? Sometimes going as
far as having full blown miltdowns because he misses her
(08:58):
so much. He currently attending therapy to learn how to
process his grief, but it's a slow process. Drew's birthday
is in two weeks, and my sister and brother in
law sent out invitations to everyone in the family asking
who can come. Birthdays are a big deal in our
family and are usually an over the top event with catering,
so it's necessary to confirm the number of guests. Apparently,
(09:19):
Ron wrote that he'll come with Jia, a new girlfriend
he's hoping to introduce to the family. Most of the
families upsetted him for moving on so quickly. I personally
think it's none of my business and I'm not going
to tell him what to do or how to live
his life. However, bringing a new partner over to his
nephew's birthday when he knows how said nephew was so
attached to his former girlfriend and is still mourning her
(09:40):
is idiotic at best and cruel at worst. Brother in
law told Ron that if he's planning on bringing that
girl over for Drew's birthday, he shouldn't bother coming at all.
Ron called me to complain and I told him the
same thing, he shouldn't bring her over. Ron called me
a jerk and a bad brother. He said, he's finally
happy again after Linda's passing, and why is it so
(10:01):
hard for us to accept that he moved on and
support his relationship. I told him I'm happy to hear
he's doing well, and I'm sure the family would someday
love to meet the girl that makes him so happy.
But I'm standing by my opinion that inviting her now
was a dumb decision on his part, and he chose
the worst possible time and place to introduce someone new
to the family at it. Ron and Linda were still
(10:21):
together when she passed away. Not the jerk. I don't
think your brother should be punished for finding happiness with
someone new and shouldn't be held to your family's timetable
for grief. But Drew's birthday is the wrong time to
introduce her to the family, given how young Drew is
and how attached he was to Linda. Am I the
jerk for not giving my sister in law and her
(10:41):
family a luxury vacation? I travel a lot for work,
so I have so many hotel and airline points it's crazy.
This summer, I'm taking my family to Disney World. We're
going to stay at one of the resorts on the property.
My sister in law and her family had a hard
time during lockdown, so I decided to do something nice
and invite them along my treat. I said I would
(11:02):
pay for their flights, hotel, and park tickets. Everyone was
excited until she started talking to my wife. Now she's
upset that we're staying at one of the resorts and
they have to stay at Disney Springs. Apparently I'm being
cheap by using points for their hotel instead of just
paying for them to stay at the same resort as us.
My wife told her sister and brother in law to
just shut up and accept the gift, but they didn't.
(11:25):
They told my in laws that I was making their
kids jealous by not letting them enjoy the same stuff
as us. To be clear, the hotel I booked for
them is very nice, it's just not the Grand Floridian.
So I finally talked to them and gave them the
choice of accepting my gift or not coming, since I
could still cancel their reservations. They started yelling at me
for being a jerk and taking something away from their kids.
(11:47):
I had talked to them like adults, but when they
started screaming, their kids heard them and found out that
they might not be going. Now their kids are upset
at their parents for possibly messing up their vacation, and
I'm the bigger jerk for making them look bad in
front of their kids. Am I the jerk? Let me
get this straight. You're gifting them airline tickets, park tickets,
and a nice hotel, and they demand more. Cancel their
(12:10):
tickets immediately for their benefit too, so they drop this
entitled idiocy forever so the kids can learn you get
nothing if you're being a jerk, so they don't try
to walk all over you in the future. Not the
jerk that would be them poor kids. Heck, I'll take
this amazing gift with endless gratitude. Disney Spring's got four
point eighty five out of five stars. I'll be so
(12:32):
happy and grateful if anyone did this for me. Your
sister in law could have chosen this route. Your uncle
is just amazing and is offering us this unforgettable trip.
We'll be staying at a different location but doing all
of the same parks and activities together. This will give
us the chance to have some time with just us
as a family too. Aren't we lucky to have such
generous people in our family? We are really so blessed.
(12:55):
But alas wow, wow, where I want more and more
and more? A jerk for flipping out on my husband
via text after he let his phone die during a
family emergency. So I, thirty four female, and my husband,
thirty five male, had a plan this weekend that he
would be the next stayed over for a college reunion
while I stayed home with our one year old baby.
(13:15):
All is fine and well until yesterday, right before he
was leaving for the party that was at a bar,
and I got an unexpected call from my parents, who
also live out of state. I'm a nurse, so they
were asking what they should do with my grandma, who
called them stating that she couldn't feel her foot and
that she was in excruciating pain. I told them to
take her to the er immediately, and they said she
couldn't walk, so I told them to call an ambulance.
(13:38):
I called my husband right after, and the last update
that I gave him before his party was that they
were transferring her to another hospital for the emergency surgery
for a life threatening condition. I was waiting anxiously at
home when the surgery was taking way longer than expected.
Around three hours, my husband hadn't checked in at all.
I got a text from a number that I didn't
(13:59):
know that was a drunk selfie of some guy and
my husband with zero context. I texted my husband and
said that I was worried sick about my grandma and
didn't appreciate getting texted drunk selfies from random people. Heard nothing.
After an hour, I texted the random number and asked
if my husband's phone had died, and he said yes
with a laughing emoji. Here's where I may be the jerk.
(14:21):
I texted back, cool, my grandma is still an emergency
surgery laughing face. I never got a reply to this.
About four hours later, when my grandma survived and was
transferred to the ICU, I texted my husband how much
he had let me down. This turned into a fight
where he believes that he did nothing wrong because I
knew he was looking forward to this party for two
(14:42):
months and he couldn't do anything anyway. I blew up
and told him how irresponsible it was for him to
get drunk and let his phone die while I was
alone with our baby during a family emergency. He apologized
for not checking in more to which I corrected that
he didn't check in at all, not even the next morning.
And he says that he did his due diligence in
making himself reachable, and I said that a random number
(15:05):
texting me a drunk selfie does not count as him
telling me that his phone was dead and that's how
I should reach him. He said the name of the
bar in passing a few times, but I couldn't remember
the name, and I did not know the name of
his hotel. He says, I'm just overreacting and it's not
a big deal because it's not like he could do
anything from another state, and that he did nothing wrong.
Seeing his friends was important to him, and a lot
(15:27):
of them he hasn't seen in fifteen years, and that
he shouldn't have to disrupt his plans to cater to me.
I didn't ask him to take the next flight home
just to be available or communicate that he wasn't. I
told him that I was afraid and he could have
at least checked to see if I was okay, and
that It also isn't okay to let your phone die
when someone else has your kid, even without an emergency.
(15:48):
So am I the jerk for flipping out on him?
Eta The emergency happened right before the party, so he
was sober at the time and aware of the situation.
I called him immediately after I had my parents all
nine one one. You're the jerk. Let your husband enjoy
himself and give him a break from the endless nagging.
Don't be surprised when he cheats on you with another woman,
(16:09):
one who isn't going to nag him constantly about things
that he has absolutely no control over. You guys are heartless,
individualistic jerks. They're a family. He's a partner and a father. First.
The least he could have done is check in as
soon as he knew what was happening and apologize for
missing communication earlier. This is the minimum expectation for an
(16:30):
adult partner with a kid at home, not the jerk
wishing your grandma's speedy recovery. I can only imagine how
alone and scared you must have felt, and then the
disrespectful drunk selfie on top of that. Your husband should
be feeling mortified and needs to properly apologize and show support. Yes, exactly.
So many people apparently think it's acceptable to just abandon
(16:51):
your spouse in the name of having fun. My husband
and I have lives outside of our marriage, but we
always make sure we're reachable or inform the other person
when we are aren't able. To be moral support during
an event like this should not be so much of
a debate. It's the bare minimum you do for a
partner you're supposed to love and have promised to support
in good times and in bad times. This is one
(17:12):
of those bad times for your spouse, and you should
make yourself available to them for that, even if it
is long distance. Am I the jerk for declining to
be my cousin's bridesmaid because our wedding is on the
same week as my college graduation. My cousin, let's call
her Polly, she's twenty four, recently got engaged, and she
announced that the wedding would be in Puerto Rico next year.
(17:33):
Polly is the first person in my generation to be
getting married, so it's a very exciting thing for our
extended family. Growing up, we were not super close since
our parents didn't have a good relationship. However, as we
were the only girls in our generation, she asked me
to be a bridesmaid for her, which I am very
flattered by. The problem, however, is that the wedding is
on the same week is my college graduation. At my school,
(17:56):
graduation consists of a week long events, traditions, and ceremony,
which I know may sound trivial, but I didn't have
a high school graduation due to lockdown, and my entire
first year was online, so I've been looking forward to
the graduation festivities for the past few years. I told
Polly that I couldn't be her bride'smaid since I don't
want to miss my own graduation, and also that I
(18:17):
probably won't have the bandwidth the helper with all of
the bride'smaid's duties leading up to the wedding. I could
still attend the actual ceremony since it's the day after
my graduation, but I just wouldn't be able to arrive
before then. My cousin got very upset and basically told
me I'm being selfish for putting my wants over our
family and threatening to not invite me to the wedding.
(18:37):
I lost my temper and told her that she could
go ahead and take my name off the list then,
since I cannot be her bridesmaid. Now my entire extended
family is asking me to apologize to Polly and to
agree to be her bride'smaid. My aunt, Polly's mom, actually
suggested me to skip graduation altogether, since they will just
mail me the diploma if I can't attend. My parents
(18:58):
were not very happy with what my aunt said, and
now they're having an argument with her and also said
they would not attend the wedding either. I didn't mean
for it to get to this point, and now my
grandparents are also getting involved. Yesterday, my grandma actually called
me and offered to pay for my flight to Puerto
Rico if I agree to be Polly's bridesmaid. And it
really hurt because I've already made peace with the fact
(19:19):
that she isn't coming to my graduation since she can't
afford the extra plane ticket to fly from home to
my college and then to Puerto Rico, and the wedding
is more important, which I one hundred percent understand, But
now it just feels like she doesn't even care. Am
I the jerk for doing this? I thought I was
justified for not wanting to miss the graduation week, But
now I'm not so sure anymore, considering all the reactions
(19:40):
from my extended family and especially my grandma. Not the
jerk congratulations, OPI a ten year graduation, You earned it.
This is a legit conflict of schedules, and you're not
even that close with the cousin to begin with. Family
is causing drama for its own sake? Am I the
jerk for man explaining to my girlfriend? I personally don't
(20:00):
think this is an issue of man explaining, but I
want to present her perspective of the issue fairly and objectively.
I don't want to make this story seem completely one sided,
like some of the other stories I read on here. I,
twenty three male, am someone who loves fun facts. I
love telling my friends and family fun facts and seeing
their faces light up with the same interest as mine.
When I had first heard the fact, I've been getting
(20:23):
the feeling lately that my girlfriend, who's twenty three, isn't
really treating me with respect. When she talks to me.
She acts kind of withdrawn and dismissive, and I sometimes
feel like she responds to me as though she's like
a boss speaking to a subordinate Whenever I tell her things,
she may be listening or she may not be. Yesterday,
I told her a fun fact about how styrofoam containers
(20:44):
aren't actually made from styrofoam. Instead, they're made from a
material called paulstyrene, and she didn't even blink and just
said okay. Today, we were over at a friend's house
for dinner and she let us take some pasta home
for leftovers. When I heard my girlfriend say, hand me
that styrofoam container, I got a little annoyed, since this
was proof that she doesn't give a hoot about the
(21:05):
things I said. So I said, in an annoyed voice,
it's made of polish stylen. It's made of polish styrene,
not styrofoam. But I guess it doesn't matter what I say,
since you wouldn't listen anyway. After that, all heck broke loose,
and my girlfriend is refusing to talk to me because
I was rude, even though I was literally just pointing
(21:27):
out that she's being disengaged and disrespectful to me by
not caring about the things I say and making me
feel kind of unimportant. You're the jerk, I wouldn't listen
to you either. Styrofoam is a brand name for polystyrene.
He'd still be the jerk even if it were a
different brand. Hand me the Kleenex. Please, it's Scotties. Don't
(21:48):
you ever listen? You're the jerk. The common name used
is styrofoam, so her calling it that doesn't mean she's
not paying attention to you. Sharing fun facts is fine,
but it's unreasonable to share a fun fact about, as
an example, the scientific word for turkeys, and then get
mad when the person you told continues to use the
word turkey instead of the scientific name. I really hope
(22:10):
this is the first time you made this type of
comment about your girlfriend not paying attention to what you say,
because if it isn't, that sounds incredibly annoying. It's not
man explaining. It's info dumping. Other people may appreciate it,
but it sounds like your girlfriend would like it to
be less, since it appears she gets higher doses of
info dumping than anyone else will. Fun facts are cool,
(22:30):
to constantly talk about them can be exhausting. Where is
your respect for your girlfriend? Exactly? Do you ask her
if she'd like to know a fun fact, or do
you assume and just tell her styrofoam fun fact would
only be a fun fact to someone interested in styrofoam
and how things are made. Why did you get annoyed
over your girlfriend asking for it to go container? It
makes no sense. No one is going to ask for
(22:52):
a polis styrene container. Why would you call her out
in front of people? You seem to be the one
that is extremely ignorant and disrespectful. Jerk. You're the jerk,
and that doesn't sound like a fun fact to be honest,
Perhaps you might need to learn facts that people actually
find interesting, because what material some everyday item is made
of is just not it. Also, a styrofoam container has
(23:14):
called that for a reason. She's not wrong for calling
the product by the name it was given. Agreed, a
fun fact would be talking about why we call them
styrofoam containers instead of polystyrene. Also, op sounds like a
super boring person to be around if this is their
idea of fun. Am I the jerk for bringing up
the fact my brother hasn't had a steady job since
(23:35):
he graduated three years ago. Today we had a little
barbycue for Memorial Day at my mom's house, and my brother,
who's twenty one, was noticeably tired and not really speaking
unless spoken to. But he's kind of always been like that,
it was enough to be noticeably worse today, though. I
asked him how he was doing, and he said he's
fine and he just had a long night with his
friends playing PlayStation. I told him he should have probably
(23:59):
planned to go to early so he'd have energy for
the barybecue today, and he sarcastically responded that he couldn't
help it. I regret my response to this, but I
said maybe you'd have more energy if you had a job.
His demeanor quick His demeanor quickly shifted, and he was
pretty insulted. But it's been a recurring argument between us
(24:20):
that he needs to get off his butt and help
our mom with rent, but for some reason, he just doesn't.
No matter how hard we poke and pat him, he
won't budge. He's not in college and the only money
he makes is when he goes logging with his dad,
which isn't really a job and only happens a few
times a month. Eventually, he started crying and ran to
his room. My mom was upset with me for ruining
(24:42):
the barbecue, which I didn't expect to happen, and told
me I should probably leave. I'm twenty three, female, and
I've had a job ever since high school and I'm
in college currently. I moved out when i was nineteen
and never looked back. But for some reason, my mom
isn't as strict with my brother as she was with me.
She occasionally sends him links to places that are hiring,
(25:02):
and that's it. Honestly, he's got a heart of gold
and a lot of friends and family who adore him.
I just wish he'd get a job to help my
overworked mom out. Am I the jerk? You told him
maybe he'd have more energy if he had a job.
This right here is a cheap shot and doesn't even
make sense not to mention a drama starter. Can't blame
your mom for asking you to leave. You tell it
(25:24):
that you've had a job since high school, go to
school currently, and live on your own. Yet here you
are starting unnecessary, childish drama at a family barbecue. You're
the jerk. You're taking a problem that has nothing to
do with you and making it your problem. Comments like
that are not going to help him. He's an adult,
his job situation is his to deal with, and if
(25:45):
he's not paying rent to your mom, that's up to
your mom to sort out. I also think that you
are not accounting for details you may be unaware of here,
like if he may be dealing with some mental health
issues or other problems in his life. You're the jerk.
It's not your place to shame him. If your parents
have an issue with him not paying rent or his
lack of employment, they can talk to him. It's not
(26:05):
your place. If all the poking and prodding hasn't worked before,
it's not gonna work now. A family barbecue for the
holiday isn't the time nor place for such shaming anyway.
O P seems to think that adults should have jobs
and not stay up all night playing video games. You
really thought the people on Reddit were going to agree
with you. Don't leave the clearance section until you've finished tidying.
(26:27):
Yet another tale for my retail job, which I recently
quit while I procrastinate for my other work. This one
is from about fifteen years ago. At my original store,
I worked in the ladies section doing recovery, basically tidying
up and sometimes printing price tickets for the shelves if
any were missing or torn. And though it was generally
possible to get it finished within the time allotted for
(26:48):
my shift, busy days or events such as Mother's Day
or pre Christmas and Boxing Day sales turned it into
a nightmare. As if the usual holiday shopping mess wasn't
bad enough, the department manager Stacy had, in all her
infinite wisdom, decided to put all of the ladies wear
clearance into the section at once. They actually did it
for all the clothes departments, but most of them only
(27:10):
had a small amount so you could easily fit it
all in the normal clearance racks. However, the ladies department
had ended up with ten times as much clearance as
usual for this time of year, because whoever decides what
clothes will sell made bad choices and we ended up
with mountains of horrid outfits marked down to a dollar,
even though most people wouldn't wear it if you paid
them fifty dollars. Usually they would keep most of the
(27:33):
excess stock out in the back and just have a
few racks of it in the section, and as the
stuff in the section sold and the racks got empty,
they'd be replenished from more stock from out the back.
For some reason, Stacy decided she wanted all the ladies
wear clearance to be available to customers at once, even
though it didn't physically fit on the racks. Not to
be deterred by stupid little things like logic and reason,
(27:56):
she moved the regular stock from the main middle aisle
of the section into other aisles, causing those to be
over full, and ordered the full staff to put the
clearance all along the middle aisle. When I say the
clothes were literally bulging off the shelf arms, I'm not exaggerating.
You could barely even walk down the aisle without the
first four to five things on each arm falling off.
(28:16):
And of course if a customer wanted to look at
anything further back on the shelf, they had knocked most
of the other stuff off in the process, so there
was constantly a several inch layer of clothes lying on
the floor. This made it literally impossible to actually recover
the clearance section properly, but generally recovery staff were told
to prioritize doing a little pick up every hour or
(28:37):
so and make sure there was no stock on the floor,
and spend the rest of the time going through and
recovering the section, making sure everything was in the right
place and in the correct size order. So I had
a shift on Boxing Day, and I'd heard from the
pre shift huddle that one of the big regional managers
was coming in to visit and inspect the store at
closing time, and that we needed to make sure the
(28:58):
store was perfect. Sure how that was meant to happen
on Boxing Day and with half the number of staff
we needed, but whatever. When I started my shift, ninety
percent of the clearance clothing was on the floor. For
most of the aisle, you couldn't even see the floor.
I knew that there was no way I'd be able
to keep the floor clean in the clearance section because
my shift ended at the same time the store closed.
(29:20):
Anything I tidied up would immediately become destroyed by customers.
So I decided I would focus on getting the rest
of the section presentable and then quickly try to pick
up the clearance section in the last ten to fifteen
minutes of the shift before the store shut down. At
the start of my shift, I did a half attempted
pickup in clearance and tried to shove most of the
mess to the side a bit so that it would
(29:40):
at least not be right in the middle of the aisle,
and then went to start the rest of the section,
only to be confronted by Stacy. Stacy, what are you doing?
Have you seen clearance? Why aren't you fixing it? It's
all over the floor. Me? Yeah, because you put too
much stock in there. I picked it up, but it
falls off again because the shelves are too full, and
(30:01):
customers just knock it down as soon as I fix
it anyway, Stacy, well, are you planning to do anything
about it? Me? Right now, I can't do anything about it.
There are so many customers in the aisle I can
hardly get in there anyway, And since I can't keep
clearance tidy with customers in the store, I figured out
get the rest of ladies where tidied and then pick
(30:22):
up clearance at the end. Stacy, not good enough. You
need to make sure clearance is off the floor and
sort it properly. You know, Bob, regional manager is due
for a visit this evening. Me. I understand that, but
like I said, it's literally impossible to recover clearance because
of how much stock is in there and how many
(30:42):
customers there are. If I can at least do the
rest of the area first, then it will only be
clearance that looks a bit rough, and I can at
least make sure everything is off the floor at the
end of the shift. Stacy, you don't get to decide
what you prioritize. You need to make shore clearance is perfect.
I know no one likes clearance, but you need to
stop making excuses to get out of doing it. So
(31:03):
don't leave the clearance section until you finished tidying it
me Okay. Five minutes before my shift ends and the
store closes, the regional manager Bob shows up and is
escorted around the store by the store manager Mark and Stacy.
They stop in front of ladieswhere and Stacy just breathes,
what on earth you see? I had finished tidy in clearance,
(31:26):
but the shelves were still over full, none of the
stock was on the floor in that aisle, and everything
was in the right side order and hanging neatly. The
clearance section was my magnum opus of recovery, if I
do say so myself. However, the rest of Ladies ware
department had not been touched since I couldn't finish tidy
and clearance until the store was pretty much closed, and
(31:46):
I wasn't allowed to leave clearance until I did finish it.
It meant that the rest of the department looked like
a bomb and hit it with stock all over the floor,
clothes draped over the shelves instead of hung up properly,
broken coat hangers everywhere, and abandoned shopping baskets and piles
of stock from other departments left lying around in the aisles.
Bob and Stacy looked like they were about to lose
(32:06):
it on me, but Mark, who knew I was generally
a good worker, asked why the department was in such
poor condition, given that I was meant to have been
recovering it for three hours, I explained. Stacy told me
I wasn't allowed to leave the clearance section until I'd
finished tidying it. But there's so much overstock and so
many customers pulling things apart that most of the stock
won't stay on the shelves. And one of those moments
(32:29):
of perfect cosmic timing, right as I said that, one
of the shelf arms behind me gave way with a
loud crash, sending an entire rack of close to the
floor Mark just stared at me silently for a few
seconds and then said to me, well, you've done well
under the circumstances. You can go home. I'm not sure
if Stacy got into any trouble, but nothing else was
(32:49):
said about it to me by the store manager, and
I never got any warnings or disciplinary action or anything.
The following shift, more rails had been brought out from
the back and placed in the central aisle of the store,
and some of the clearance had been moved to those
rails to free up space and ladiesware. Stacey refused to
talk to me for about a fortnight, though welcome aboard
to it. Newest subscribers, Katie, Yesorah, and Linda do this.
(33:14):
Subscribe to our channel if you're new, Tack the notification
bell and you might get a shout out in an
upcoming video.
I want to have a baby, and you're going to
pay for my IVF to have a baby. Hey there,
mister Redder, here and the soon to be baby mama me.
Welcome back to another episode of Redded podcast Stories. Our
first story will be reading today. Am I the jerk
(00:20):
for refusing to pitch in money towards my sister in
law's IVF treatments? My brother Reid and sister in law
and Nora have always wanted to have kids. However, they're
unable to conceive naturally. Nora had multiple ovarian cysts and
eventually needed to have both of her ovaries removed as
a teenager. Read and Nora are in their early thirties
and are very urgent about needing to try sooner than never,
(00:43):
because they say that they're approaching an age where ivf's
success rates start to decline. Because of Nora's past medical issues,
I'm told that she will need extra care and her
round of treatments will be especially expensive. A little over
twenty seven thousand dollars, Read and Nora already have nine
thousand dollars set aside in savings for IVF. They've raised
(01:03):
one thousand dollars from friends. The rest of the family
is pitching in smaller amounts as well. My mother is
giving two thousand dollars, Nora's sister Lauren is giving one thousand,
and her parents are giving four thousand, which leaves about
ten thousand dollars left. Their insurance will not help to
cover it because they don't consider it a medically necessary procedure.
Reed and Nora also have had difficulty qualifying for an
(01:25):
IVF loan as they have some poor credit. Reed and
Nora are asking me to help because according to the
loan advisor, I'm allowed to take out the loan on
Reed and Nora's behalf. Ten thousand dollars is a huge
ask for me, and the fact that Reed and Nora
have poor credit shows they already don't have a good
track record of paying back loans. When I questioned why
they didn't ask Lauren, they claimed they couldn't because she
(01:48):
isn't single and childless like I am. They see it
as me not having any dependence. My mother and parents
in law don't have a lot of savings, and their
earlier mentioned donations were already a huge gift for them.
Makes a long time to correct a bad credit score,
and it makes things much more difficult and harsh as
it is to say. I don't want to take out
thousands of dollars and a loan for a procedure that
(02:09):
has a good chance of not even working. So I
told Read and Nora no, and that their future kids
are not my responsibility. I also wanted to put my
foot down now because next it's going to be private
school tuition or a college fund, and that shouldn't be
my responsibility just because I'm currently single and childless. Nora
was obviously disappointed, but told me she respected my choice.
(02:31):
Reid was angry. He told me that he would remember
this for when I'm ever in a time of need,
so that I will know how it feels to have
family turn their back on me. The rest of the
family members have essentially told me, we're not mad at you,
just disappointed because Norah worried for years that she would
never be able to have kids or be a mother.
They say Read and Nora would be wonderful parents, and
(02:52):
it isn't right that they can't conceive naturally, which I
do agree with. However, I still stand by Norah and
Reid's future kids not being my responsible I don't think
that it's fair that I should delay or give up
the possibility of starting my own family in order to finance.
Read to Nora's am I the jerk, not the jerk,
And as a mom, I wonder if they can afford
(03:13):
having a kid, if they can't even take a ten
thousand dollars loan. Oh no, not the jerk. That is
not your responsibility. I'm sorry that they're struggling, but common
sense would beg the question. If they can't afford IVF,
how could they afford the kid? The treatment may not
even be successful. In addition, being single and childless and
child free doesn't mean you don't have your own obligations
(03:35):
and causes to which you'd want your money to go.
Best of luck to you, not the jerk. Never loan
money or co sign a note for people who can't
get a loan on their own. There's a reason banks
reject them. It's astounding to me that people are so
brazen you should put your financial stability at risk just
because they'd want you to. That's nuts. Finally, maybe Read
(03:58):
and Norah should wrap their heads together or around the
idea that they cannot afford IVF and should consider something
radical like adoption. Adoption is actually more expensive than IVF.
From the conversations with people around my age who adopted
or considered it, it's typically fifty to eighty thousand dollars.
From what I've been told. You can do foster to adopt,
(04:18):
but that is not a setup which everyone can handle,
and if they only want a fresh newborn baby, they
probably won't want to do that. Since it's usually toddlers
and older. We adopted and it was less than your numbers.
Adoption has a lot of possibilities. My cousin has done
foster to adopt for two infants and had expenses of
less than two thousand dollars in total. Here's the reality.
(04:39):
Some people want to be parents, they can adopt. Some
people want to be pregnant. There's nothing wrong with that,
and adoption doesn't satisfy it. I wish people would distinguish
these more often. If a person can't get pregnant, that
doesn't mean they will never be a parent. However, it
may mean they will never experience pregnancy. For some people,
that's devastating. Bruh this the dude really thinks it cost
(05:01):
eighty thousand dollars to adopt a kid calm down, Karen,
it's ready. You know how these people are. I made
a customer cry. So. I had a table a long
time ago with a nice couple who were at the
restaurant during our dying down hours. Everything was pretty quiet
at this point. We were close to closing and I
was bartending, so I had started my cleaning duties for
that well. This couple had been extremely pleasant. I offered
(05:24):
different items to upsell the check and they were happy
I was giving suggestions. I made them several drink refills.
They were very polite and just enjoying their night, but
they were pretty quiet. I didn't mind, though, I was
busy cleaning up and closing down the bar. After I
give them their meals, I say, all right, you guys,
if everything looks okay, I'll leave you to it. If
(05:45):
you need anything, I'll just be cleaning behind the bar here,
so you can wave me or call me over if
you need something, but I'll still be keeping an eye
on you guys and checking up a few times. I
usually only offer this towards the end of the night,
since I'm kind of distracted with scrubbing things down, dishes
and other bar related things. But this couple was content
with just quietly eating their meals. They didn't need any
(06:06):
more drinks or anything, so I just cleaned. When I
noticed they had finished their meals, I went over and
offered a dessert for them to try upselling, of course,
and they happily said sure, so I went and grabbed
it for them. I also grabbed two new spoons, since
I had cleared their table already. Well, I had my
nails done at this time, and I'm not quite sure
how it happened, but when I sat down the plate
(06:27):
with the dessert, I went to hand the woman her spoon. Somehow,
the spoon slipped from my fingers as I was handing
it to her, and it flung and pelted her kind
of hard in her chest. I immediately went from professional
service voice to panicked, unexpected voice and rushed together, Oh
my goodness, I'm so sorry. I swear I wasn't trying
to throw that at you. This sweet woman just started
(06:49):
laughing and laughing and laughing until she was crying uncontrollably
at her table, And when she finally caught her breath,
she said, that was the funniest thing to ever have
happened to me. In a rest, she started laughing and
crying again, so I started to chuckle once I knew
she wasn't upset, and her partner was just smiling while
he ate his cake and said, if you knew the
(07:09):
day she had today, you'd know how much it means
that you got her to laugh this hard. I just
chuckled again and said, well, I'm glad I could make
you laugh. Did you hear that panic in my voice?
I was so worried I would have accidentally upset you,
which caused her to laugh and cry even harder, and
say between laughs, that's what's making me laugh so hard.
You sounded so panicked compared to your service voice. After
(07:32):
I laughed and apologized again, I decided to just leave
them at that point to enjoy the rest of their meal,
And as I was cleaning up some more behind the bar,
the woman was still laughing and eating her dessert. She
laughed all the way until her and her partner walked
out of the door. The guy left me fifty dollars
with a note thanking me for making his wife's stay
better and to not throw spoons at any more customers.
(07:54):
Am I the jerk for telling my brother it was
a dumb decision to invite his new girlfriend to our
nephew's birthday. I'm twenty mail. My brother Ron is twenty seven.
He met his late girlfriend Linda when they were sixteen,
and they started dating shortly after. To say the family
adored her would be an understatement. Linda was beautiful, smart,
and had an amazing sense of humor. She's been part
(08:15):
of the family for so long that most of us
don't remember a time without her. Most of our best
memories have her in them. Linda was very close to
my nephew, Drew, who's six. Drew is disabled and he's autistic,
so he has a hard time connecting to other people.
I don't know how to describe the relationship between Drew
and Linda. They just sort of clicked from the moment
he was born. She was his best friend and would
(08:37):
often watch over him. Sadly, Linda passed at the end
of January after she was hit by a drunk driver.
The entire family was devastated and we're still mourning her.
Drew took it especially hard since he doesn't really grasp
what death means yet. He constantly asks where is Linda
and when will she be coming back? Sometimes going as
far as having full blown miltdowns because he misses her
(08:58):
so much. He currently attending therapy to learn how to
process his grief, but it's a slow process. Drew's birthday
is in two weeks, and my sister and brother in
law sent out invitations to everyone in the family asking
who can come. Birthdays are a big deal in our
family and are usually an over the top event with catering,
so it's necessary to confirm the number of guests. Apparently,
(09:19):
Ron wrote that he'll come with Jia, a new girlfriend
he's hoping to introduce to the family. Most of the
families upsetted him for moving on so quickly. I personally
think it's none of my business and I'm not going
to tell him what to do or how to live
his life. However, bringing a new partner over to his
nephew's birthday when he knows how said nephew was so
attached to his former girlfriend and is still mourning her
(09:40):
is idiotic at best and cruel at worst. Brother in
law told Ron that if he's planning on bringing that
girl over for Drew's birthday, he shouldn't bother coming at all.
Ron called me to complain and I told him the
same thing, he shouldn't bring her over. Ron called me
a jerk and a bad brother. He said, he's finally
happy again after Linda's passing, and why is it so
(10:01):
hard for us to accept that he moved on and
support his relationship. I told him I'm happy to hear
he's doing well, and I'm sure the family would someday
love to meet the girl that makes him so happy.
But I'm standing by my opinion that inviting her now
was a dumb decision on his part, and he chose
the worst possible time and place to introduce someone new
to the family at it. Ron and Linda were still
(10:21):
together when she passed away. Not the jerk. I don't
think your brother should be punished for finding happiness with
someone new and shouldn't be held to your family's timetable
for grief. But Drew's birthday is the wrong time to
introduce her to the family, given how young Drew is
and how attached he was to Linda. Am I the
jerk for not giving my sister in law and her
(10:41):
family a luxury vacation? I travel a lot for work,
so I have so many hotel and airline points it's crazy.
This summer, I'm taking my family to Disney World. We're
going to stay at one of the resorts on the property.
My sister in law and her family had a hard
time during lockdown, so I decided to do something nice
and invite them along my treat. I said I would
(11:02):
pay for their flights, hotel, and park tickets. Everyone was
excited until she started talking to my wife. Now she's
upset that we're staying at one of the resorts and
they have to stay at Disney Springs. Apparently I'm being
cheap by using points for their hotel instead of just
paying for them to stay at the same resort as us.
My wife told her sister and brother in law to
just shut up and accept the gift, but they didn't.
(11:25):
They told my in laws that I was making their
kids jealous by not letting them enjoy the same stuff
as us. To be clear, the hotel I booked for
them is very nice, it's just not the Grand Floridian.
So I finally talked to them and gave them the
choice of accepting my gift or not coming, since I
could still cancel their reservations. They started yelling at me
for being a jerk and taking something away from their kids.
(11:47):
I had talked to them like adults, but when they
started screaming, their kids heard them and found out that
they might not be going. Now their kids are upset
at their parents for possibly messing up their vacation, and
I'm the bigger jerk for making them look bad in
front of their kids. Am I the jerk? Let me
get this straight. You're gifting them airline tickets, park tickets,
and a nice hotel, and they demand more. Cancel their
(12:10):
tickets immediately for their benefit too, so they drop this
entitled idiocy forever so the kids can learn you get
nothing if you're being a jerk, so they don't try
to walk all over you in the future. Not the
jerk that would be them poor kids. Heck, I'll take
this amazing gift with endless gratitude. Disney Spring's got four
point eighty five out of five stars. I'll be so
(12:32):
happy and grateful if anyone did this for me. Your
sister in law could have chosen this route. Your uncle
is just amazing and is offering us this unforgettable trip.
We'll be staying at a different location but doing all
of the same parks and activities together. This will give
us the chance to have some time with just us
as a family too. Aren't we lucky to have such
generous people in our family? We are really so blessed.
(12:55):
But alas wow, wow, where I want more and more
and more? A jerk for flipping out on my husband
via text after he let his phone die during a
family emergency. So I, thirty four female, and my husband,
thirty five male, had a plan this weekend that he
would be the next stayed over for a college reunion
while I stayed home with our one year old baby.
(13:15):
All is fine and well until yesterday, right before he
was leaving for the party that was at a bar,
and I got an unexpected call from my parents, who
also live out of state. I'm a nurse, so they
were asking what they should do with my grandma, who
called them stating that she couldn't feel her foot and
that she was in excruciating pain. I told them to
take her to the er immediately, and they said she
couldn't walk, so I told them to call an ambulance.
(13:38):
I called my husband right after, and the last update
that I gave him before his party was that they
were transferring her to another hospital for the emergency surgery
for a life threatening condition. I was waiting anxiously at
home when the surgery was taking way longer than expected.
Around three hours, my husband hadn't checked in at all.
I got a text from a number that I didn't
(13:59):
know that was a drunk selfie of some guy and
my husband with zero context. I texted my husband and
said that I was worried sick about my grandma and
didn't appreciate getting texted drunk selfies from random people. Heard nothing.
After an hour, I texted the random number and asked
if my husband's phone had died, and he said yes
with a laughing emoji. Here's where I may be the jerk.
(14:21):
I texted back, cool, my grandma is still an emergency
surgery laughing face. I never got a reply to this.
About four hours later, when my grandma survived and was
transferred to the ICU, I texted my husband how much
he had let me down. This turned into a fight
where he believes that he did nothing wrong because I
knew he was looking forward to this party for two
(14:42):
months and he couldn't do anything anyway. I blew up
and told him how irresponsible it was for him to
get drunk and let his phone die while I was
alone with our baby during a family emergency. He apologized
for not checking in more to which I corrected that
he didn't check in at all, not even the next morning.
And he says that he did his due diligence in
making himself reachable, and I said that a random number
(15:05):
texting me a drunk selfie does not count as him
telling me that his phone was dead and that's how
I should reach him. He said the name of the
bar in passing a few times, but I couldn't remember
the name, and I did not know the name of
his hotel. He says, I'm just overreacting and it's not
a big deal because it's not like he could do
anything from another state, and that he did nothing wrong.
Seeing his friends was important to him, and a lot
(15:27):
of them he hasn't seen in fifteen years, and that
he shouldn't have to disrupt his plans to cater to me.
I didn't ask him to take the next flight home
just to be available or communicate that he wasn't. I
told him that I was afraid and he could have
at least checked to see if I was okay, and
that It also isn't okay to let your phone die
when someone else has your kid, even without an emergency.
(15:48):
So am I the jerk for flipping out on him?
Eta The emergency happened right before the party, so he
was sober at the time and aware of the situation.
I called him immediately after I had my parents all
nine one one. You're the jerk. Let your husband enjoy
himself and give him a break from the endless nagging.
Don't be surprised when he cheats on you with another woman,
(16:09):
one who isn't going to nag him constantly about things
that he has absolutely no control over. You guys are heartless,
individualistic jerks. They're a family. He's a partner and a father. First.
The least he could have done is check in as
soon as he knew what was happening and apologize for
missing communication earlier. This is the minimum expectation for an
(16:30):
adult partner with a kid at home, not the jerk
wishing your grandma's speedy recovery. I can only imagine how
alone and scared you must have felt, and then the
disrespectful drunk selfie on top of that. Your husband should
be feeling mortified and needs to properly apologize and show support. Yes, exactly.
So many people apparently think it's acceptable to just abandon
(16:51):
your spouse in the name of having fun. My husband
and I have lives outside of our marriage, but we
always make sure we're reachable or inform the other person
when we are aren't able. To be moral support during
an event like this should not be so much of
a debate. It's the bare minimum you do for a
partner you're supposed to love and have promised to support
in good times and in bad times. This is one
(17:12):
of those bad times for your spouse, and you should
make yourself available to them for that, even if it
is long distance. Am I the jerk for declining to
be my cousin's bridesmaid because our wedding is on the
same week as my college graduation. My cousin, let's call
her Polly, she's twenty four, recently got engaged, and she
announced that the wedding would be in Puerto Rico next year.
(17:33):
Polly is the first person in my generation to be
getting married, so it's a very exciting thing for our
extended family. Growing up, we were not super close since
our parents didn't have a good relationship. However, as we
were the only girls in our generation, she asked me
to be a bridesmaid for her, which I am very
flattered by. The problem, however, is that the wedding is
on the same week is my college graduation. At my school,
(17:56):
graduation consists of a week long events, traditions, and ceremony,
which I know may sound trivial, but I didn't have
a high school graduation due to lockdown, and my entire
first year was online, so I've been looking forward to
the graduation festivities for the past few years. I told
Polly that I couldn't be her bride'smaid since I don't
want to miss my own graduation, and also that I
(18:17):
probably won't have the bandwidth the helper with all of
the bride'smaid's duties leading up to the wedding. I could
still attend the actual ceremony since it's the day after
my graduation, but I just wouldn't be able to arrive
before then. My cousin got very upset and basically told
me I'm being selfish for putting my wants over our
family and threatening to not invite me to the wedding.
(18:37):
I lost my temper and told her that she could
go ahead and take my name off the list then,
since I cannot be her bridesmaid. Now my entire extended
family is asking me to apologize to Polly and to
agree to be her bride'smaid. My aunt, Polly's mom, actually
suggested me to skip graduation altogether, since they will just
mail me the diploma if I can't attend. My parents
(18:58):
were not very happy with what my aunt said, and
now they're having an argument with her and also said
they would not attend the wedding either. I didn't mean
for it to get to this point, and now my
grandparents are also getting involved. Yesterday, my grandma actually called
me and offered to pay for my flight to Puerto
Rico if I agree to be Polly's bridesmaid. And it
really hurt because I've already made peace with the fact
(19:19):
that she isn't coming to my graduation since she can't
afford the extra plane ticket to fly from home to
my college and then to Puerto Rico, and the wedding
is more important, which I one hundred percent understand, But
now it just feels like she doesn't even care. Am
I the jerk for doing this? I thought I was
justified for not wanting to miss the graduation week, But
now I'm not so sure anymore, considering all the reactions
(19:40):
from my extended family and especially my grandma. Not the
jerk congratulations, OPI a ten year graduation, You earned it.
This is a legit conflict of schedules, and you're not
even that close with the cousin to begin with. Family
is causing drama for its own sake? Am I the
jerk for man explaining to my girlfriend? I personally don't
(20:00):
think this is an issue of man explaining, but I
want to present her perspective of the issue fairly and objectively.
I don't want to make this story seem completely one sided,
like some of the other stories I read on here. I,
twenty three male, am someone who loves fun facts. I
love telling my friends and family fun facts and seeing
their faces light up with the same interest as mine.
When I had first heard the fact, I've been getting
(20:23):
the feeling lately that my girlfriend, who's twenty three, isn't
really treating me with respect. When she talks to me.
She acts kind of withdrawn and dismissive, and I sometimes
feel like she responds to me as though she's like
a boss speaking to a subordinate Whenever I tell her things,
she may be listening or she may not be. Yesterday,
I told her a fun fact about how styrofoam containers
(20:44):
aren't actually made from styrofoam. Instead, they're made from a
material called paulstyrene, and she didn't even blink and just
said okay. Today, we were over at a friend's house
for dinner and she let us take some pasta home
for leftovers. When I heard my girlfriend say, hand me
that styrofoam container, I got a little annoyed, since this
was proof that she doesn't give a hoot about the
(21:05):
things I said. So I said, in an annoyed voice,
it's made of polish stylen. It's made of polish styrene,
not styrofoam. But I guess it doesn't matter what I say,
since you wouldn't listen anyway. After that, all heck broke loose,
and my girlfriend is refusing to talk to me because
I was rude, even though I was literally just pointing
(21:27):
out that she's being disengaged and disrespectful to me by
not caring about the things I say and making me
feel kind of unimportant. You're the jerk, I wouldn't listen
to you either. Styrofoam is a brand name for polystyrene.
He'd still be the jerk even if it were a
different brand. Hand me the Kleenex. Please, it's Scotties. Don't
(21:48):
you ever listen? You're the jerk. The common name used
is styrofoam, so her calling it that doesn't mean she's
not paying attention to you. Sharing fun facts is fine,
but it's unreasonable to share a fun fact about, as
an example, the scientific word for turkeys, and then get
mad when the person you told continues to use the
word turkey instead of the scientific name. I really hope
(22:10):
this is the first time you made this type of
comment about your girlfriend not paying attention to what you say,
because if it isn't, that sounds incredibly annoying. It's not
man explaining. It's info dumping. Other people may appreciate it,
but it sounds like your girlfriend would like it to
be less, since it appears she gets higher doses of
info dumping than anyone else will. Fun facts are cool,
(22:30):
to constantly talk about them can be exhausting. Where is
your respect for your girlfriend? Exactly? Do you ask her
if she'd like to know a fun fact, or do
you assume and just tell her styrofoam fun fact would
only be a fun fact to someone interested in styrofoam
and how things are made. Why did you get annoyed
over your girlfriend asking for it to go container? It
makes no sense. No one is going to ask for
(22:52):
a polis styrene container. Why would you call her out
in front of people? You seem to be the one
that is extremely ignorant and disrespectful. Jerk. You're the jerk,
and that doesn't sound like a fun fact to be honest,
Perhaps you might need to learn facts that people actually
find interesting, because what material some everyday item is made
of is just not it. Also, a styrofoam container has
(23:14):
called that for a reason. She's not wrong for calling
the product by the name it was given. Agreed, a
fun fact would be talking about why we call them
styrofoam containers instead of polystyrene. Also, op sounds like a
super boring person to be around if this is their
idea of fun. Am I the jerk for bringing up
the fact my brother hasn't had a steady job since
(23:35):
he graduated three years ago. Today we had a little
barbycue for Memorial Day at my mom's house, and my brother,
who's twenty one, was noticeably tired and not really speaking
unless spoken to. But he's kind of always been like that,
it was enough to be noticeably worse today, though. I
asked him how he was doing, and he said he's
fine and he just had a long night with his
friends playing PlayStation. I told him he should have probably
(23:59):
planned to go to early so he'd have energy for
the barybecue today, and he sarcastically responded that he couldn't
help it. I regret my response to this, but I
said maybe you'd have more energy if you had a job.
His demeanor quick His demeanor quickly shifted, and he was
pretty insulted. But it's been a recurring argument between us
(24:20):
that he needs to get off his butt and help
our mom with rent, but for some reason, he just doesn't.
No matter how hard we poke and pat him, he
won't budge. He's not in college and the only money
he makes is when he goes logging with his dad,
which isn't really a job and only happens a few
times a month. Eventually, he started crying and ran to
his room. My mom was upset with me for ruining
(24:42):
the barbecue, which I didn't expect to happen, and told
me I should probably leave. I'm twenty three, female, and
I've had a job ever since high school and I'm
in college currently. I moved out when i was nineteen
and never looked back. But for some reason, my mom
isn't as strict with my brother as she was with me.
She occasionally sends him links to places that are hiring,
(25:02):
and that's it. Honestly, he's got a heart of gold
and a lot of friends and family who adore him.
I just wish he'd get a job to help my
overworked mom out. Am I the jerk? You told him
maybe he'd have more energy if he had a job.
This right here is a cheap shot and doesn't even
make sense not to mention a drama starter. Can't blame
your mom for asking you to leave. You tell it
(25:24):
that you've had a job since high school, go to
school currently, and live on your own. Yet here you
are starting unnecessary, childish drama at a family barbecue. You're
the jerk. You're taking a problem that has nothing to
do with you and making it your problem. Comments like
that are not going to help him. He's an adult,
his job situation is his to deal with, and if
(25:45):
he's not paying rent to your mom, that's up to
your mom to sort out. I also think that you
are not accounting for details you may be unaware of here,
like if he may be dealing with some mental health
issues or other problems in his life. You're the jerk.
It's not your place to shame him. If your parents
have an issue with him not paying rent or his
lack of employment, they can talk to him. It's not
(26:05):
your place. If all the poking and prodding hasn't worked before,
it's not gonna work now. A family barbecue for the
holiday isn't the time nor place for such shaming anyway.
O P seems to think that adults should have jobs
and not stay up all night playing video games. You
really thought the people on Reddit were going to agree
with you. Don't leave the clearance section until you've finished tidying.
(26:27):
Yet another tale for my retail job, which I recently
quit while I procrastinate for my other work. This one
is from about fifteen years ago. At my original store,
I worked in the ladies section doing recovery, basically tidying
up and sometimes printing price tickets for the shelves if
any were missing or torn. And though it was generally
possible to get it finished within the time allotted for
(26:48):
my shift, busy days or events such as Mother's Day
or pre Christmas and Boxing Day sales turned it into
a nightmare. As if the usual holiday shopping mess wasn't
bad enough, the department manager Stacy had, in all her
infinite wisdom, decided to put all of the ladies wear
clearance into the section at once. They actually did it
for all the clothes departments, but most of them only
(27:10):
had a small amount so you could easily fit it
all in the normal clearance racks. However, the ladies department
had ended up with ten times as much clearance as
usual for this time of year, because whoever decides what
clothes will sell made bad choices and we ended up
with mountains of horrid outfits marked down to a dollar,
even though most people wouldn't wear it if you paid
them fifty dollars. Usually they would keep most of the
(27:33):
excess stock out in the back and just have a
few racks of it in the section, and as the
stuff in the section sold and the racks got empty,
they'd be replenished from more stock from out the back.
For some reason, Stacy decided she wanted all the ladies
wear clearance to be available to customers at once, even
though it didn't physically fit on the racks. Not to
be deterred by stupid little things like logic and reason,
(27:56):
she moved the regular stock from the main middle aisle
of the section into other aisles, causing those to be
over full, and ordered the full staff to put the
clearance all along the middle aisle. When I say the
clothes were literally bulging off the shelf arms, I'm not exaggerating.
You could barely even walk down the aisle without the
first four to five things on each arm falling off.
(28:16):
And of course if a customer wanted to look at
anything further back on the shelf, they had knocked most
of the other stuff off in the process, so there
was constantly a several inch layer of clothes lying on
the floor. This made it literally impossible to actually recover
the clearance section properly, but generally recovery staff were told
to prioritize doing a little pick up every hour or
(28:37):
so and make sure there was no stock on the floor,
and spend the rest of the time going through and
recovering the section, making sure everything was in the right
place and in the correct size order. So I had
a shift on Boxing Day, and I'd heard from the
pre shift huddle that one of the big regional managers
was coming in to visit and inspect the store at
closing time, and that we needed to make sure the
(28:58):
store was perfect. Sure how that was meant to happen
on Boxing Day and with half the number of staff
we needed, but whatever. When I started my shift, ninety
percent of the clearance clothing was on the floor. For
most of the aisle, you couldn't even see the floor.
I knew that there was no way I'd be able
to keep the floor clean in the clearance section because
my shift ended at the same time the store closed.
(29:20):
Anything I tidied up would immediately become destroyed by customers.
So I decided I would focus on getting the rest
of the section presentable and then quickly try to pick
up the clearance section in the last ten to fifteen
minutes of the shift before the store shut down. At
the start of my shift, I did a half attempted
pickup in clearance and tried to shove most of the
mess to the side a bit so that it would
(29:40):
at least not be right in the middle of the aisle,
and then went to start the rest of the section,
only to be confronted by Stacy. Stacy, what are you doing?
Have you seen clearance? Why aren't you fixing it? It's
all over the floor. Me? Yeah, because you put too
much stock in there. I picked it up, but it
falls off again because the shelves are too full, and
(30:01):
customers just knock it down as soon as I fix
it anyway, Stacy, well, are you planning to do anything
about it? Me? Right now, I can't do anything about it.
There are so many customers in the aisle I can
hardly get in there anyway, And since I can't keep
clearance tidy with customers in the store, I figured out
get the rest of ladies where tidied and then pick
(30:22):
up clearance at the end. Stacy, not good enough. You
need to make sure clearance is off the floor and
sort it properly. You know, Bob, regional manager is due
for a visit this evening. Me. I understand that, but
like I said, it's literally impossible to recover clearance because
of how much stock is in there and how many
(30:42):
customers there are. If I can at least do the
rest of the area first, then it will only be
clearance that looks a bit rough, and I can at
least make sure everything is off the floor at the
end of the shift. Stacy, you don't get to decide
what you prioritize. You need to make shore clearance is perfect.
I know no one likes clearance, but you need to
stop making excuses to get out of doing it. So
(31:03):
don't leave the clearance section until you finished tidying it
me Okay. Five minutes before my shift ends and the
store closes, the regional manager Bob shows up and is
escorted around the store by the store manager Mark and Stacy.
They stop in front of ladieswhere and Stacy just breathes,
what on earth you see? I had finished tidy in clearance,
(31:26):
but the shelves were still over full, none of the
stock was on the floor in that aisle, and everything
was in the right side order and hanging neatly. The
clearance section was my magnum opus of recovery, if I
do say so myself. However, the rest of Ladies ware
department had not been touched since I couldn't finish tidy
and clearance until the store was pretty much closed, and
(31:46):
I wasn't allowed to leave clearance until I did finish it.
It meant that the rest of the department looked like
a bomb and hit it with stock all over the floor,
clothes draped over the shelves instead of hung up properly,
broken coat hangers everywhere, and abandoned shopping baskets and piles
of stock from other departments left lying around in the aisles.
Bob and Stacy looked like they were about to lose
(32:06):
it on me, but Mark, who knew I was generally
a good worker, asked why the department was in such
poor condition, given that I was meant to have been
recovering it for three hours, I explained. Stacy told me
I wasn't allowed to leave the clearance section until I'd
finished tidying it. But there's so much overstock and so
many customers pulling things apart that most of the stock
won't stay on the shelves. And one of those moments
(32:29):
of perfect cosmic timing, right as I said that, one
of the shelf arms behind me gave way with a
loud crash, sending an entire rack of close to the
floor Mark just stared at me silently for a few
seconds and then said to me, well, you've done well
under the circumstances. You can go home. I'm not sure
if Stacy got into any trouble, but nothing else was
(32:49):
said about it to me by the store manager, and
I never got any warnings or disciplinary action or anything.
The following shift, more rails had been brought out from
the back and placed in the central aisle of the store,
and some of the clearance had been moved to those
rails to free up space and ladiesware. Stacey refused to
talk to me for about a fortnight, though welcome aboard
to it. Newest subscribers, Katie, Yesorah, and Linda do this.
(33:14):
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