The holidays are all about giving rather than receiving, right? Sure, it’s nice to open gifts, but the true meaning of Christmas is to make the ones you love feel special.
At least, that’s the thought. However, one husband had a different idea of what the holidays mean to him. And after giving his wife $600 for her gift, and getting a very cheap gift in return, he wasn’t too happy. His wife posted all about it on the popular “Am I The A**hole?” Reddit thread.
She explained that her husband is the breadwinner of the family and she stays home with their kids. “As a result, I don’t have what they call fun money or money to spend however I want,” she explained in the post.
After she received the $600 gift, she knew she had to get him something decent. She chose a pair of sneakers that were on his list—a pair of sneakers that cost $180! Not cheap shoes, right?
“When it was time for gift opening he opened the gift, saw the sneakers and looked extremely, extremely upset like he was about to blow up,” she wrote. “I asked what’s up and he asked why ‘in the blue hell’ I decided to ‘waste money’ and get him sneakers aka: the cheapest gift on his wish list.”
When she explained that the sneakers were all she could afford, he lashed out at her—in front of his family—saying that he gave her $600, so she could’ve easily afforded more—aka a gaming console that was on his list.
“It was so, so awkward I felt so horrible I wanted to disappear,” the wife wrote. “But I apologized and said I was sorry but I had other stuff I needed to buy and money wasn’t enough.”
However, that didn’t go over too well. Apparently, the husband took that as she was blaming him for not giving her enough money. He even told her “how wasteful and financially irresponsible” she was.
“He straight up told me how disappointed he was and said that I ruined his Christmas then went upstairs and avoided talking to me ‘til we got back and the whole argument restarted,” she said. “He kept saying ‘good job screwing up’ even after I pointed out how rude it was of him to react like that in front of his parents.”
She left the post asking the question of all questions: Was she the jerk or was he?
People who read the post thought the answer was unanimous. She was NOT the jerk. In fact, many people recommended leaving him, as it sounds like she was being verbally abused.
“Your husband is abusing you. This is literally financial abuse,” someone wrote. “You deserve money to spend on yourself, doesn’t matter if you don’t make a salary; you still do work keeping house. Not only that, but yelling at you like that at all, but especially in front of people is also abusive. PLEASE look into getting disability or unemployment and get AWAY from him!!!”
“You need to leave,” another advised. “I know it’s scary. If you don’t have family that can help you, you most likely qualify for Medicaid and other government subsidies since you have medical problems and cannot work. You can even apply for money from social security disability if you’re condition prohibits you from being able to work.”
What do you think about how this husband treated his wife?