The man found himself more frustrated than appreciative of the gift his wife gave him as it just looked like a whole lot of work to him.
An altercation between a husband and wife over an early Father's Day gift has left the 34-year-old man turning to the internet for advice.
In the story posted to the infamous AITA ("Am I the A--hole") forum, the OP (a.k.a. the "original poster") says it all started when he though he was about to go hang with his buddies when his wife asked him to cancel his plans because she got him something. But what she saw as a nice gift he saw as just more work.
The man then turned to Reddit to determine if he is the "a--hole" or not.
Read on to see the full story and how Redditors reacted.
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View StoryThe Original AITA Post on Reddit
"34m here Im not sure how to start this so I'll just get right to it. My wife surprised me with a gift that when presented I didn't really have the best reaction," OP begins.
"My wife had the day off and wanted have a day with her friend to watch Bridgerton and drink momosas. Since she was having her day with her girlfriend, I decided to get a couple rounds of disc golf in. I get off of work and do the daily chores. (Garbage, walk dog, feed mysel) As I am leaving to walk the dog I tell the wife that I'm going to play disc golf after I'm done. To which she replies 'well maybe you shouldn't. I'll tell you when you get back,'" the OP recalled.
"This already kind of dampened my mood as I had a long day and getting some light exercise in some clear weather sounded quite nice. Not to mention I've made said plans with a couple people which now I may have to cancel. Not the biggest deal right?"
She got me a grill and not only that I have to now go pick up said grill, assemble it and prepare dinner for guests
Then the OP opened up about how he felt when told about the gift she gave him, and why he didn't quite see it the same way she did.
"Now that's out of the way here's the meat and potatoes. She got me a grill and not only that I have to now go pick up said grill, assemble it and prepare dinner for guests because it's nice out she invited friends over for me to cook for. It was presented in manner of 'I got you a grill and invited our friends over and when you get it put together you can use it,'" OP continued.
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View Story"Needless to say my internal self was screaming and the stress meter moved up a bit. I gave a 'oh cool' and tried my hardest not to seem ungrateful but the surprise seemed very impulsive and just created a ton of work for me to do. So I cancelled my plans. wife cancelled the pick up order due to my 'ungrateful attitude,'" OP said, revealing that no one was getting a grill and clearly no one was getting to play disc golf.
"We are now going to go out to eat with said people and we are now in a fight. AITA?"
How Reddit Reacted
The largest consensus from Reddit was that OP was not the a--hole in this situation, with one commenter telling him his wife didn't give him a gift, she "surprised you with a job." While another said, "that's a sh--ty gift. NTA about the grill for sure."
The majority of commenters insisted that it wasn't a kind gift; in fact it was more of a chore due to the amount of workload he would have to take on.
"NTA. Let her know that giving you chores to do does not and will never qualify as a gift," one wrote. "A gift would be if she bought and assembled the grill, and then grilled the meal for you and the friends she invited over," the commenter further explained.
Get her a washing machine for her birthday with a nice load of dirty laundry to test drive it
While most commenters had his back, there was some discussion about how the husband handled the situation in the moment. "Why didn't you just tell her how you felt instead of saying 'oh cool'. I get the urge to go along to get along," wrote one, "but the truth inevitably comes out anyway."
Some commenters suggested flipping the situation, telling the husband to purchase his wife something to show why he reacted the way he did. "Get her a washing machine for her birthday with a nice load of dirty laundry to test drive it," the commenter wrote with another adding to his comment, "Preferably a disassembled washing machine."
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View StorySome even suggested he do the same thing to his wife when Mother's Day comes around next year. "Ask her how she would feel if one month before Mother's Day you told her to cancel her manicure and brunch plans with her friends because she needs to go pick up her early Mother’s Day gift - a pasta maker," one wrote.
"She has to go pick it up now because it’s going to take her a few hours to make pasta from scratch and she needs to be ready to host the pasta night with your friends tonight, because her second one-Month-early Mother's Day gift is that she is using her pasta maker to cook for all of them in just a few hours. SURPRISE 💕"
What do you think?