Weddings are getting pretty over-the-top these days.

Between the dresses, the venues, the bachelorette/bachelor parties, bridal showers, and gifts--everyone has to be prepared to fork over a decent chunk of change whether they're getting married or just attending.

But, it all starts with an engagement ring. While it's traditional to purchase a diamond, many couples choose to use family heirlooms or other gems for their engagement rings. However, it is expected that whomever is proposing spends a significant amount of their income on an engagement ring, and three months salary is usually the amount that is suggested. That's a quarter of someone's yearly income so you better make sure you're prepared to spend the rest of your life with this person. This is a big decision emotionally and financially, and if Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth recent split has taught us anything, a long-lasting marriage is never guaranteed...

So, when a student shared their awkward conversation concerning what is acceptable to spend on an engagement ring on reddit, the internet was ready to discuss.

AITA for calling this woman's expectations for an engagement ring gold digging?

I'm taking a law class. My professor was talking about conditional gifts, and was using engagement rings as an example. He asked the class, "Does anyone know how much a typical engagement ring costs?"

This lady next to me said "three months salary" without any indication she was joking.

I don't know much about weddings or engagements, but that seemed like such a disgusting number. I was pretty repulsed. I looked at her and said, "Three months salary!? That's not an engagement ring, that's shameless gold digging!" A few people laughed pretty hard, but I wasn't joking at all. I come from a poor background, so that just sounded like straight up greed. When the professor went back to lecturing, the lady tapped on my shoulder and then flipped me off.

My girlfriend agreed that three months salary is insane, but said I probably should've kept quiet.

Clearly this person didn't know that three months salary is the standard suggestion, but it still isn't right to embarrass someone in class, especially since this person wasn't demanding her partner spend three months salary.

Most people agreed that the OP was wrong in this situation...

"punfull" wrote:

The question wasn't "how much do you think a ring SHOULD cost" it was "how much do you think the average purchase is?". You jumped on this person for answering the question AS ASKED.

"justanotheracct33" wrote:

Exactly this, 100% YTA. Like, if the prof asked "How much is the US federal minimum wage?" and the student answered $7.25, would OP have accused her of supporting corporate greed and income inequality? She has no say in what the standard is, she was just correctly answering the question as posited without allowing her personal monetary grievances get in the way of her judgement. For this, she will be a good lawyer, and OP will not.

"Trogdor_elBurninator" wrote:

3 months salary is a ridiculous number that the jewelry industry pushes. I don't know a lot of people who can (or should) give up a quarter of their annual income for a piece of jewelry!

But still YTA because of you basically calling your classmate a gold digger. She was answering a question with what has (unfortunately) become a conventional answer to that question. Doesn't mean she personally is a gold digger.

"GreatKentuckyChicken" wrote:

You're not wrong that that's an insane amount, but her answer is the generally suggested standard amount and she isn't a gold-digger for saying so.

Her answer was correct and you were out of line for shaming her for it, especially as you yourself admit that you dont know about the matter.

Diamonds are a rip-off, but that's not her fault.

The original poster eventually edited the post and apologized:

Ok. The overwhelming consensus is I was a prick. I agree, and will apologize the next time I see her. I could've worded my thoughts better, or just not said anything.

When it comes to weddings and all wedding-related events, it's best to keep judgment to yourself.

If a boyfriend is douchey and toxic in one way, odds are that he's going to be douchey and toxic in another. Twitter user Zoe Scholefield shared a text from her ex that had an exhaustive list of twelve rules he insisted she follow on a night out without him. Lo and behold, the controlling creepazoid was even more micro-managing than helicopter mom with a series of 12 rules she MUST follow on a night out without him.

"Funny how my ex sent me stuff like this then has the audacity to cheat on me," she wrote.

A simple "have fun! I respect and trust you!" would be enough.

The rules are as follows:

1) Don't dance like a slag like in reflex

2) Don't get too drunk

3) No boys and if anyone comes up to you and talks to you tell them you have a boyfriend

4) Look after your drink at all times to make sure no one puts owt in it

5) Stick with ____ or _____ all time not _____ by looks of last night mostly _____

6) No one but you 4 in your room besides _____ but he can't sleep

Believe it or not, that's just half of it.

7) You can't go in anyone else's room

8) You let me know everything that happens to be ready to explain stories

9) Always send me photos of front and back of what you are wearing so I can approve and say whether or not I think you should wear it

10) Even when I'm asleep text me to tell me things so I can see in morning

11) If you find time call me or [FaceTime] me but let me know in advance

12) If you want a video of room before you sleep to prove no one else is there and you are off to sleep

The tweet has gone massively viral, with over 34,000 likes.

The masses agree: this guy sucks.

This behavior isn't just horrible: it also abusive.

If your boyfriend sends you any such "rules"—whether it's one or twelve or one hundred—it's not okay, and it's not your fault. If you need, call

Julia Roberts' character in Runaway Bride is not the only one who has put on the running shoes and escaped her marital vows. There are all kinds of circumstances and reasons that lead someone to be a runaway bride, and the stories are just as fascinating as any Garry Marshall movie.

In a recent Reddit thread runaway brides and their close friends shared their stories, and it'll make you empathize more with the real reasons behind leaving someone at the altar.

1. NearMayhem's ex and his mom really pushed a wedding she wasn't ready for.

"On my 18th birthday, my boyfriend proposed to me at my party, in front of all of my family and friends. I said yes mostly because I was too embarrassed to say no. We had been dating for 2 years, but I was just about to start university, I wasn't ready at all. I asked later (when we were alone) if we could have a long engagement, at least a year or two and he agreed. We told our families and friends we would be waiting to get married. Less than 3 months later his mum and my mum took me out for lunch and decided to take me to look at wedding dresses, because "it's never too early to start planning" When I saw a really lovely dress that was on sale, my fiance's mother insisted on buying it for me."

"Their family was quite wealthy and had set money aside for all of my fiance's milestones, education, first car, wedding etc. She told me they were happy to cover the major costs as they were the ones who wanted a big wedding, and joked I could pay her back in grandchildren. A few weeks later his mum introduced me to a "friend" who was a florist. Next thing I know I'm looking at bouquets and discussing table arrangements. Then my fiancé starts talking about venues for our wedding, saying we need to start planning so we can find the perfect place."

By this point, I'm truly panicking...I'm just a few months into university, I haven't even fully decided what I want to do with my education, now I'm choosing venues for a wedding that's supposed to be years away? A wedding that's suddenly looking like the nuptials of a minor royal. I tried talking to my fiancé, but he just wouldn't listen. We saw a venue we liked, but they had no availability for almost two years. So we booked it and I could finally breathe again...I had 2 years to get ready for my big fat crazy wedding.

"Then the venue had a cancellation, for less than six months away and my fiancé accepted it WITHOUT telling me. Just canceled our future date and took the one that was now available. Then he arranged the entire wedding with the help of his mum (and mine, damn her helicopter ways!) before telling me. When he told me everything was booked, I went mental. His reaction was that he'd gone with all of my choices re catering, venue, flowers etc and so I should be grateful that he'd dealt with all the stressful stuff. All I had to do was turn up."

"When I explained that I didn't want to get married in six months time and that this was the third or fourth time I'd told him I wasn't ready for marriage yet, he told me I was being childish and that the invitations were at the printer, so it was too late to "change my mind"

"I finally realized that he was manipulating me, so I gave him the engagement ring back and told him I didn't want to see him anymore. I told my family and friends, cried a lot, changed my number because he wouldn't stop calling, etc. Two months later my mum got a call from his mother, because she hadn't been able to get in touch with me to arrange dress fittings and finalize bridesmaids."

"He hadn't told them we split up. My mother explained everything to his mother and figured that was that. The following week she had the audacity to present my family with a bill for half of what they had paid out for the wedding. It came to thousands of pounds. They'd booked everything, right down to the cake and the favors, without telling me and wanted me to pay!"

2. QuintinTheKitten's friend almost got tricked into a marriage.

"Had a friend that didn’t know she was the bride until she was half way down the aisle."

"Her parents had arranged a marriage for her (common in her culture) and had told her that the family had all been invited to a cousin’s wedding. My friend was told everyone was going to be wearing white for whatever reason, I don’t remember. They arrived at the church just before the bride was scheduled to walk down the aisle. My friend, thinking they’re late, wanted to slip in and stay in the back. Her father however takes her arm and they start walking up the aisle. It isn’t until they’re half way up that she stops and realizes everyone is looking at her and smiling and crying tears of joy. She turned to one of her aunts in the pew next to her and asked them who was getting married."

"The whole church went silent and then the aunt looked at my friends father and said “You can’t be serious! You planed a wedding for your daughter and just expected her to go along with it?! Have the two of them even met? Did you seriously think this would work?!” The whole room was them chattering about them and the father just clear his throat and told his daughter to keep walking. Luckily the aunt grabbed my friend first and pulled her into the pew, pushed her past the row of people and they both ran out of the church. Her parents disowned her after that and she moved in with that aunt."

"Edit: They are an Indian family in the US, her parents are very traditional and she expressed that she didn’t want to get married and wanted to focus on her career."

3. Qyro's sister dodged a bullet.

"Not me, and I’m not sure it counts as runaway, but my sister broke up with her fiancé 4 months before their wedding, which was already planned and paid for."

"I’ll be honest I don’t know the full story. Even now, 18 months later, she still hasn’t fully opened up to us about it, but I never really liked the guy. He was nice enough, but he absolutely could not handle his drink. He could never have a little drink, no, he had to drink the whole bar every time, then would come home and puke up over the entire house. He then had the audacity to complain whenever my sister would go out with her friends just for a couple of drinks, to the point where he eventually just stopped letting her go out altogether."

"His family was an absolute mess as well. His mum and step dad were pretty cool, but they moved to Canada to pursue their dreams, leaving my sister and her fiancé in the hands of aunts and uncles who did not approve of her at all. His little brother was on-off with his teenage girlfriend he eventually knocked up, and who was always trying to one-up my sister too."

"Eventually, as far as she’s told us, she just felt trapped by the guy. She was prohibited from hanging out with her friends, and was forced to go to family events with people who despised her. He made her distance herself from us, which I think was painful for her as she essentially missed quality time with her new nephews at the time. He basically controlled every aspect of her life."

"Anyway she unceremoniously dumped him on New Years Eve, and canceled the wedding then and there. I don’t think she even saw him again after that. She was always out when he came to collect his stuff. Obviously his family weren’t too happy about it and harassed her for months. She became depressed and needed medication, but it was my family that had to foot the wedding bill anyway. They were just glad to have their daughter back."

4. turtoils' ex helped a friend escape an abusive engagement.

"My boyfriend at the time had a female friend who, the night before her wedding, finally spilled to several friends (including him) that her fiance had been emotionally and physically abusing her, and she wasn't sure she should get married. We'd all noticed her being distanced from us, but she'd deny every time that something was wrong. The next day, her family mobilized to get the word out to all her guests, and a bunch of her friends essentially forced themselves into the guy's house to get all her things back."

"My boyfriend was a cop, so had a duty to press charges or something on the guy - I was never clear on this part. The woman was pissed off at him for a while, but now a few years later is seeing someone great whom I've actually known forever and is quite a bit happier now. Plus, she knows her friends and family have her back and can get shit done."

5. MoVodka's mom experienced a wild turn of events.

"Not me but my mother. My mom called off a wedding just weeks before the ceremony date because she found out her fiancé had lied to her about his whereabouts and was partying at a hotel with friends and other women. She caught him in a hot tub at 1am with twin sisters."

"Fast forward about 3 years later. She starts dating and later marries the man who is my biological father. She said meeting the family was especially awkward when she discovered my father had three sisters.. two of which were the twins she caught her ex fiancé with in the hot tub."

6. motogirl87 left once she saw the red flags.

"Got engaged after 3 months and started planning pretty much straight away was very young and his mother wanted to decorate the entire wedding redneck asf. I had a fall out with her over it as I felt she wasn’t letting anyone have a say and we were paying for it. Red flags started popping up his temper, he got a huge neck tattoo with my name, started becoming possessive and verbally abusive."

"Then dress shopping I broke down and said “No this isn’t right” it was like a store of thousands of dresses was telling me there wasn’t a single one that was in there for this occasion so it couldn’t happen. I sat in my car went home, placed the ring on the counter packed my stuff and left."

7. JenniTheBunni's best friend deserves a movie.

"Not my story, but my best friend's.

Note: I had her permission to tell this story."

"Back in high school I had this friend called Cheyenne. We were very close and loooved planning our dream weddings. Every month when the new bridal magazine came in we spent free period at a bench with a pen circling and gushing over dresses. Flash forward to junior year and she meets this guy called Nick. Nick was fairly popular at our school, mainly known for his older sisters who were triplets and just known for being "the triplets". She and him started dating after a couple weeks and it was not good. They were on and off and on and off all the time, and it was known that he cheated on her every other weekend when she was away at her mom's house."

"After they graduated they broke up for a little bit and got back together after 3-4 months. Halfway through sophomore year of college Cheyenne starts acting very out of character. She started drinking pretty heavily and due to that we got in a fight and didn't speak for a year. When we did it was because she found out she was pregnant with Nick's baby and they were planning to get married. I was ecstatic and soon we regained our original closeness. I was going to be her moh and they were going to have a beautiful wedding in the mountains."

"Day of Cheyenne seemed shaky and odd. She insisted she was fine, but I kept an eye on her. 15 minutes before we're scheduled to walk down the aisle I run outside real quick to see where Cheyenne was because she had stepped out and no one knew where she was. I get to the road close by and see a little pair of heels by. I leave the shoes in case she was planning on coming back and go tell the DOC. Ceremony gets put on hold and we're all looking around for Cheyenne, and I see Nick get really angry and hear him mutter "that damn bitch when I get my hands on her..."

"Now I don't know what the hell to do. I'm getting concerned for Cheyenne, worried she fell down the hill or something, so we have people looking all around. I smell something fishy and think that maybe she ran off, considering their past and what I just heard Nick say. I drive into town which was just a 10 minute drive (more like a 45-1hour long walk) and see Cheyenne in her big white fluffy dress (easy to spot) walking into a bar."

"I go into talk to her, ask her what the hell happened and she confessed that Nick had been verbally, physically and sexually ABUSING HER SINCE HIGH SCHOOL. Apparently that morning he threatened her that if she didn't behave he'd kill her and her baby. I called the police immediately, notified the DOC to just cancel it all and that I found her, and drove her to the hospital."

"Long, messy trial later plus a restraining order, he was behind bars and she moved to Portland so she'd be close enough to her family but far enough away from him. Now she's getting remarried in September 2020 and her baby is now 4 years old and beautiful. Her name is Harmony."

8. savageexplosive knows a woman who loves the rush of getting engaged.

"One of the people I know is what I can call a serial fiancée. She dates guys right until they propose to her, then she says yes, starts looking for venues, dresses, etc., and then she calls off the wedding and breaks up with the guy, saying "I didn't wanna marry him anyway, he's (insert reason here)". The last time this happened she had an AMA about her wedding on Instagram, but two months before the supposed date of the wedding all her photos, AMA answers and mentions of engagement were gone. Maybe she's getting a kick out of it, I don't know."

9. denatured_enzyme_'s mom helped a friend escape a horrific life of marriage.

"Heard a story from my mom about a friend of hers who planned on getting married. He was a great guy, very loving and responsible etc but his one flaw was his terribly bad temper. Their quarrels were always so bad that she would come crying to my mom about how he yelled at her. My mom advised her friend to leave before it's too late but the friend genuinely thought he would change. The day before the wedding he threw a tantrum so bad that he yeeted a whole table past her head, she nearly died. She cancelled the wedding and never talked to him again."

10. 1birdofprey1 was a child bride.

"I was 16 years old and working at Chess King in the mall when a man (who originally lied about his age saying he was 20, but I shortly found out was 26) came in and was extremely enamored with me. I had some daddy issues, loved the attention and soon thought I was in love. He asked me to marry him 2 weeks later. He had even asked my parents permission and they said yes (I still am upset with them for that). Summer was coming shortly after and he wanted me to move in with him for the summer. I was living in NY at the time and he was living in Maryland (He had been in NY visiting his parents and staying with them till his new job started as a used car salesmen)."

"So I got in his white pick up truck and drove with him to Maryland for the summer. When I got there it was a tiny little apartment in an all black neighborhood (we are both white). He had leased the apartment by phone and had no idea what neighborhood it was in (pre internet). He took his truck to work everyday and I had no transportation so I would just walk around during the day. Everyone would stare at me and no one actually talked to me, I felt extremely out of place despite trying my best to be ok with the situation. He wanted to have sex every day the second he got home from work and would want me to be waiting in the bedroom for him. I hated it and would close my eyes till it was over."

"After 5 days I was in the apartment while he was at work and I opened the silverware drawer and a big cockroach crawled across the utensils. I don’t know exactly why that was the turning point for me but I just said out loud FUCK THIS. I packed my suitcase and sat on the couch with the suitcase on my lap till he got home from work. The second I saw him I said “Take me home” , he said a lot of shit, was angry, I said nothing besides that I wanted to go home. Somehow he agreed to drive me back to NY and we left that night. The whole way home he talked about how this doesn’t change anything and that we’ll still be together. I stayed silent."

"When we pulled in the driveway I took off the ring and set it on the console. I didn’t say anything and booked it into the house and locked the door. He didn’t come after me but proceeded to call constantly for weeks, I refused to answer. I never saw him again. I’m 41 now and have 4 children. My oldest is 18. Only as an adult have I been able to see how disgusting and terrifying what I went through was. For years I was embarrassed to tell that story but now I realize I was a child and it’s him and my parents that should be embarrassed."

11. PsychedelicSnowflake's ex's mother now wears the engagement ring.

"We had been together for 6 months when he proposed. We were both young at the time and weren't even living together. My gut told me right away that it was too soon, but I said yes anyway and went along with it because I thought he loved me and I loved him. I really thought that we could build a nice life together. I made it clear that I wanted to wait a while before we actually got married but he was keen to speed things along as fast as possible. I didn't even want to tell our families about it yet because I knew they would give us grief over getting engaged so young and after only a few months of being together."

"As things moved along, I made it clear that I wasn't ready to get married at my age and wanted to spend more time with him before we went through with it. He sort of threw a fit and accused me of cheating on him because there was no other reason in his mind I could possibly want to wait to marry. Things started to get really toxic and I eventually left him for good. I gave him the ring back and parted civilly, but he wasn't about to let it go so easily. He was calling and texting me constantly for weeks."

"Accused me of being obsessed with him and following him around and I started to realize that he was not in a normal state of mind. I was scared, but it calmed down after a while and things started to get back to normal. Unfortunately, he started spreading all kids of nasty rumors about me of how I accused him of rape and was abusive towards him. His entire family turned sour towards me because of it and it was difficult because we shared most of our friends."

"He ruined my reputation and my self esteem but it made me realize that I really dodged one hell of a bullet by refusing to marry him. Every so often he messages me on social media asking to get back together. I either don't reply or give him a polite but very firm no."

"This doesn't really matter but it's another funny little detail. He have my engagement ring to his mother as a mother's day gift and now she wears it all the time. She has to know that it used to belong to me but still finds it to be a sweet gift from her insane son."

12. madisonpreggers didn't end up being a flower girl after all.

"Not me but my cousin was supposed to marry a girl who fell head over heels in love with a guy she met two days before the wedding and left him not literally at the alter but about as close as you can get. I was 5 or 6 and supposed to be a flower girl and my 16 year old brothers were the ushers. We lived about 6 hours away and I remember being so confused the whole ride home as to why I hadn't been a flower girl while everyone else was dead silent."

"In a crazy small world twist the guy that she fell in love with is a professor at the same university as my brother and has an office down the hall. He and the bride have been married for I guess going on 20 years now. Meanwhile my cousin has been married 3 times, busted for DUI so many times I don't think he can even get a license and ballooned up to like 300lbs, I think she made the right choice."

13. official_fox_news's best friend broke off their own wedding after their parents split up.

"My best friend was engaged and they sent out invites for the wedding. Two weeks to the wedding, her dad left her mom (his wife of 28 years) to be with the man he loved. She called off the wedding because she didn't know what she believed in any more. Didn't know what marriage was or if her husband would do the same. It screwed her up pretty bad."

14. StoolToad9's dad was a runaway groom.

"My dad was a runaway groom. Broke it off THREE DAYS before the wedding. Mid 1970s, so he was in his early 20s. His fiance (not my mom, obviously) and her mother pressured him into proposing. He also felt society sort of demanded it; it was more common to marry at that age than it is today. Deep down he knew she simply wasn't the one, but figured maybe all men felt that way before a wedding so he ignored that and hoped his feelings would change."

"Months passed and the wedding was all planned out. When relatives and friends from out of town began flying in for the wedding and gifts were arriving, reality hit him hard and he - to quote Gob Bluth - realized he made a huge mistake."

"He sat my grandma and grandpa down and said, "Guys...I don't want to do this." They were proud of him for being honest and actually sort of thrilled: it turns out they hated her guts. But they told him he needed to immediately tell her face-to-face."

"And so my dad did. Like a scarred war veteran, he refuses to tell me details, but said it was the most gut-wrenching conversation/argument/hell he had ever experienced. But he ended it."

"Of course this was the 1970s. You can't just mass announce the wedding is cancelled via a text or Facebook message (which a friend of mine did). My dad took the responsibility of calling every single invited guest to tell them the wedding was off. Even more, he personally returned gifts to the people who sent them.

His fiance sold my grandmother's ring."

15. pleasuregarden's friend got ghosted and gaslit.

"My friend met a guy and within a week they were engaged. He was in the military and ghosted her about a month after proposing. 6 months later he turns up and starts working at the same place as her and acted like he didn’t even know her. Does that count? Lol"

Much has been said about how weddings seem to bring out the worst in people, transforming even the nicest-seeming humans into bridezillas and groomzillas. But sometimes bad behavior rears its ugly head way before the wedding even takes place, during bachelor and bachelorette season. A woman recently turned to Reddit for advice on a friend who invited her to attend her out-of-state bachelorette party and then went full bridezilla.

The woman originally declined to attend because the party is out of town and takes place the same weekend that her finals and group projects are due for graduate school. But her friend wouldn't take no for an answer and guilted her into going.

She writes:

One of my best friends of over 12 years is getting married in October and chose a college friend to be her maid of honor. There was just one weekend thrown out to have both a bridal shower and bachelorette party, in a city 600 miles away from me. Unfortunately, it is the weekend that my finals and group projects are due for graduate school and it's the first week of school for me, as I work as a behavior therapist in a school. Once I discovered this, I immediately drafted an email explaining the situation, including several other weekends that my husband and I could come up to celebrate, and apologizing profusely. I get an email back about how everyone's "busy", but she thought I would be the one to understand since I just got married (about a year ago) and how she went to all my festivities. Against the wishes of my husband and therapist, who I'm working with to say no during this busy time in my life, I agreed to make it work, and have made arrangements to take finals early and have working with my group to try to finish our work before we leave.

To make things worse, in the days leading up to the bachelorette party, the woman shared that no planning had been done thanks to the "flaky" maid of honor.

The party is this coming up weekend, 4 days away. I have not been told a schedule, don't know where we're staying, how much anything will cost, etc. The MOH has been flaky with email, didn't tell me which airport to fly into (since the initial thought was bridal shower in one city and bach party in another, but who knows what the plan is now) so now I'm driving 8 hours on Friday to get there. Since the MOH hasn't been answering me, I had to text the bride asking for a plan and she said she knows nothing either, but asked if I could potentially drive people back from Bach location to bridal shower location, which would add 2 hours to my already 8 hour drive. I have no idea when I'll have wifi to look over my group project and already have to change my work schedule during the first week to accommodate this party, of which, there is literally no plan.

The woman says she didn't want to "add drama" to the situation, but now she's "feeling such bitterness" towards her entitled bridezilla friend that she wants to talk to her about it. So she asked commenters for advice on what to say, if anything.

Originally, my plan was to just suck it up and not add drama to the situation by chalking the rude email up to wedding stress and just not saying anything; however, now I'm at the point where I'm feeling such bitterness toward my friend and basically want her to know how much I'm sacrificing to be there for her and this terribly planned weekend. Do I talk to her about it? What do I even say?

TL;DR Friend guilted me into attending bridal shower/bach party in a city 600 miles away from me even though I told her I had finals and it was my first week of school, as I work in a school. The party is 4 days away and there is no plan and now I'm starting to feel bitter and don't know whether to say anything or if I should, what to say.

Commenters jumped in and immediately encouraged her to skip the party entirely.

Fuyuki11 says:

Tell the bride that MOH didn't organised enough in time nor given you enough information to allow you to find a workaround with your job, which is true right? And that real celebration is the wedding. If you are invited and attending, you can make sure you made a HUGE fuss of the bride on the day (if she even notices)

If she shows lack of understanding still then I'm afraid that shows the level of friendship you have with the bride. A true friend, close or not, would understand or at least tell you so and grin and bear it no matter how upset she may be.

rwilkz agrees, writing:

Exactly, you agreed to make it work but they are literally giving you nothing to work with. Send an email explaining all this then turn your phone off until after you’ve handed your work in.

Many are urging her to prioritize her studies, and her own needs, over this "selfish, flaky" friend.

AnotherPint writes:

If the bride, etc. don't respect you enough to make a minimal plan for this party, let alone make allowances for your academic schedule, why are you jeopardizing your performance on finals, driving 20 hours, and spending all this time and money to feed their sense of entitlement?

Stay home and study, while your husband makes you soup and gives you backrubs.​​​​​

And wise words from Hitachi__magic_wand:

Is your career and school really not as important as this selfish flaky friend? She's shown 0 regard for you and your situation. If it were reversed, you can be sure she'd not do a thing to make it to your party. Please reconsider and not go. Your classes and your work are more important in the long run than a very bad friend.

Hope this woman took the internet's advice on this one. The moral of the story is: Hitachi Magic Wand always knows best.

"Life without left-handed people wouldn't be right."

- C.R. Manske

One in ten people around the world are left-handed. If you're one of them, it's your time to shine. Celebrate National Left-Handers Day with these hilarious memes.

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A great teacher can change a kid's entire life and inspire their values well into adulthood. Many times, the teachers who end up being the biggest softies come in prickly packages. A lot of kids need tough love, and working in the underpaid and overworked U.S. education system is hardly a task for the faint of heart.

In a reddit thread shareing wholesome exchanges, 1drose shared about their tough yet loving health teacher in school.

While she had a reputation for being super tough, she was secretly sweet to OP and let him take CPR for free when he couldn't afford it.

"I had a teacher in high school who had a reputation as being the super tough/mean, older African American lady. She taught health class. There was a mandatory CPR class that we had to pay for, and there was no way I could pay for anything in those days. CPR day came, and she told me to go with the other students. I gave her a confused look to which she replied “You’re good baby.”

Later that same year, OP fell asleep in her class and she let him take a nap in the room after class.

When he woke up she shared dinner with him and sent him on his way to basketball.

"And she had paid for me. Later in the year, i fell asleep in her class. It was a home game day (basketball), and she told me to lay back down after the bell had rung. It was the last period of the day, she told me she’d wake me up before I had to report to the gym. She dimmed the lights, and played some light jazz while she did her work at the computer. I hadn’t been sleeping well at home and I’m guessing she knew."

The most wholesome moment of kindness with the teacher took place on senior night, when she realized OP didn't have a parent to walk him out onto the court.

She quickly ran down the steps to walk him out alongside the parents.

"I woke up when she brought the lights back up and she handed me one of her “cup of soups” she had warmed up. We never really spoke much, but she had my back and I made sure she knew I had hers. THE MOST WHOLESOME: On senior night, they introduce the players and say some stuff about em as they walk to center court, typically with parents arm in arm. When it was almost my time to walk, she saw that I was alone. Bless her heart, she bout fell down from her seat running towards me."

All of the parents took their senior kids out for dinner after the game, and OP invited the teacher to join.

While the teacher declined the dinner invitation, OP still fondly remembers how much it meant to have her support during that pressure-filled, difficult time in his life.

"She put her arm through mine and just looked forward, chin up proud as hell as they read my stats/grades/etc. I remember that walk and how I wish I had a picture or recording from that day showing how big I must have been smiling. My friends mothers had tears in their eyes. They made sure to invite me to dinner with them after the game and I made sure it was ok that I brought my teacher. She politely declined and just told me she was proud of me."

When OP had graduated and reached a better place in his life, he made a it a practice to visit her and bring her gifts.

He also made a point of it to model this in front of other students, so they would look at her with respect.

"After I had graduated, and was a bit better on my feet, I returned to visit her. It was honestly the only thing that could get me back in that place. Each time I’d bring flowers and/or food and made sure to do it in front of students and made sure they knew to respect her."

cobeyashimaru felt so inspired by the story, they shared their own tale of a kind coach who helped a student in need.

"Of all the teachers I had over the years only 5 were like this. God bless them all. There was one student I had in my class. He had some real bad things happening at home and he was just completely mistreated. One day he came into class and just reeked of garbage. Some of the students chastised him. I realized something was very wrong. So I pulled him aside and asked what was going on. Apparently his mom and her boyfriend had been on a meth bender and her boyfriend had beat him up."

"Then through him out. It was the dead if winter and in order to survive the night. He climbed into a dumpster and slept there. When coach came into class I explained the situation and said, Sir I don't think he has a good home life. Coach took him to the gym and let him get a warm shower while he laundered his cloths. Then the next day he took him to Wal-Mart during lunch. Bought him lunch and several sets of clothing. He of course had to report the neglect to the state and my classmate was put in foster care. Which was a God sent to him. Just the fact that we showed so much love and concern meant the world to him and he broke down in tears saying "I didn't think anyone cared about me at all.."

"God I'm breaking down in tears just thinking about it. He felt so worthless. So fast forward 4 years later. We were out of school at this time. I ran into him at a gas station. He was working in construction. But, able to look after himself now. He remember me and thanked me for my kindness and understanding. He Said it saved his life as he was about to kill himself when that happened. The act of kindness made him realize there were good people in the world. I can't think of this without tearing up even 25 years later. He was a nice kid. Just got a shit lot in life."

Did someone start cutting onions in here, or is it just me?!

"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he’s supposed to be doing at that moment."

-Robert Benchley

Sure, you could be doing work right now, but then you'd miss out on these fantastic memes. These babies will make you laugh and help you pass the time until you can finally clock out for the day.

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Being depressed is tough. Not only because you're depressed, but because it's a medical diagnosis that is also a synonym for "extreme sadness." Sometimes it's difficult for non-psychiatrists to understand the realities of mental illness, which leads to people saying some pretty stupid things, whether ill-intentioned or well-intentioned.

People on Reddit shared the most ignorant things they've been told about their own health, and, well, Imagine the response if you said these things to somebody with literally any other illness.

1. "Just try not to think about it, bro."

-ImpSong

2. "Other people have it worse."

-Guerrin_TR

3. "My 18-year-old daughter recently went through some depression/suicide attempts/inpatient care. My mother and her mother's parents(and even her mother) just don't get it. 'She's got everything, she shouldn't be doing this.' They are all well-intentioned, but their generation/attitude just can't grasp mental conditions, only a+b=you are happy. I tried to explain that sometimes people are just wired different, but they usually just shake their head since it requires some 'new' thinking."

-3-DMan

4. "No one likes to be around a depressed person."

-BumbleBeees123

5. "'You’re obviously not that depressed, you’re sitting here talking and smiling' - a psychiatrist I saw only once."

-midnightblue33

6. "'Why pay to see a therapist when you can talk to your family about it?'

You mean the same family that will immediately tell everyone else what I just told them? I think I'll stick with an unbiased 3rd party who legally can't tell anyone what I just said."

-HagithaChristie69

7. "'Your life is great. You should be more thankful of what you have and be positive.' And then proceeded to talk for half an hour about how much worse his life was and he wasn't depressed."

-Fake_DM

8. "'It's all in your head.' No sh*t, it's not like I think I'm being attacked by some physical depression monster. How do I get it out of my head, though?"

-Mizamagician

9. "Maybe you shouldn't spend so much time on your phone."

-blosserraptor

10. "I have depression (diagnosed). I'm also bisexual. People that say shitty things to me about either say the same thing. 'You just want attention.'

Yes. My way of getting attention is to embody the two things that you are least likely to be accepted for. Cause I totally f*cking love people telling me I'm faking things for attention..."

-DaughterEarth

11. "At least you don’t have cancer."

-Poochkin

12. "'Just get over it, be happy.' Believe us, if it were that easy, we would. Or when it’s particularly bad and you don’t have the energy to do anything, 'You’re such a homebody. Don’t be lazy.' These moments are pretty awful. It’s a living hell during an episode. Stay strong kids."

-DoomViper

"There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one."

-Sue Atkins

Parenting is a tough job, but you're crushing it! You've kept your kids alive this long and that's something to be proud of. Enjoy these memes, you've earned a laugh today.

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It's hard out there for a celebrity on the internet. You have to watch what you say/post or you could offend people, and ultimately meet the cruel fate of ending up on a blog like this one. Fortunately, most celebs can afford high-end luxury vacations to help them recover from the stress of having to think before they post.

ICYMI:

Gigi Hadid was recently on vacation on the island of Mykonos, Greece, probably recovering from her last Instagram scandal, when she got robbed. So naturally she posted about the experience on Instagram in the caption of a bathing suit selfie.

She wrote:

Mykonos film in.
PS(A). Don’t let insta fool u. Got robbed. Never going back lol. Wouldn’t recommend. Spend your money elsewhere

Big mistake, Geeg.

Commenters didn't take too well to the supermodel telling her hoards of followers to stay away from the Greek island just because of her own bad experience.

As many pointed out, Gigi Hadid is so popular that her words could actually have an effect on tourism, which is one of the Greek economy's main sources of income.

Perhaps too busy tanning in Greece to learn from the experience or apologize, Hadid chose to respond by leaving up her original post and adding a follow-up comment defending her right to "have an opinion" on her experience.

In the comment, Hadid doubled-down, saying she wants to "warn" people about "the amount of crime that is happening on a nightly basis" on the island.

She wrote:

Let me make this clear for everyone below who thinks I don’t deserve to have an opinion on my experience and warn people of this - I was robbed along with more than 30 houses that night, some to gunpoint. It was not possible to contact any form of law enforcement except through my local security who happened to have a contact. That is a privilege that most people traveling there wouldn’t have. If something happens while the police station is closed, there is nothing that can be done to protect yourself, and when the station does open, it doesn’t seem as though their training and resources are in line with keeping people safe or keeping up with the amount of crime that is happening on a nightly basis there (I am speaking of the island specifically only because it’s where I experienced this). This is not information that is shared with people before they go. If I’d known it happened so much and there was not enough infrastructure to protect myself I wouldn’t have gone. So this is my opinion based on actual events and you not liking that isn’t my problem. Lastly, I work my ass off and never do a trip like this for myself and friends, so if I want to post pictures of the trip after being robbed, I will do so.

The model also claims that it was "not possible" to contact law enforcement after the robbery, and she was forced to have her private security guards contact law enforcement on her behalf.

But don't worry, she apparently bounced back from the experience and post multiple photos of herself enjoying her time in Mykonos, the island she "would not recommend" you visit.

Celebrities: just like us, if we never had to face consequences for our mistakes.

A Trump official has admitted out loud what we've known all along: that the Trump administration sees European and Latinx immigrants differently.

It all started with a new "public charge" immigration requirement that the administration announced on Monday. The public charge requirement states that migrants will only be granted entry to the U.S. if they won't be seeking public funds or resources, like public housing or food stamps. This rule goes into effect Oct. 15, according to CBS News.

Some have pointed out that this new mindset is at odds with the famous poem "The New Colossus," which is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. The poem — which you may have heard once or twice — includes the lines, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Rachel Martin of NPR pointed this out to Trump's acting head of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli on Tuesday, asking him if he believes these words are "part of the American ethos."

His response: "Uh, they certainly are." He then took the liberty (sorry) of remixing the poem and adding a little Republican flavor: "Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."

Doesn't quite have the same ring as Emma Lazarus' 1882 version, does it?

Later on Tuesday night, things veered into even more blatantly racist territory.

Cuccinelli went on CNN and was asked about the poem again. His response:

Well, of course, that poem was referring back to people coming from Europe where they had class-based societies where people were considered wretched if they weren't in the right class.

Here's video of his response.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses but only if they're from Europe" is not how the poem goes, pal.

Of course, it seems lost on Cuccinelli that "people coming from Europe" and people coming from Latin-American countries are often fleeing the exact same thing, from the 19th century to today: corrupt governments and bad economies.

And they're often looking for the same things, too: a shot at a better future. Where they're coming from has no real effect on that — unless you're a white supremacist.

Beto O'Rourke said it succinctly in a tweet, writing, "This administration finally admitted what we’ve known all along: They think the Statue of Liberty only applies to white people."

Talking about fertility is a minefield at the best of times. But when one member of a family member is pregnant and the rest all had trouble conceiving, it's pretty much a given that someone's going to get their feelings hurt.

A Reddit user going by the name toooldforthissta posted about such a situation on the subreddit "Am I the A**hole?", a glorious subsection of the internet where people are judged for their potential a**hole behavior by a jury of their online peers.

The Redditor in question is a pregnant woman. She was adopted, and pretty much everyone in her extended adoptive family was unable to conceive. Right now, she's in her second trimester, and she says she's the first woman in two generations of her family to have a pregnancy in living memory.

The drama comes from her natural urge to vent about the insanely stressful side effects from pregnancy — and her family's unwillingness to listen to her complain, after years and years of their own infertility.

The family accused her of "milking" her pregnancy, and she had enough and exploded on them:

Naturally, I try to be sensitive but apparently I'm "milking" it by complaining of my various (normal) illnesses and problems. They say that I'm making it up and that it's not that bad. After months of this from everyone, I ended up blowing up at a family dinner and asking a room full of barren women how the hell they would know how bad I was feeling and WHAT pregnancy even feels like. Multiple people started crying and my husband took me home. I feel bad but honestly they need to take a class on it or at least get off my back.

So her question to the people of Reddit is: am I the a**hole?

It seems no one can agree.

User jlb0474 voted that "everyone sucks here," saying:

This is a touchy subject for them, so saying what you did was definitely an asshole move. However, they should be more considerate when it comes to what you are going through.

A user named FlashZap90 agreed:

You're not wrong, pregnancy is hard and your feelings are vaild. They don't have any idea what you're going through so they shouldn't tell you how to feel about it or try to judge you for how you're handling it. You're an asshole for that shot below the belt though. You're fortunately never going to know what it must feel like to never know what it's like to carry a child, and I'm certain that stung bad when you brought up their infertility because they're probably jealous to a degree. I think that everyone involved needs to have some empathy and not make such hurtful remarks.

PuddleOfHamster came through with some great advice:

They should definitely be honest with themselves about their psychological issues surrounding pregnancy, and do their best to support you, and tell you candidly if there are any things they can't participate in because it's just too hard (baby showers can be especially brutal, for instance). And they should know that life isn't the Suffering Olympics, and that even when having a baby is wonderful and joyous, throwing up/dizziness/pelvic girdle pain is just genuinely, mundanely miserable.

But they're not here and you're the one asking, so... yep. You could have said something like "Guys, I'm sorry if it's hard for you to watch me complaining about all these symptoms you never got to experience. Just because I'm miserable right now doesn't mean I'm not grateful for the opportunity to carry a baby; but I really am suffering physically and I do need some help. Are you able to give it to me?" But instead you went for the lowest blow there was.

You need to apologise, explain and COMMUNICATE.

AlfredPitchrock gave the pregnant woman the benefit of the doubt, saying the family members sucked more:

I think "blowing up"/yelling is completely justifiable and not in the wrong, given the context, and definitely doesn't constitute as reasoning for ESH. Did she need to yell and/or blow up to get her point across? No. But I don't think that's enough reason to throw her in a pool where she sucks, with the rest of the women.

A user named overpregnant agreed:

Pregnancy can be straight up BRUTAL and to be told you’re milking it (which would have been only cool if pun intended) or making it up is unacceptable.

Yes, you may have been harsh but it sounded like they were projecting their resentments onto you experiences

Meanwhile, elliebanana thinks the pregnant redditor should have taken her complaints elsewhere — like, anywhere besides her infertile family's dinner table:

While they arent actually experiencing her symptoms and dont know how hard it might be, I'm sure they would happily put up with anything shes going through to get to carry a child. They are family, but wrong people to complain to

808Q also blames the pregnant lady.

It's a sensitive subject and you know it. You feel like you "should" be able to complain about "normal" pregnancy things, but why would you want to say anything to hurt your family members' feelings? It's not "fair" but you should just keep these things to yourself since you know how affects them. This has apparently been going on for a while now...just keep the details to yourself.

So in the court of public opinion, this one's pretty divided. The only thing we can all agree on is that Thanksgiving's gonna be pretty uncomfy for this particular fam.

"Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors."

-Norman Cousins

Laughter burns calories, so consider this meme list your morning workout. These memes are silly, goofy, and the best way to start off your day.

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You know what's stressful? Well, most things in life...but especially giving birth. Everyday I am amazed that women literally birth human lives from inside them. Like, I honestly don't know how we do it. And I'm just talking about the part where you have to push the baby out, not the added part where you have to deal with friends and family who want to be in the room.

A woman on reddit is currently facing with the issue of having to deal with her mother-in-law during her pregnancy, and potentially during the day she has to give birth. Her mother-in-law has caused a scene when it came to being in the room while she gave birth in the past, and this woman is wondering if it would be okay to avoid this problem by not telling her when she goes into labor.

She explains:

This relates to around when our first kid was born and I'm going to try to make this short. We just moved from out-of-state and were living with my in-laws until we got our own place. I was overdue and induced. When we were on our way around 10 pm my MIL called saying she was on her way too. No biggie, it's her first grandchild so she's understandably excited. She decided on her own that she was going to stay with us overnight.

But what started out as seemingly "no biggie," began to escalate over time.

Fast forward to the next morning. I'm a pretty sentimental person and was going through some depressed feelings about having this baby. I was going to miss my alone time with my husband and wanted to spend some moments with only him. I'm not very outspoken so when MIL was in the bathroom I suggested to my husband that he ask her if she wants to go home to freshen up or eat breakfast or rest. Seriously nothing was happening still besides me laying in the hospital bed and having contractions that were super tolerable. He suggests it to her and she leaves, seemingly no problems.

About 15 minutes later we get a call from my brother-in-law and he sounded kinda pissed. He said that MIL called him bawling saying that we don't want her there and told her to leave. My husband had to call her and apologize and practically beg her to come back. She showed back up as if everything was normal and decided to stay in the room until I wanted my epidural. I wasn't allowed to have anyone else in the room, even my husband, when I was getting it but I learned after that she was going around saying that I kicked her out again. After it was done she came back in again as if everything was fine. Couple hours passed and baby was finally coming, for months I had emphasized the only person I want in the room was my husband. Yet again this woman starts crying when asked to leave. 20 mins after delivery there I am laying spread eagle on the delivery table and having my hoo-ha stitched up and bonding with baby, my MIL walks in. The meds finally start wearing off and I am pissed but still don't say anything. I spent the entire time worrying about her and making sure that I wasn't stepping on her toes.

Obviously, it sucks to have this very personal, monumental event in your life overshadowed by your mother-in-law's insecurities and behavior. And given this scenario, it's unsurprising to learn that this woman has had a rocky relationship with her mother-in-law all along.

I could probably write a book on shitty things that my MIL has said/done to me. Putting all that aside, this one is the main reason why I don't want her to know when I'm going into labor. My husband really understands why I feel this way and says it is up to me but I have to be ready for the consequences of my decision. She's always been over-dramatic and I don't want to be dealing with her when I'm supposed to be focusing on myself and the baby. I really don't want her to be there. WIBTA?

The people of reddit spoke, and most of them had this woman's back.

78october said:

NTA.

and no you shouldn’t be prepared to deal with the consequences. Your husband should shield you from those circumstances. He needs to step up and protect you from his mother and her machinations.

grumpypionus made this great point:

NTA. Labor is a medical procedure, not a damn spectator sport.

Some people pointed out that the husband was also in the wrong here.

RunningTrisarahtop said:

NTA. Your husband is an asshole along with his mom.

His response to his brother should have been “we needed privacy, mom needs to calm down and she will meet the baby soon enough.”

If she stayed he should have said “mom, you need to leave now.”

When she walked back in he should have said “Mom!!! What the heck! Get out of here!”

And he should say “mom, we want to do things differently this time. When baby is here we will call. We don’t want company till after the baby arrives”.

Thezazzthaxaxx

Yeah this is especially frustrating because it shows that he put his mothers wishes in front of his wife's. Not cool dude. Shes the one who's vagina is about to get ripped to bring these babies into the world. She gets to decide who is there. Jesus this is so not about her and he needs to help.

Certain_Concept said:

Note the 'my' decision and not our decision. Not our consequences.. but hers.

They are married. They should make group decisions and appear as a united front before their other family/friends.
Instead this pretty mush shows that he is choosing a side.. and not that of his wifes. He plans on putting his wife front and center for his mothers angery emotions?

And finally, bluehills29 had the perfect suggestion:

NTA. You might want to let everyone know that you won't be telling them until the baby is born, and won't be having visitors at the hospital until you notify them you and the baby are up to it. Don't argue about reasons, just repeat, and get your husband to repeat, that the two of you have made that decision together and won't be discussing it further.

After all of the support, the woman who wrote the original post gave an update. Here is a condensed version:

edit: thank you so much everyone for the responses! Back when we were living with my in-laws I was severely depressed and felt like since they were sharing their home with us I didn't have a say in a lot and felt like I just needed to be grateful, so I didn't say a lot. We were paying weekly rent and buying groceries but I never felt comfortable there. For example, my MIL and BIL used to make shit up and put it in my head that my husband was cheating on me. My PPD was pretty bad because of them. I love my husband and he is also an amazing father. I tell him he's a closet Mama's boy but he just denies it over and over. He's chewed her out before though for stuff that she's said. I've developed more of a spine now being on our own and realizing how much fucked up shit they put me through and put in my head.

The day you give birth is about you and your baby(ies). Whatever you are comfortable with should be what everyone understands will happen, without protest. The lady pushing human life out of her hoo-ha gets to call the shots.

“A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done.”

- Marge Piercy

Ladies, listen up! You're all strong, gorgeous, and deserve to laugh every single day. These memes are as relatable as they are funny. Get your giggle on and enjoy your day.

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It's a truth universally acknowledged that everyone who is dating has experienced a bad date. Bearing witness to all the awkwardness are brave servers, who in simply doing their jobs often end up in the crossfire. People served up the dish on Reddit, and here are the funny ones that aren't just about straight-up creeps.

1. I've heard of foot fetishes, but hand fetishes?

Couple in their mid-twenties comes in, it’s obviously a first date but they seem to really like each other and are getting along well. I wasn’t serving them however, I was serving the table next to them. About halfway through their meal I notice them holding hands over the table. Cute. Then, the guy lifts her hand to his lips and kisses the back of it. A bit of an outdated gesture, but still cute I guess. The woman seems slightly confused but goes along with it. A little while later I see the guy do it again. Okay, dude. Then again. Woman is confused and looks a little uncomfortable. They are no longer holding hands.

I go to serve my table and see the dude full on MAKING OUT with her hand, tongue and all. Woman looks extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable, looking everywhere but at her date. I go over and casually ask if they need anything, and the dude stops. Woman yanks her hand back. She left pretty soon after.

-foppishyyy

2. Fake wine snobs are as dry as a cabernet.

I once saw a guy try and impress his date by pretending to know about wine.

He then proceeded to pronounce every single wrong one. I don’t even know how I would phonetically write out his butchering of Chablis and Sauvignon Blanc. Date looked at him like he’d just taken a sh*t on the table.

-ugh_you_bastard

3. *Stephanie Tanner voice* How rude!

Happened at my former restaurant. Reservation for 6:00, young guy comes in a few minutes early, tells me he's kind of nervous because it's a first date and he hasn't had many before, bla bla bla, kind of sweet really. Anyways, girl arrives about half-an-hour late, and proceeds to get very, very drunk. About mid-way through the meal, she answers her phone, takes the call, and starts talking about her date, in front of her date, saying stuff like "well, he's not usually my type, I don't exactly like him, but I felt like why not", right in front of him. Young man looks so discouraged, walks up to me, pays his bill, and leaves.

-el_pobbster

4. She was in the Splash Zone.

He reached for his water and punched it directly into her lap.

-onionslut

5. Catfished by a cougar.

There was this young guy eating dinner with his mom. I noticed they seemed weirdly uncomfortable and distant but didn't think much of it. Turns out the lady was not his mom. He had met her on a dating site and had been VERY clearly catfished. The lady was at least a good 20 years older than him.

When she left the restaurant he stayed behind and told me about what happened then asked me out. I politely declined but agreed with him that that was a really weird situation.

-noodles_the_food

6. How dare the woman order barbecue at a barbecue restaurant?!

Girl and guy came into the barbecue restaurant I worked at. They met at the door exchanging the usual "Hi, nice to meet you!", etc. The guy was a complete dick. She ordered ribs and he said "do you want to keep that hot figure of yours or look like that chick over there? *points to slightly overweight woman*

Then, when they were waiting to pay he starts flirting with the chick behind them. She deadass waited until he paid then left without waiting for the food.

-alixphoenix

7. Can confirm: being straight is a burn.

I’m a host at a restaurant but my first week working a gay couple got in a fight in the middle of their meal, drawing attention from everyone in the restaurant.

Before my manager could step in and stop it one stood up and shouted “YOU’RE THE REASON MOST PEOPLE ARE STRAIGHT” and left.

I’ve always thought about how it is both a roast or compliment depending on sexuality.

-Yeebees

8. Gotta catch 'em all.

Couple years ago, I was tending bar at a high-end steak joint. A pretty brunette walked in and sat down at the bar. After fixing her a cocktail, I asked if she'd like to see a dinner menu. She explained that she was waiting for a date.

A few moments later, the guy arrived carrying a large bag.

It was immediately obvious this date was their first. Their conversation was lurching from forced to downright painful when he reached into the bag and pulled out an album containing...

...his Pokemon card collection.

He set the book on the bar and thumbed through each page, thoroughly and lovingly describing every card, attempting to educate his date in the ways of Japanese pocket monsters. I'll be fair to the guy - dude was passionate.

She feigned an emergency and called her friend to pick her up. He stayed and ate a plain hamburger at the bar.

-CaptainWisconsin

9. Thou shalt not ask somebody else out on a date whilst on a date. It's in the bible.

Girl was obviously super into guy, and he seemed like he was at least somewhat interested. They both talked and joked with me, overall great table. Cut to the check, I ask if it will be together, and the girl smiles at the guy. He promptly says, "No, separate please." Her face dropped, and he blatantly wrote his number on the check with a little note for me. That poor girl almost cried as she quietly shuffled out the door. What an ass he was.

-horton_hears_a_homie

10. He said "Namste," didn't he?

I work at a little sushi spot and I once had a couple on their first date where the guy would thank me in Mandarin and do a little bow every time I brought something to the table. He is white, I'm white, it was the cringeiest thing I've ever witnessed there. I wanted to tell him 'You're at a Japanese restaurant run by Koreans. I can teach you thank you in both Japanese or Korean if you like" but instead I scurried away and watched the disaster of a date from afar.

-queenofmyvaccine

11. Hopefully the lemonade had vodka in it.

Lady came in at lunch for a blind date. Asked to be in a quiet area so she could talk to the guy. Guy came in and I pointed him to the girl waiting for her date. Guy walked towards the table then once he saw her walked directly out the emergency exit. She then cried a little. I didn’t charge her for her lemonade.

-PrinceLemonade

The internet can be a beautiful place when people channel their energy and skills towards a positive aim. Twitter, while often a place teeming with memes and roast jokes, has also proven itself to be a helpful space for finding long lost friends and solving mysteries.

One of the most wholesome examples of this went down on Tuesday when 29-year-old Mevan Babbakar asked the internet to help her find a man who worked at the refugee camp she lived in as a child.

Babbakar kicked off the thread by sharing that she was a refugee for five years in the 90s, and has one old photo of a man who bought her a bike and etched himself in her memory.

From there, kind and curious strangers retweeted the request and eventually she was able to track him down and shared the process with everyone who helped.

She also shared an adorable throwback photo from right before she received the bike.

Babbakar shared that scores of other refugees messaged her to share how this man's kindness also touched their lives.

She was also able to get in touch with a woman who worked at the camp who first taught her to use a computer.

The excitement and suspense over reconnecting with him was palpable.

When she finally arrived at his home Babbakar took a photo with him, and shared that his name is Egbert.

Egbert has been working with refugees since the 90s, has a family of his own and likes gardening in his spare time.

Egbert was happy to see her, and surprised at how much the gift of a bike impacted her.

In closing, Babbakar thanked everyone for their help one final time, and pointed out that anecdotes like this prove the internet can be a tool for good.

Kids brag about the darndest things. Someone recently asked parents of Reddit, "what is the best 'weird flex but ok' moment you've seen from your child?" Turns out, little kids are the masters and pioneers of the "weird flex but ok" movement. Here are some hilarious, epic highlights from parents sharing the wildest things their kids ever thought were brag-worthy:

1) Via Action1988:

When my sister was younger she told her teacher that my dad was a clown. He actually owns an autobody shop but I guess she thought he was pretty funny.

Apparently the parent / teacher conference was hilarious.

"Your daughter tells us you're a clown? What an...interesting career."

2) From sweetxexile:

Had an Amber Alert hit my phone one night while my then 6yo was playing a game on it. She asks what that was and I explained it’s a message that gets sent out of a kid gets kidnapped. She looks at it again and sees it’s for a town over two hours from where we live. She then asks me why they sent to if it’s so far away. I said because they want everyone to look and find the kid, wouldn’t you want everyone to look if you got kidnapped? They want to find the kid so they don’t get killed. She leans over close to my ear and whispers “I’m very difficult to kill”

3) From Gatorphan:

My 7 y/o daughter didn’t want our houseguests to go in her room because that might see her awards (good grades, tae kwon doe belts). She worried they would think she was famous.

4) From PrincessOtterpop:

When my brother was two or three he rolled down the car window to get the attention of the gas station attendant and shouted “hey mister, I got a penis!” He had a mullet, if that helps paint a better picture.

5) From LilJimboR:

He told me I dont need history classes because I know that hitler got shot in the balls

6) Via sparksparksparkle:

My 5 year-old son woke up with his voice hoarse from a cold.

Me: oh, you’ve got a cold.

Him, solemnly: no, I think i’m a man now.

7) From Jrfemfin:

When my son was potty training, I started letting him do the clean-up, then I'd have to finish.

After a bit of this, he figured he was pretty well good to go on his own, and he was very "big boy" about it. So for the next couple of weeks, he'd do his thing (which always included stripping naked) then come running out to wherever I was, bend over with his cheeks spread, and shout "Hey, Mom! I wiped my butt all by myself!!Lookit!!"

8) From andante528:

“There are lots of members of our family tree, and I’m probably the prettiest one, don’t you think?” - my daughter (to me), age 7

She is an identical twin, so kind of a weird flex.

9) From sftktysluttykty:

Just a couple days ago, my 2 year old son woke up so I went to change him. I pulled his jammie pants off, then went to undo the diaper, and the whole time he has this look on his face like he’s waiting for something. I pull the diaper off the front of him and boing he’s got a boner. He even smiled big and threw his arms up at the moment of reveal, like “TA DAAAAA”. When I wasn’t appropriately amazed and merely continued with changing him, he pointed at it and said, loudly and forcefully, “THATS MINE.”

Yes, my dear, that is YOUR penis. Congratulations.

10) Via NobodyBallad:

My oldest told me she used to control me from the inside when she was in my tummy.

11) From thisdragonis:

My kid (5) is obsessed with cars. Lives and breaths Motorsport. He’s driving his go kart in the driveway and our neighbors yell over, “wow You’re amazing, kiddo!” And kid yells back dead serious, “I know- I’m a better driver than most of the grownups I know.”

He’s honestly not wrong.

12) Via mikhela:

Not a parent, but I teach swimming lessons. This one 5 year old first day of lessons was like, "I'm not very good at kicking."

So I said, "That's okay. Nobody is perfect at everything."

Dead serious he just goes, "No, I'm perfect at everything."

13) From frankiesaypanic:

Tonight my 3-year-old stopped midway up the stairs and turned slowly to me and said, “Mom. Earlier. While you were out. I. Put. On. My. Pants. All. By. My. Self. “. I have no idea why he emphasized every word, but then he smirked and turned and kept climbing the stairs. Big day. The kid is really going places.

14) From THSSFC:

When my kids was potty training, he was in a phase where he loved temporary tattoos. We used tattoos as a reward for a successful potty trip. He got so he was covered on both arms, back and chest. We didn't think much of it, living in Seattle, until one summer day we took him to the wading pool. For one of the first times in public, we took his shirt off, and he strode out into the pool with his toddler abs, and Thomas the tank train shorts, looking like he had just finished a hard set of reps at the free weights in the prison yard.

15) Not a brag, exactly, but close. Via ONCETWICENEVER:

My daughter (3) can poop in the back yard without anyone knowing. I picked it up for weeks wondering why the dog's poop looked so weird. I looked out of the sliding glass door one day while my girls were playing. I saw my 3 year old pooping in the middle of the yard. Her older sister (5) sprayed her with the water house as soon as the log hit the ground. It was a spectacular scene, and I will never let them forget it.

16) From elquesogrande:

My son let out a high-pitched screech while playing a video game. Told him “Dude. Knock it off.” A few seconds later I heard him whisper “...it’s my battle cry.”

17) From kimberac43:

My 8 year old son's doctor was trying to make him comfortable during an EKG by telling him he had to leave his ear with the doctor. They went back and forth for a while and finally the doctor said he would trade him the ear for a lollipop. My son said he would not give up his ear but wanted the lollipop. The doctor said, "What! That is not a fair trade. What will you give me for the lollipop?" My son answered dead serious, "I get the lollipop and you get my respect."

18) Via VincenzoSS:

Sassy Niece after 1st day in school: "I learned how to count to eleventy today, I bet you can't!" Weird flex but... wait.

I indeed cannot count to eleventy.

19) From MetallHengst:

When I was 6 my absent father came back into my life briefly and I paraded him around all of my friends bragging saying "this is my dad, I bet you thought I didn't have a dad, but I did!"

He was gone again within a month, lmao.

20) From k0r0ze:

My little boy is extremely proud of his ability to get the automatic soap foam dispenser to form a 💩 shaped form on his hand.

21) Via Ishnian:

My son, 4 at the time, was (I guess) trying to impress the 6 year old neighbor girl. He leaned casually on his arm and said, "I have lots of accidents. Pee and poop accidents."

I hope for his sake his pick up lines improve.

Not everyone wants a surprise party, especially the people who specifically say that they don't. But for some reason, people have a hard time believing others when they explicitly say they do not want to come home to a room full of people they weren't planning on entertaining.

A 17-year-old girl ran into this exact problem, and took to reddit after her mom got upset with her for not being grateful for the surprise party that was thrown for her.

The teen had good reason for not wanting a party. She explained:

I (17f) have been struggling with some depression after my dad passed. I spend about a year isolated, never leaving my room, just laying in bed all day miserable. I started going to therapy and working two days a week, but the moment I come home I will still crawl right into bed. I just have no energy.

My 17th birthday was a few days ago and my mom was asking if I wanted a party, she thought it would be good for me. I told her several times that no, I don't want a party, pretending to be totally fine and happy is exhausting. Especially with that many people around.

But her mom did not take the explicit hint.

But when I came back from work and opened the door, the house was filled with people. (Maybe 10% family I'm not close to and 90% my moms friends). I didn't know what to do so I walked back out again, I grabbed a slice of pizza somewhere and walked around the park, hoping that when I came back they would be gone.

But then her mom felt like she was the one being mistreated in the situation.

While at the park my phone blew up with texts from my family and mom, that I was ungrateful and spoiled and didn't deserve nice things they tried to do.

I came home about two hours after I left the party, my mom was super pissed. I tried to explain but she thinks it's just excuses.

Was I the asshole? My mom is still not speaking to me, and I do feel bad that she went though all that effort for nothing.

But the people of reddit were quick to reassure her that she hadn't done anything wrong here.

jaxc124 said:

NTA. You didnt want a party and she wanted a party that wasnt hers to have

And pretty much everyone agreed that the mom was the one being selfish and immature.

Buez said:

Assuming she knows you are depressed and going to therapy NTA. She asked you how you felt about it and you said no. She went against your wishes and did it anyway.

People were also much more understanding about this teen's depression than her mom was.

AltAccount863

NTA for multiple reasons. 1, depression is rarely understood by family members, and often they just make it worse. Your mom should have listened to you when you said you didn’t want a party. 2, if said unwanted party was 90% mom’s friends, that sounds like it was more of a party for HER than it was for you. 3, you shouldn’t be forced to put on a fake smile and pretend to be happy, again that I’m sure would just make things worse.

I’m sorry for your loss and I hope you get through it alright. I can’t promise it will get any easier but believe me, some things are worth living for.

sewdeficient said:

You expressed your wishes; they were ignored. At the point someone says "please don't throw me a party" and pulls that shit, they are throwing a party for themselves.You should point that out.

Your mom also sounds like a goddamned child. She's selfish. She could have had a get-together for herself if she liked - instead she used your birthday and put pressure on you as the excuse.

Please feel no guilt.

And Sirnando138 had this very heartwarming, supportive response:

NTA. You handled it the way you needed to. And as a dude that lost his dad at 17, all I can say is keep your head up. That was 21 years ago for me and I’ve long moved on, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and as long you keep being true to yourself, like you have been, you will be just fine. My family tried doing the same stuff with me and I hated it. Good on you for standing up.

The lesson here is that 1)depression is very real, and we need to listen to our loved ones who are struggling with it, and 2)for the love of GAWD, do not throw a surprise party for someone who has made it very clear that they do not want one.

When parenting teenagers, it can be difficult to draw the line between protecting your kids and letting them draw their own boundaries. The lines become even more blurred when dealing with the questionable behavior of other people's teens. Is it your place to call them out, should you contact the parents - or is it best left alone?!

In a recent post on the Am I The *sshole subreddit a mom asked if it was wrong to contact the mom of her daughter's ex-boyfriend, due to his emotionally manipulative behavior.

"WIBTA for contacting the mom of my daughter's (15F) boyfriend (15M) regarding some concerning behavior and messages?"

To kick off the post, OP shared that both her daughter and the ex-boyfriend are just 15-years-old, and their relationship largely consisted of hanging out at the mall.

"So my 15 year old daughter is in her first "serious" relationship with a boy she was friends with before they started dating. I put serious in quotes because while they spend time together frequently, they are only ever alone in public places like the mall. My daughter and I have a good relationship and she has shared that they haven't done anything more than kiss at this point. I am not naive enough to think they couldn't be doing more, but my daughter has given me no reason to mistrust her."

While OP had been supportive of her daughter's blooming relationship, his possessiveness quickly escalated as they spent more time together.

Soon, it became normal for him to incessantly hound her with texts and claim if she didn't respond she was hiding something.

"The problem is that the more time they spend together, the more demanding of her time the boyfriend is becoming. He calls and texts her constantly and gets upset when she doesn't respond immediately. She has explained to him that she is not tied to her phone, especially during the summer when she is doing things outside or with friends. He has told her that he worries about her when she doesn't answer, and if she really loved him she wouldn't make him worry. She recognizes this as manipulation and has told him that it is not okay."

OP's daughter luckily was able to pinpoint that the behavior was not okay, and sat her boyfriend down to tell him if he didn't chill out she'd end the relationship.

"She sat him down and explained that she does not like how demanding and controlling he is becoming, and explained that if he doesn't stop she will break up with him. I was very proud of the way she handled it. We have taught both of our kids that it is important to define your boundaries and then expect the people around you to respect them, as well as taking the time to understand and respect the boundaries of others. I think this is especially important as they navigate their teenage years."

Sadly, he didn't heed her words very well, and during a 30 minute bath he sent 30 texts and called her seven times.

This display of obvious possessiveness inspired OP's daughter to cut off the relationship. Unfortunately, she was also forced to block him after he blew up her phone and started attempting to contact all their mutual friends.

"Last night while she to a 30 minute bath he called her 7 times and sent her over 30 texts that started with him just saying "Babe, call me" and culminated in him saying there would be consequences for her ignoring him. It was the last straw, and she told him she was done. He then blew up her phone until she blocked him and removed him from all of her social media. He then started contacting all of the people in their shared group of friends, trying to get them to talk her into giving him another chance. She. Is. Done."

Now, OP feels compelled to contact the mom of her daughter's ex.

He is still young and has plenty of time to develop healthier relationship habits, but OP believes that won't happen if his behavior isn't nipped in the bud. As the mother of a 13-year-old boy, OP shared that she'd want to know if her son was harassing a girl in that matter.

"As a mom, I would want to know if my son (13M) was treating someone like this. I recognize that this is a learning experience for both of them, and hope that this boy can learn to have healthier relationships on the future."

OP doesn't want to overstep her daughter's bounds, but also feels the ex-boyfriend's mom should know about her son's behavior.

"WIBTA for contacting his mom and letting her know everything that has been going on? We have chatted in the past, and I have her contact info, so it would be easy to get in touch with her. Or would I be overstepping my bounds by getting involved, since at this point my daughter seems to have done a good job of handling things on her own?"

Kelhar417 doesn't think it's a bad move at all for OP to contact the mother.

"NTA. You are her mother, they are all minors. Absolutely it is in your right to speak up. Were she an adult, it would be a different story. Kudos to your daughter for setting boundaries and standing her ground!"

murderousbudgie thinks it's crucial for OP to give his parents the opportunity to teach him healthier relationship skills.

"NTA. This behavior needs to be nipped in the bud before this kid becomes an adult. That's his parents job and they can't do it if they don't know about it. You're doing a favor to your daughter and every other girl and woman he meets."

Razor_Grrl is a parent of sons and would want to know.

"Agreed. NTA. I have sons and I would definitely want to know if this was happening because it is so important to address this stuff when they are young. I would thank you for letting me know (keep in mind his parent may not, but at least you’ve done your due diligence)."

Reyes0fSunshine commends OP and her daughter for handling this so maturely.

"NTA. Your daughter has done a tremendous job at recognizing and responding appropriately to some seriously concerning behaviors. I don’t think it would be going too far to inform his parents as they might be able to address it on their end, but also be prepared that it might not have an impact on them. He has most likely learned this behavior somewhere and that may be at home."

"Not to worry you further, but also know that he may escalate further now that she has broken it off. Maybe have a talk with your daughter to not only let her know she just made a great decision but also to plan for safety in case he won’t leave her alone. Fingers crossed for you two that he gives it up and leaves her alone."

After receiving a lot of encouraging responses, OP updated the post by sharing that she talked to her daughter about the decision.

"UPDATE: I talked with my daughter tonight and told her that I was considering calling his mom to discuss his behavior. (For the record, I would have done this even without all of the suggestions to do so. I respect her enough to keep her in the loop.) I explained that I don't think she could have handled the situation any better than she did, and I am so proud of her for advocating for herself and her boundaries. But I have concerns about the way he continues to stomp those boundaries and try to manipulate her. I am also concerned about his future relationships if he doesn't make some serious changes, which probably won't happen without some intervention."

Her daughter is completely okay with OP contacting the mom, but they decided to wait a few days to see if he'll calm down on his own.

"She was not upset at all and said she understood why I would want to call his mom. She asked that I wait a couple of days to see if he stops the behaviors on his own. We agreed that if he is still trying to call and text her and her friends by Friday, I will make the call. As a side note, the friends he has contacted have all told him that he needs to give her space and understand why she broke up with him. She is lucky to really have a great group of friends."

OP also shared that teaching their kids the importance of boundaries and self-advocacy has been a focus throughout the years, and it's encouraging to see how her teen daughter has internalized those lessons.

"Also, for those of you who have asked... From a very early age we have always emphasized the importance of boundaries with our kids. We never forbid them from being friends with kids we saw as potential bad influences, but focused on what makes a good friend. When problems arose, we would talk to them and help them see when someone wasn't respecting them (or when they weren't respecting others).

"So her recognizing that he was being manipulative and needy was an extension of that. I'm so happy that years of those types of conversations worked and she has a very good grasp on what health interactions look like!"

Hopefully, the ex-boyfriend is able to unlearn his manipulative behavior so his future relationships can be healthier and other young women aren't put into this position.