Two Hot Takes - 193: Genuinely Self-Absorbed?..
Episode Date: November 28, 2024Two Hot Takes host, Morgan, is joined by guest co-host Michaela Okland! After seeing wicked a few times Michaela helped craft this week's theme.. genuinely self-absorbed? Meaning, are the people in th...ese stories only thinking about themselves or is there something else going on? How else can you explain a husband wanting his wife to have a c-section or someone's partner trying to have them sell their inheritance?! Can't wait to hear your thoughts! Fill out the google form to submit your audiobook hot takes & be entered to win a little present from me: https://forms.gle/doTtiE7JD9yd8TQAA MERCH IS ON SALE RIGHT NOW & NEW STYLES ADDED ! https://shop.twohottakes.com Michaela's Content :) https://www.instagram.com/michaelaokland/?hl=en Bonus Content on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TwoHotTakes I can't wait to see you all in these, especially at our live shows!! Our PO Box!! Two Hot Takes. 5042 Wilshire BLVD. #470. Los Angeles, CA 90036 Our SubReddit to Submit YOUR Stories!!! https://reddit.app.link/twohottakes Full length Video episodes available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TwoHotTakes Partners: Manscaped: Get 20% off + free shipping with the code THT at http://Manscaped.com Skims: http://skims.com/tht to shop the holiday shop! psttt.. such a good sale right now! Lume: http://lumedeodorant.com/tht for 30% off! Audible: http://audible.com/tht for all the years best :)Â
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Nothing on your forehead.
Oh, thank God.
Swear to God.
I literally, I was editing that YouTube video and I was like, what the heck?
And I realized it after when we were like doing our stills, I like held the phone up and I was like,
no.
I like at one point thought there, but then I was like, oh, that's just like a vein
because it was like right where a vein would be.
I know.
And then I was,
cause I don't have the best vision, although now, yeah.
Okay, so no lines today. No lines.
We're already doing better there.
I'm still like sitting here in shock
about the fact you just asked me to go caroling though.
Well, I think like you would bring something special
to the mix, to the choir.
We've got an alto section, we've got our tenors, we've got our baritones, we need to have our
bucket holder.
I'm like, I can hold a bucket and ring a triangle.
Oh, wait, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could have the triangle.
Or I'll be like cowbell.
We could do a good instrument, like the thing with the bell, yeah.
Is that the egg shakers?
Yeah.
Trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, trampoline,
the circle with all the bells on it.
And you like, and...
Oh my God, Esmeralda Hasmann in Hunchback of Notre Dame.
What is that tambourine?
Tambourine.
You were close.
I was hunting.
You were close.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
I'm really excited to have this theme today.
I am too.
I'm like, this was all your, this was your idea.
It was, it was Fiyero's idea.
It was Jonathan Bailey's idea.
Where are my wicked people at?
I need to go again.
I'm so jealous.
You're going for the fourth time tomorrow.
Yeah, and I have the fifth time all scheduled as well.
But that's because my family hasn't gone,
and when I go home for Thanksgiving,
I'm making them go with me.
Okay, that's fair.
But I've never been like this about any movie.
It was like, I'm not gonna go.
Have you, you've obviously, you've seen the original Broadway.
Yeah, and I will say, I understand a lot of people
don't love musicals, totally understand,
but like my brother,
who doesn't really like musicals,
he fell asleep during Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.
He enjoyed Wicked.
It's sort of like, it can meet people
because it's a little bit more poppy, a little bit funnier.
So I would give it a chance.
That's all I'm saying.
I think everyone needs to.
It is honestly so, so well done.
It's so fun.
So well done. I loved it.
And I just saw the Broadway musical like a month ago.
Oh, no way.
Yeah. So for me, it was like, it was so fresh.
And I was like, wait, this is, it's incredible.
I love Broadway. I am like considering going to New York
because I have like a free flight that I need to use.
And I'm like, maybe I'll go to New York by myself
and just go see some musicals for like a couple of days.
I'd go with you.
I'd go watch musicals with you.
Okay, let's do it.
Have you seen the new Great Gatsby?
No, and I just read the Great Gatsby book
for the first time.
Okay, that's meant to be.
Like two weeks ago, actually.
It's meant to be.
Also, because it's shorter
and I'm trying to hit my Goodreads Ringo for the year.
So that's like what happened. Yeah, Justin it's shorter and I'm trying to hit my Goodreads reading goal for the year. So that's what happened.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Justin told me you were trying to hit 30 books in the next month or something.
Yeah.
My goal is 100.
I'm at 74.
Okay.
The thing is I actually have six books.
I have six other books that I did read that aren't on my Goodreads because they're so
embarrassing.
I couldn't even claim them publicly.
Oh.
You know, sometimes.
That's how I feel about some of the smut
shape-shifter books I read.
And like, I shouldn't tell people about those.
Yeah, I had like a reverse harem phase,
so we don't have to even.
No.
You can count those, that's fine.
That's fine.
Yeah, yeah, let's put it on there.
Let's get up to 80. Let's go. Okay, so hi guys. I'm Morgan, those, that's fine. That's fine. Yeah, yeah, let's put it on there. Let's get up to 80.
Let's go.
Okay, so hi guys.
I'm Morgan, by the way.
This is two hot takes if you're new.
I'm Michaela, hi.
Hi.
So the theme Michaela came up with is like
genuinely self-concerned or self-centered.
Self-absorbed, yeah.
Yeah.
There's a line in Wicked,
this is where it came from
because one of the people says that he...
Oh, well, Alphaba says to Fiyero,
that's why you pretend to be self-absorbed and shallow.
And he's like, there is no pretense I happen to be
genuinely self-absorbed and shallow.
So, genuinely self-absorbed, because a lot of these bitches
do happen to be genuinely self-absorbed
on these stories.
Yeah, and that's what a lot of these are.
And maybe we'll put a question mark at the end for the title,
and we'll kind of determine if it's their self-centered,
self-absorbed, or like something else is going on here.
Because they're very confusing.
Like, I read a couple of these and I'm like,
I'm bamboozled.
I like that. I like the question mark.
And hey, that's true to the movie as well. I'm done. I'm bamboozled. I like that a lot. I like the question mark. Question mark.
And hey, that's true to the movie as well.
I'm done.
That's the last thing I say about it.
I swear to God.
The whole episode is actually wicked today, the whole thing.
But are you ready?
The movie's just going to start playing, yeah.
Yeah.
Intro.
It's not too hot takes.
Neon, it's wicked.
Part 1.5.
Whoa.
OK, let's dive in. ["Wicked"]
Okay, this first one, wedding dress shopping. I'm considering going for the first time in a week.
Oh my God.
I'm like really nervous.
I like don't want to go.
Why?
I don't know.
I'm like really nervous about it.
I'm just like, nah, it's one of those things that's like, that's I think my least favorite part about the wedding planning. I don't know, I'm like really nervous about it. I'm just like, nah, it's one of those things that's like,
that's I think my least favorite part
about the wedding planning.
I don't know why.
I'm like, who do I invite?
You can piss people off by not inviting them.
Were you ever the type of person
who saved wedding dresses at any point?
Like on Pinterest and such?
Yeah, oh my God, I got a board.
I know what I want, but I'm scared to go
and try on stuff and then feel bad.
Yeah.
I don't want to feel bad.
No, I get that. That makes sense. Or like, what if I don't find it?
What if I never find it? What if everything ends up not being what I thought it would be?
Yeah. That makes sense.
All of that.
I don't think it's going to go that way though.
Okay. Well, this story doesn't make me feel great about it.
Oh, good. Yay.
So it's coming from Am I the Asshole?
It's titled, Am I the asshole for not inviting my mother to go wedding dress shopping and
then buying the one without her?
I am a 25 female planning my wedding for next year.
I am very early in the process, but have started going dress shopping.
For context, I haven't always had the best relationship with my mom. She tends to be a bit narcissistic and negative towards
everything, but I've learned to get used to it since I was raised by her. Backstory. I've never
felt very feminine and usually tend to portray a tomboy vibe. While growing up, she would always
make comments of my weight or appearance. Or even one time while prom dress shopping, I said I wanted to feel beautiful in my dress.
And she said, quote, well, you aren't beautiful.
Oh, you're cute, but you'll never be beautiful.
This is really bad.
So moral of the story, the first two times I went dress shopping for my wedding gown,
I took her with me because I wanted validation from her and I wanted her to think I looked beautiful.
I know it's dumb to do, but it's a trauma thing and I realize it's a me issue. Anyway,
during each of those dress fittings, she wouldn't say anything necessarily bad or negative, but she was just overall
disinterested or somehow made it about
herself. At one point, I even broke down crying in the middle of the store because of her
lack of presence. I was very hurt by her lack of interest or maternal warmth, so I decided
that the next time I went, I would try on some dresses without her just to see if I
feel less anxious or stress.
I happened to find a dress I loved and bought that day.
It was a much better time overall as well and I enjoyed it.
A part of me felt slightly guilty for not including her, but mainly upset that she wasn't
offering the emotional support or maternal comfort that I would hope to get from my mother.
But I got over it.
Until my dad called.
He then told me how hurt and bothered she is that I didn't even tell her I was going,
let alone invite her.
And she is embarrassed because her friends are asking details and she wasn't made aware
of any of them because she wasn't included in the last dress fitting.
He wants me to apologize to her
because I hurt her feelings,
but she won't even answer my calls
and very briefly will respond to a text
with a one word answer.
I'm seeing her in person tomorrow,
but I can't tell if I'm the asshole
for not including her in a special moment for her also, or am
I justified in my initial thoughts and actions?
Oh my God.
I would go off.
I would go off and be like, do you know how you've spoken to me my entire childhood?
That's so sad.
Why does she talk to her like, this is like an issue though.
This is a thing. There is a certain, unfortunately, genre of mothers to daughters who act like this, and
it's the perfect first story for this theme. Because yes, she is genuinely self-absorbed,
and also sometimes then they take their daughter as like a reflection of themselves. And...
daughter is like a reflection of themselves and... I know.
That's what's hard.
So I read this one and I don't know, I have not looked into research about this, but I
would be very curious.
It feels like with people, moms, more so specifically, this is like my little hypothesis.
It feels like moms that are narcissists or have like more of these narcissistic traits
have a harder time raising daughters than they do sons.
It feels like if they're a narcissistic mom and they have a daughter, it's almost like
a competition between them.
Like the mom looks at it like that versus if they have a son, they don't have as much
of a problem with a son, they don't have as much of a problem with a son. Yeah, or it's like, you have to do X, Y, Z because if not, like, you're a reflection
of me, you're a younger me, so you're gonna do the dream that I didn't get to do or like,
or like they use them as a tool to achieve what they think they should have achieved
in ways as well.
It can go so many different ways, but this is such a dangerous, like, I know so many
people who had experiences like this, not as frequently with comments like that from
their mothers, but just like little comments about like their weight or the way they looked
on important nights like prom or something like that.
And it's so damaging.
Of course you wouldn't want her there
when you're trying on your wedding dress,
which as you were just saying,
is like already a stressful, you want people to cry.
You want people to be like,
oh my God, this is the most beautiful you've ever looked.
You're the most beautiful bride I've ever seen.
Yeah.
I know, I'm blown away.
And the comment from prom too,
because like that was a very important time.
And it's like, well, you aren't beautiful, you're cute,
but you'll never be beautiful.
What the fuck?
Like, sorry, what?
What?
Every single fucking person is beautiful in their own way.
Like, and to say that to your daughter who just said like,
I wanna feel beautiful in my dress.
Like, you'll to be, I want to feel beautiful in my dress. Like you're, he'll never be. What?
What? Like I don't even an enemy shouldn't speak to you like that.
Let alone your mother. No, no, no, dude.
I just realized one of my biggest pet peeves is the preface with all due respect.
Yeah. Like, okay, if you're saying that,
and then you say something extremely negative afterwards, it's not fucking respectful. with all due respect. Yeah. Like, okay, if you're saying that
and then you say something extremely negative afterwards,
it's not fucking respectful.
It's not all due respect.
Like that's actually, that's so disrespectful
and you prefacing it almost put me in fight or flight mode.
So maybe don't say that.
Don't start with that. Delete that.
I always try to understand people's intent with words, right?
Maybe it came off wrong, but what was the intent behind it?
And I cannot imagine any positive well-meaning intent behind saying that.
No.
I really can't.
No.
And then let's talk about the self-absorbed side of this.
Yeah. Oh, well, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends
because I couldn't even provide them details.
So you only care what other people think about you.
You want to look like this doting, amazing mom to your friends
when that is the furthest thing from reality.
And can't she ask? Can't she just ask?
It's like, it's so stupid.
Can't you just be like, what does the dress look like?
What does it look like?
If you were a normal, well-functioning human being,
you could say, I'm sure you look so beautiful.
I'm so excited to see it.
What does it look like?
And then you would know.
But instead you're not speaking to her.
You're stonewalling her.
You're punishing her.
It's your fault at every turn.
No, this is extremely toxic.
And I completely understand why OP is like questioning
everything because look at the relationship you have.
You're being gaslit by not only your mom I completely understand why OP is like questioning everything because look at the relationship you have.
You're being gaslit by not only your mom with the stonewalling, punishment, emotional, psychological manipulation,
but your dad's calling and chiming in.
Your dad is enabling her toxic behavior.
So it's no wonder you can't tell which is up or down or whatever.
Absolutely. You get so used to it that you feel like that's normal.
And I think that that's what happens a lot in these Reddit stories is like people who
are so used to a certain dynamic in their relationship reaching out for an outside opinion
because you know, maybe they've gotten to a point where they've spoken to friends who've
said, yeah, that's not normal.
That's not how my relationship with my family is.
Like that's not very nice That's not how my relationship with my family is. Like, that's not very nice.
And now they're questioning, but again, yeah,
like the dad even is doubling down.
So it's like, what is real?
I need more opinions and thank God we have this.
I know.
So overall vote on this one, not the asshole.
Top comment.
They quote OP's mom.
She said, well, you aren't beautiful.
You're cute.
You'll never be beautiful. Oh my God. Wow, that's really. She said, well, you aren't beautiful. You're cute.
You'll never be beautiful.
Wow.
That's really hurtful.
I'm so sorry.
You are not the asshole here, but your mother, she's a real piece of work.
You did what you needed to do for yourself because your mother is so unsupportive.
And I would tell my father that if I were you, he's her flying monkey sent to try and
make you feel bad.
Well, you have no reason to feel bad or guilty.
In my opinion, you don't owe her a thing.
She's embarrassed, too bad.
She's attempting to make this all about her.
Are you familiar with the Grey Rock method?
Look into it.
Your special moment is your special moment.
She's using emotional manipulation to deflate your joy
and make your wedding about her.
You are justified. Wait, what's the gray rock method?
Gray rocking is where you make yourself uninteresting to a narcissist or someone who's
trying to mess with you. You don't really engage. You just kind of like give them the bare minimum to a point where they like fall.
You're there, you become so uninterested to them.
Whoa.
Yeah. I'm sure there's a better way.
That I don't know, I can't believe I've never heard of that.
It's a big therapy tool.
Yeah. So it's a phrase, Grey Rock is a metaphor for a way to deflect or diffuse further abuse from a partner, family member or a coworker.
a way to deflect or diffuse further abuse from a partner, family member, or a coworker. Simply put, the Grey Rock method is when a person who is enduring abuse purposefully
acts as boring as possible during encounters with their abuser.
Whoa.
So you don't give them anything to like bite back.
It's so challenging to do.
Like especially if you're like used to having like that like argumentative relationship
with someone where you're just trying to defend yourself.
It's innately within us to want to defend ourselves.
Mm-hmm.
But you have to just be like,
oh, okay, yeah, I see your side.
Yeah.
I think politics is the greatest example of it.
Right. That's exactly where my mind was going with some certain relationships.
Well, and Thanksgiving, this episode,, I think comes out on Thanksgiving.
Wait, this is such a good timing.
A lot of people need this before going home
with their families.
Especially politics.
So it's like, well, don't you know that blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah does this and that and that?
And it's like, no, but I guess I'll look into it.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing.
Done.
Like, oh, that's great. Something for me to consider. you for sharing. Right. Done. Yeah. Like, oh, that's great.
Something for me to consider.
Thanks for sharing.
Done.
Because these people, like that personality type,
they want to either get a big reaction out of you
or like be the victim of something.
Like find something you said that they can cling on to
and be like, look, they said this to me.
So if you don't give them anything,
then you're not a fun play toy anymore.
No. It's so hard to do, but it works said this to me. So if you don't give them anything, then you're not a fun play toy anymore. No.
It's so hard to do, but it works.
I love that.
It works.
There is another comment after that.
Don't forget she went twice with her mother and became so upset she cried.
Then she went alone and found a dress.
That's not a coincidence.
That's something I was going to say.
I'm like, the one time you go without her, you find the dress.
No, you were just so stressed and miserable and unhappy. You weren't even opening your heart for the right dress.
Like it wasn't a fun experience.
It wasn't, you didn't feel good about yourself
or the dresses.
Like it's not a coincidence.
I mean, it was very nice for her to let her mother come
to the first two anyway.
Even the second after how the first one went.
Like she's really given her chances.
She's tried to make her included.
I would love it if she could,
I mean, maybe she's already done this at some point in their life,
just be like, this is the way you've made me feel my whole life.
But I don't know, maybe that would be the opposite of a gray rock,
that'd be a sparkly rainbow rock, and it would give her even more to complain and whine about.
Yeah.
I know.
I wonder, and this is where our therapists chime in.
Right.
I wonder if you like, especially because like she's probably going to be at the wedding,
she's going to see her in the dress and kind of already like anticipating her reaction.
It's like you almost want to tell her and like draw a boundary where it's like, dress and kind of already like anticipating her reaction,
it's like you almost want to tell her and like draw
a boundary where it's like, hey, I picked my dress.
I'm really excited about it.
If you don't say anything positive, like,
I'm not going to engage with you.
Like, I don't want you in the bridal suite then
getting ready with me.
Like you almost set the boundary because someone like that,
that didn't have a say in the dress you picked
and was excluded
Air quotes like in her eyes
She's gonna be like, um, well, that's not what I would have gone with or
It's okay. Right. You already can anticipate those comments
as a further form of punishment, so it's like i'd be curious from a therapist point of view and like
Using therapy talk like what would be a good way to kind of avoid any of that
with this woman?
Yeah, like do you say something?
Or do you just gray rock it out?
Yeah, but that's what is so hard,
an element of what's so hard about weddings is like,
if you don't have a great relationship with your mother,
or she talks to you like that,
then if you don't include her in the bridal suite,
or like you were saying, then that's a big issue.
Or if you don't have a great relationship with your father and
you don't want to do like the walking down the aisle or the daddy daughter dance or whatever,
then that's a huge issue. And you have to, it's so built for including these people in
these moments that if you don't, it's going to start a whole thing. But then if you do,
it might feel disingenuine to your experience or your feelings or it might, you know, make
that experience worse. Like being in the Bridal Suite with someone who's insulting you the
whole time. That's like, oh, that sucks.
I know. I think that's why a lot of people have moved towards a low pain.
Yeah.
Because it's like, it's kind of this fine line of like doing what is going to make you
happy and toting that line. And then what is going to make you happy and toting that line
and then what's going to make other people happy and not piss other people off and
not have drama. And it's like, this is about you guys, the couple, but a lot of us have to go
through these like hoops and hurdles of avoiding drama and doing extensive seating charts to make
sure people avoid each other. And it is overwhelming and exhausting and very unfair
to put on the two people that should be celebrating.
Yeah, absolutely.
Like, suck it up.
If you can't be there happy, supportive, don't come.
Like truly, like, it's not, don't.
Don't. I don't want you there.
You're gonna be a little sour puss.
Nope.
It's simply not about you. It's simply not.
It's not.
And I've got one more wedding story that I'm like...
Wait, perfect.
We're gonna roll with this wedding stuff.
I'm like, I'm getting into my planning now too,
because I'm like, okay, wait.
Like, I'm, you guys, I'm only...
I'm less than a year out.
I have my date, September 27th.
That's crazy.
Yeah. And so I'm like, okay, I'm like, I've my date September 27th. That's crazy. Yeah.
Oh my God.
And so I'm like, okay, I'm like, I gotta start planning now.
Mm-hmm.
I was just, wedding planning's crazy.
And then you do this podcast and you hear stories so often about weddings.
I know. So I've got a wedding theme coming at the top of the year as I get more into
it. But I'm like, I'm just in my wedding story phase right now.
Yeah. And then if you have any wedding stories, let us know. Hey.
I'm sure. I'm sure I'm going to have a couple. Just wait.
One of this week's partners is Manscaped.
I just get my hair.
Holidays are sneaking up faster than my third cup of coffee.
And if you're still debating what to get the special someone in your life,
I've got the perfect gift for you.
Forget the cliche gifts of socks, cologne, sweaters,
and get him something he's actually going to love using.
The Chairman Pro Package from our friends at Manscaped.
It's like the Rudolph of grooming,
guiding him to the smoothest, irritation-free shave of his life.
And my favorite part about the Chairman Pro is it's waterproof. So
they can actually use it in the shower. Think about the cleanup. It's not all
over your counter in your bathroom anymore. It also has a 75 minute runtime
on a single charge and it has a travel lock so no more buzzer going off in your
bag while you're traveling. With all of its new technology the Chairman Pro
really is an upgrade in shaving. It has so many benefits like the SkinSafe 4-Blade Foil, the FlexAdjust technology.
So gift your man with the ultimate grooming experience by Manscaped and get him the Chairman
Pro package for the holidays.
It's a thoughtful and practical gift that he'll actually use and love.
Get 20% off and free shipping with code THT at manscaped.com. That's 20% off plus
free shipping with the code THT at manscaped.com. So this is coming from Am I the Asshole? Titled,
Am I the Asshole for Still Going to My Sister's Wedding. My husband, 36, and I, 30, have three
kids, two, four, and seven. I'm a stay-at-home mom full-time, and I take care of the kids while my
husband works full-time. My sister's wedding was last week. We live hours away, which is an issue
for my husband. When we first got the invite, he told me he wasn't going, that
he will stay for the kids and suggested that I do the same. Since the wedding doesn't
allow kids and my husband doesn't want to hire a babysitter after the one we had robbed
us, we had gone back and forth on this. But I insisted on going since that's my only
sister and I want to attend what might be a once-in-a-lifetime
event for her."
He chuckled at my statement, and then we stopped talking about it.
As the wedding was approaching, he brought it up and told me to miss it and stay with
the kids.
I suggested that since no babysitters were allowed, then I could get my friend to stay
with the kids, but again, he refused.
I ignored him, spoke to my friend who agreed
to watch the kids, and booked a ticket
to travel to my sister's town in time.
My husband found out and went on about how he had work
and that the most logical solution is that I stay home
with the kids and let him make his living.
I told him that I already took care of the kids
and they'll stay with my friend.
Honestly, I grew impatient. The day of my flight, I dropped the kids off at my friend's place
and then headed to the airport. I found out he had cancelled my plane ticket.
What the fuck?
I was upset, but still insisted on going, so I went home and got into my car and drove four
hours to get to the town. At 5 p.m. my husband called and was freaking out on me
asking where I was. I told him I made it to my sister's town and he blew up saying
I wasn't supposed to go. Even said he canceled my ticket to get me to stay. He
demanded I return, but I said,
not until the wedding is over.
He called me horrible, a neglectful mom,
then had his mom scold me and accuse me
of abandoning my own children.
There was a huge argument that ensued when I returned home
and my husband kept on saying I was horrible
to leave the kids and to ignore him like that and
Eventually do what I wanted. He's giving me the silent treatment as of now and I can no longer take it
I felt guilty and did not enjoy the wedding at all. Was I wrong for still going?
Hell no
The actual I kept waiting for him to give some other reason as to why she couldn't go besides,
I don't want you leaving the house.
What?
I'm very concerned.
It's her sister's wedding.
It is her sister's wedding.
Also can he not watch the kids for what?
Like two nights at most?
Maybe one night, two nights?
No, he can't.
Why is this such a thing?
Also, you know what?
Maybe that babysitter deserved to rob you.
Maybe that babysitter deserved those items more than he did.
I'm just, I'm beyond baffled.
I'm so one, I am so, so happy and proud of her
to go through that.
Right.
You're literally being like turned away at the airport.
Oh. Yeah.
To show up and find out that he canceled your flight.
Hell no. Hell no. And what a good sister. Like she
drove four hours versus just being like defeated. What an amazing strong person, like standing
up for herself and still doing this, holding her guns, even after being called all these
terrible names and all of this shit. Insanely strong. So happy for her, so proud of her.
And it sucks that she didn't have a good time.
But this guy is a controlling, crazy person.
You gotta run.
Calling her a neglectful parent?
You abandoned your children?
She left the house for one day, for one night.
They're not attached to the umbilical cord anymore.
She could have been back sooner
if she had been able to take a flight.
True, would have been more efficient.
Way more efficient.
Would have been able to spend more time at home.
Safer for her too.
Yeah.
Safer, flying is safer than cars.
So they say, my brain doesn't rationalize that
when I'm up there, but you know.
No, it's true though, because one time I was looking
at what the most dangerous jobs are,
and police was like not even in the top 10, and all of the top ones were like delivery person, like anyone who has anything to do with driving a car.
Dude, I, this is such a tangent. I have a really big fear of getting hit by a car. And my new fear, if you are like your car's parked, but you have to walk around like in front of it to get in.
And there's cars coming because you're parked
on that side of the street.
My fear is that someone on driving rear ends my car
while I'm walking in front of it.
And then I get like dominoed, bam.
I think about it every time.
I'm also, yeah, I need therapy.
That sounds...
That won't happen.
Yeah, okay. It won't happen to you.
But really proud of her and just like, this is Yeah. It won't happen to you. Yeah.
But really proud of her and just like this is, this is abuse.
It is.
This is abuse.
No, it is.
If you can't leave the house for one day to go to your sister's wedding, like when can
you leave the house?
When is she allowed to do anything?
What's wrong with a babysitter?
And then what's wrong with the friend?
Nothing.
You just want your wife completely under your thumb
and control.
I'm also wondering if actually a babysitter did steal
or if he concocted something so that there'd be an excuse
for them to not use a babysitter.
Like it just seems too convenient for him
that he can be like, no, like we can't have babysitters, it has to be you,
when he's clearly so set on making her never leave.
So we do get some info on that.
Wait, no way, no way, no way.
So top comment on this, financial abuse, question mark?
Yup.
Isolating you from a loved one?
Yup.
Controlling behavior?
Yup.
Not the asshole. Androlling behavior? Yup.
Not the asshole.
And please leave the asshole.
He should be required to give you child support and alimony.
You are not neglectful.
Your kids were taken care of.
OP responds, thank you so much.
The childcare arrangement issue has been making my life 10 times harder.
After that babysitter robbed us, my husband decided that no babysitter
is allowed into our home anymore.
I disagreed because of how illogical his decision was,
and now look at how much we're struggling.
I'm struggling, actually, without outside help.
Thank God for my friend.
She's like a sister to me.
And so someone quotes the
after the babysitter robbed us part.
Do you have confirmation
that the babysitter actually robbed you?
All right, turn this up.
Let's turn this up.
Based on how manipulative he is canceling your ticket, I wouldn't put it past him
to frame your babysitter as an excuse to never hire one again so that he can keep
you trapped in your home.
Yeah.
Also that just like doesn't, that it just to me is very unlikely to actually happen.
I feel like when I've been a nanny and babysitter,
like I don't really... I don't look into people's stuff.
Yeah. And I just feel like they get accused of it so much more than it's actually happening.
Yeah.
Like you misplaced something and your first thought is,
oh my God, like the nanny, the babysitter. Yeah. And it's not. Like Like you misplaced something and your first thought is, oh my God, like the nanny, the babysitter,
and it's not, like you just misplaced it.
No, I assume I misplaced it.
Yeah.
I swear to God, I have a black hole following me.
So like anything's missing.
I'm like, man, the hole got it.
Yeah, the hole.
The hole.
The little trolls that come out from under my bed
at night got it.
It's where all my hair ties are.
My claw clips?
No, I don't know where they went.
Like my panda coin, gone.
A bracelet Justin got me, gone.
Like I'm like, where the fuck did it go?
Yeah.
Where the fuck did it go?
So OP does have a couple little quips here.
Info, my husband dislikes my sister, if it's relevant.
Okay, I'm sure he dislikes everyone that you like.
That, he dislikes everyone.
Fork found in kitchen.
Because he wants you to be under his control.
Yeah.
He doesn't want you to have friends.
I'm surprised you can even have a friend.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Update, so a lot of people on here
brought up the possibility of my husband lying about
the robbery that happened months ago and accusing the babysitter of stealing just so I can't
hire any other babysitters. He was the one who discovered the robbery. I never saw or
talked to her after he kicked her out. Upon reading the comments, I'm now suspecting that
he made up the whole thing. I'm going to contact the babysitter to get the whole story.
Hopefully I'm wrong, but I will talk to her
and see if her story contradicts his in any way.
I'll keep you updated.
Whoa.
Did she?
Did she?
So we have a couple of other comments from OP,
just kind of further elaborating on him
and things like that before we,
because we do have an update.
Oh, and there's a grand reveal.
There's an update.
But we can be patient, we can be patient.
Yeah.
So OP is like responding to this comment,
not the asshole, he's awful,
it's ridiculous to suggest you missed the wedding
as there were obviously childcare solutions and to cancel the ticket is super
abusive. I can't see how this doesn't cause massive damage to your relationship. He's
ridiculously controlling. OP. The thing is I had already suggested other solutions,
but he was dead set on not letting me go. I ignored him because I was at my wit's end
and he wouldn't want it any other way.
I'm just like, I can't imagine like even imagining someone like controlling me like that and
suffocating me so much. Like I feel claustrophobic thinking about it.
And there's obviously no way this is the first time like he's been using this babysitter
excuse plenty of times before clearly, but this is like the first really, really serious event,
I mean, potentially, where she's like,
"'It is my sister's wedding.
"'You canceled my ticket.'"
Like, I'm glad that this didn't happen slowly enough
over time that she wasn't able to like recognize it
in this moment.
Yeah.
There is a comment from OP that being called names
is not a new thing.
He has called me names before,
but to say that I'm a neglectful mom,
that stings hard.
That's like one of the greatest indicators of divorce, too.
If like the way that people fight,
and if they do name calling, like that,
it's hard to repair that.
Yeah.
And the fact that his mom is getting involved too.
This, another flying monkey.
Another flying monkey.
Like this is not your relationship, ma'am.
Yeah.
Oh, this is your baby boy.
Get the fuck out of my life.
Oh my God.
Keep to yourself.
You can talk to your son.
If he wants to vent to you, that's fine and dandy,
but don't you dare come at me. And don't you dare come at me saying I'm a bad mom. You
know who's a bad mom? You. Because you raised this controlling little asshole.
Yeah.
Look in the mirror, motherfucker.
How do these people, I guess in that case, it's more straightforward of like that his
mother was clearly an enabler his whole life, but like, how do these people find so many
good enabler, like flying monkeys to like, how do these people find so many good enabler, like
flying monkeys to help them out in these situations where they're so clearly wrong? And then everyone
on the internet has to be like, no, like what? What are you talking about? That's not normal.
No. I'm so upset for her. Sorry. I feel like I popped off there really hard.
No, you should. And it was deserved.
Update.
Okay. I popped off there really hard. No, you should, and it was deserved. Update.
Okay.
I contacted the babysitter via social media.
I sent her a DM telling her who I was
and mentioning the incident that happened at our home.
I didn't think she'd respond,
given that it's been over seven months since she left us,
but I was surprised when she responded in two hours time.
I again mentioned the incident to her
and asked if she could explain to me what happened. She sent me a long wall of text swearing she never took anything from
our home and that my husband came home and was lashing out at her and the kids for no
reason. She said that they didn't talk to him that day, but then brought up a previous
interaction they both had. Then she claimed that he touched her inappropriately
while he was in the kitchen with her.
This caught me off guard.
I asked her to expand on that,
and she said she wasn't sure if it was an accident
or that he did it deliberately.
She said he didn't say anything,
but his looks made her uncomfortable.
She also said she was willing to let it go
until she saw that he started leaving her texts days later, demanding she responded to him.
Then, the day he accused her of the robbery, he just lashed out at her criticizing her work and then told her to leave and not come back.
She said he didn't accuse her of anything being stolen, just lashed out and told her to leave.
Okay, you've got divorce and therapy, but murder is not one of the options.
We need a three-sided paddle.
I was like, where is murder?
Okay, he's just sort of like Satan.
So he's sort of just like an evil, bad per- like so he shouldn't ever be around women
ever again in his life.
Well, I also find it a red flag that OP had to DM her versus having her number.
Wait, yeah.
That's another layer of the control there.
Like he was the point of contact for the babysitter.
Even though she was the one who was with the kids more often.
So it was like, Hey honey, I got to, I got to go to Target.
Can you text the babysitter?
It was another middleman, which shouldn't have even been a thing,
but because he wanted the control.
Whoa.
That's crazy.
You're a seasoned expert on this. Noticing that. That's Whoa. That's crazy. You're a seasoned expert on this, noticing that.
That's crazy.
That is crazy.
You would think that like, yeah, she should have her number.
She should probably be the one talking to her the most.
Yeah.
Coordinating like, wow.
The update goes on to say,
I couldn't wrap my head around this.
I just, I really don't know what to say.
Basically she was saying he tried to hit on her,
but then she said she wasn't sure if it was an accident.
Then he just all of a sudden came home one day
and lashed out, then told her to leave.
I can't make sense of any of it.
He told her to leave because she wasn't reciprocating
his advances.
Yeah, and he needs control as well.
Disgusting.
I went to try to speak to him on that,
but he kept blocking my attempts to discuss it,
so I blew up, showed him what the babysitter sent me,
and he remained calm,
which is completely out of character for him.
He kept repeating the line, she's lying to you.
Well, I absolutely lost on him.
I threatened to take the kids and go stay with my friend,
which is what I'm gonna do today after he leaves the house.
Since he said that, I can't do that.
Then I'm just waiting until he's out.
He kept calling me crazy to believe some kid's story
over his and insisted that I'm looking to dig up dirt
to start a fight.
I refused to continue fighting.
I just kept my distance from him.
This is just horrible.
I did not see this coming.
And I feel like a cold wave just hit me.
And I don't know what to say about this.
And worst of all is that I have no evidence or proof.
I'm gonna be taking some space from him for now
until I clear my mind and think of what I'm going to do moving forward.
Okay.
Good.
I'm very glad that it's like she's out of there now.
This is a different type of self-absorbed because it's like even she's not a real person
to him. She's like a helper to him.
And anything that she does outside of being there for him,
being there for raising his children,
is like an inconvenience to him.
It's like she shouldn't have a life outside
of making my life easier.
And that is completely self-absorbed.
It's like everything should be in my orbit.
And if it falls out of my orbit, I don't like
it.
I hope she's like sticks with it.
I'm so upset.
I have faith in her.
Well, this post is two years old.
Oh my God.
We don't have any more updates.
Oh no.
There's no comments on OP's account that have since come up.
No other posts, no comments on other posts and other subs or anything.
So I'm hoping OP is out there, forgot about the account, forgot about the posts, was dealing
with life.
Here's this and updates us.
I would love to get a happy ending on this
and just make sure she's okay,
because this is insane behavior
and not something anyone should have to deal with.
Yeah, and sometimes you do need to see
a bunch of comments from strangers
to really realize this isn't normal, this isn't
okay. And you know, I'm hoping, I'm believing the best. I'm believing the best with this
one. She recognized that keeping her from her sister's wedding wasn't okay. She left
the house. She's got a good friend that she can lean on and talk to, she's seen all these comments supporting her
and saying this isn't all right.
We're leaving this believing the best.
Yeah, and I do get that vibe just based on
the last comments OP did post.
Like not having proof and stuff.
Yeah, and so did say like, I'm too overwhelmed right now,
but I'll make sure to store all the messages.
So all the messages from him,
all the messages from the mom,
messages from the babysitter.
So there is something.
And then there's another comment where OP is just like,
I fully believe, and I'm now convinced
that the reason he canceled the plane ticket
and went ballistic when I attended the wedding
is because he hates my sister.
He calls her a slut on the regular and yells at me
about how she sleeps around,
which is none of his fucking business.
I'm just so mad at myself for letting him get this far
and humiliating me and bad-mouthing my family
while I stood there and took it.
I was an idiot.
No, you weren't.
Then he should be happy she's getting married
if he's so bothered by a woman having fun.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's made passes at the sister
and just hates her because she didn't engage.
Oh, my God.
He just hates anyone who's not sleeping with him.
Well, actually, he hates people sleeping with him as well,
so it's...
It's everyone.
Yeah.
Probably he just hates women and needs to be
in a superior position in control.
Yeah.
She's left him, everybody.
She's, that's...
Yeah, but if you're out there, let us know.
Let us know.
All the love to you.
Reddit and TikTok have a weird way
of showing up on people's for you pages.
Like the amount of times that people are like,
I came across my story being read on a TikTok.
Like, right.
It could happen and we could get an update.
So everyone just manifests that OP's out there
and living her best life.
And pain and suffering for the man.
And getting that alimony she so heartedly deserves.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
Insanity.
That was a good story though.
I know, I know.
And this next one, I think it's also insanity.
Oh God.
Self-absorbed motherfucker though.
I know, absolutely.
I love the variety of self-absorbed people
we're getting here.
Do you have to like, I'm like,
if you like controlling people that much,
is it like, you must get off on it somehow, right?
Like you, is it because you're so self-centered
and the world needs to accommodate and revolve around you?
Or is it like, you just need that control
and like, you don't even notice it as abuse?
Like, that's where I want...
That's a good question.
I want like a little psychologist on my shoulder
just being like, that's why he did that.
Bah bah bah, his brain is bah bah bah.
Right, like is he saying,
ha ha, like I've controlled her so much,
I own everything she does.
Or is he just like,
this is how it should be, how could she think it should be any other way,
like I'm the main character of the universe, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, it's hard to know. I bet both exist though.
I need to know.
But is it different conditions, like is one narcissism and one like a sociopath?
I don't know.
This is giving...
A little later. We just. This is giving the later.
We just.
This is giving scary.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, like we've only begun to uncover his crimes
in that story.
I know.
Who knows what he's done in the course of his life.
And I'd be very curious.
I would bet, I would bet money that he's an only child and a mama's boy.
And mommy might have some.
Sorry to the moms. You're getting a tough rep today.
I personally love my mom, my best friend, lovely woman.
I love my mom.
She would never do any of these things.
She's a little goofy, but you know, still love her.
Goofy.
Another one of this week's partners is Skims.
I love holiday shopping,
but I put a lot of pressure on myself
to get people gifts they're going to love.
Gifts they're going to open and actually want to wear
and cherish for time to come.
And that is why I've turned
to the Skims holiday shop this year.
My go-to piece I've been wearing from Skims
is the soft smoothing tee,
and it's actually one of the items
I get the most compliments on,
along with the Fits Everybody body suit.
And I'm doing little gifts this year for everyone,
so the soft smoothing t-shirt
is on my list for a lot of people.
I also love the Fits Everybody packs,
bras and underwear.
It is the most comfortable bralette,
it stretches, it's smooth,
and I love that they come in these cute little red boxes.
It's honestly the perfect stocking stuffer.
And look at this pattern.
So don't worry about rushing to get last minute gifts.
The Skims Holiday Shop is gonna be there for you.
And they're gonna make sure everyone on your list
has the best gift this year.
Shop Skims Holiday Shop at skims.com.
Available in styles for women, men, kids, and even pets.
If you haven't yet, be sure to let them know we sent you.
After you place your order, select podcast in the survey and select our show in the drop down menu that follows.
Thank you.
Okay, this next one is coming from our very own tuhat takes subreddit.
Oh, love that.
Three days old.
Ooh.
I'm 23 female and my boyfriend, 37 male.
He demands a cut if my paintings get sold.
She's 23 and he's 37.
Okay, just wanted to run that.
Okay, cool.
Just making sure.
14?
14 years?
Cool, cool.
Awesome.
Hi to Outtakes and Father Knows Something fam.
I've been a long time listener and I just want to say I learned so much from your podcast,
but onto the issue.
I'm a freelance artist from the Philippines and let me tell you, art here barely gets
importance since we are a third world country and I completely understand given that people
should prioritize necessities to live above all else.
So art as a full-time job is a pain here.
Well, I've been in a relationship with my boyfriend
since January 2024. We met at an art event and he messaged me after. And after a month of courting,
we officially became a couple. On dates, I always insist on splitting the bill. But there comes a
time where it's only him that pays and vice versa. It doesn't bother me since I make money from
freelance since getting my degree July 2023. My freelance jobs are architectural layout design
and various forms of commissioned art, pencil drawings, painting, customized costumes,
cosplaying, hair and makeup, etc. And since art is our common ground, he insisted on giving me museum-wrapped canvases so I
can keep creating art pieces.
He has a small canvas business.
At first, I didn't let him give them to me for free since it's kind of costly here,
so I paid for them.
But after a while, he insisted that they are free, and I can just pay each if they get
sold.
So I agreed and considered it as help from him
so I can develop my art more without spending too much,
given that freelancing art is not a stable field here.
Fast forward to November, 2024.
I've finished five paintings,
three pieces of two by three feet
and two pieces of 18 by 20 inches.
And people have loved my style so far.
And now I'm on my second art exhibit
this upcoming December.
And when I asked him how much each of the canvases are again,
so I can pay him if the paintings get sold,
he told me the amount.
And I said, I will pay him the exact amount
when they get sold.
But he then demanded that I should pay him the exact amount when they get sold. But he then demanded that I
should give him higher, that I should consider it his cut. I know he's been helping me,
but I don't understand why I need to give him more than agreed since if they get sold,
it'll be my first. I help him with his art too, like giving his art pieces titles and
descriptions for countless exhibits catalogs,
helping him promote his art on social media, and giving commissioned art his way. And never
did I ask for anything in return because I love him and want to help him.
I know his status in life going in this relationship. He's 37. His older sister pays for his credit
card, still living with his parents, full-time artist,
which is not really stable as we are living
in the Philippines.
He does end up with zero money once in a while,
so it takes a month or two that we cannot go on dates
unless I pay for both of us.
So I wanted to understand why he wants a higher cut
more than we agreed upon.
But when it's him that gets his pieces sold,
I never ask for anything.
Is it wrong to feel this way?
Am I being greedy given that I earn more
on my freelancing jobs than his full-time artist job?
For reference, he earns around zero to 170 a month
while I earn 500 to 600.
How can I tell him that I don't want to give him a higher cut
since we had an agreement that I only pay him the canvas price? I'm delaying talking to him since
when I open up about things, even with the softest tone, he tends to cut me off and tells me he doesn't
want to fight. He concludes that I want to fight when I attempt to communicate and just want to
clear things up. I prioritize communication since I want to be transparent I attempt to communicate and just want to clear things up. I prioritize
communication since I want to be transparent in this relationship to keep it healthy. Also,
I lend him money when he needs it, from my savings account, given he doesn't have one or
any savings, and I never ask for interest, no matter how much of the money he asks for.
Please help. P.S. forgive me if my storytelling is
confusing. It's the ADHD in me.
First of all, congratulations to this girl. Yeah, absolutely.
I'm holding up my divorce sign.
Yeah, literally. Congratulations like getting your art in galleries and like all of the
success. That's so exciting.
Your second exhibit?
Yeah, that's incredible. Especially since you said it's like really especially hard.
He has been up to this for some time.
Insisting that they're free.
He's had this plan.
He's had this plan.
If he usually doesn't pay for stuff and he like,
it's usually a shared situation.
You go 50-50 on meals. Like you go 50-50 on most things. But then with these canvases, he's all of And he like, it's usually a shared situation. You go 50 50 on meals, like you
go 50 50 on most things. But then with these canvases, he's all of a sudden like, Oh no,
these are free. You don't have to pay for these. And we'll talk about it later when
you sell them. That's it's been his plan. It's a bait and switch. Yeah, it was a plot.
Yeah, it's been a plot. He's a scam artist. Yeah, he's a 37 year old scam artist. Yeah.
And I mean like, hey, let him say that part at 37 and 23.
He...
He's a predator.
Yeah.
And I get people are going to be like, they met when OP was 22, 23, not grooming, no issues,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
No, it is predatory if you exploit someone like this.
Yeah.
And I can just tell you, like, I, as a 28 year old,
like 23, even to me, I would be like, is that too young?
Like, I would feel weird about that.
So, and I'm not saying that that's inappropriate,
like that kind of age gap.
And I'm sure, yeah, if it's like a one-off, blah, blah, blah,
whatever, I'm not gonna get into age gap discourse,
it's like a whole thing, of course.
It can work for some people.
It can be healthy.
If there's not a power imbalance.
But clearly, given the other things we're seeing
is why it's such a red flag.
Absolutely.
It's just, it's very self-absorbed
to assume that like,
like she said, she's helping him
because she wants to help him.
And that's what she thought he was doing for her.
It's what relationships kind of are.
It's literally just materials.
I will pay you the cost of materials.
Why do you feel entitled to a percentage of like my art
because you provided a material for me?
I'll pay you back for that.
Like, yeah, you bought the brush. Cool, I'll pay you back for the brush. You bought the canvas, I'll pay you back for that. Like, yeah, you bought the brush.
Cool, I'll pay you back for the brush.
You bought the canvas, I'll pay you back for the canvas.
Like, that doesn't mean that you have any claim
to the art that I created.
Ah.
And then, that would be one thing.
Right.
And then you add in the fact that she's helping him.
Yeah, with way more.
With way more. With way more.
With way more.
Borrowing him money.
Yep.
Doesn't ask for interest.
Titles, descriptions, helping him with the creative.
Sending him commissions.
Yeah.
No.
And then his sister pays his credit card.
Oh my gosh.
You want to go tit for tat?
Yeah.
Here we go, sir.
No, that's what it-
I'm going to start charging you fees for titles.
I'm going to start charging you fees when I send... When I send you a commission
and you get a commission, guess what? I get a cut of that.
You want to take cuts for services rendered?
Yep. Let's take cuts. Let's go tit for tat and see who ends up in the green.
Yeah. That's the issue. Don't be dumb.
If we're like helping each other and we just, you know, every so often,
I help you with something, you help me with something, I pay for something, you pay for something, like I give you a creative
direction, blah, blah, blah. But then as soon as someone starts being like, yeah, let's go tit for
tat, let's like do this, it's like, okay, it's changed, then I have to do that too. It's not
just you who gets to do that. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. Like I've had that happen with friends
before where it's like, and every, I feel like everyone has. Yeah, I had this happen recently as
well. You go to eat or like you're picking up a coffee for someone and it's like, and I feel like everyone has. Yeah, I had this happen recently as well. You go to eat or like you're picking up a coffee
for someone and it's like, oh, like, hey, do you want a coffee?
I'm stopping on my way.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd love something.
And you just take care of it.
Yeah.
Cause it's like, sometimes it feels silly,
Venmo requesting $5 or whatever.
Of course.
And then it reverses.
And then it reverses.
Yep.
And you get the Venmo request.
And it's like, this is why, like sometimes,
what's that saying? It's like, no good deed goes unpun it's like, this is why, like sometimes, what's that saying?
It's like, no good deed goes unpunished.
Oh, this is another wicked reference.
Is that the same?
Yes, it's absolutely from act two, no good deed.
And so I'm just like, ugh,
like you try to scratch each other's back.
You try to be a good partner.
And then you just get raked over the coals.
And it's like, that's not what it should be.
This is not a partnership. You're being used and this isn't your person. And it makes you feel like it's not like you do these things to get the recognition,
but then when they do that it feels like, oh, they haven't recognized that I've done all these
things for them all this time. Like he doesn't appreciate that I've been helping him with XYZ.
He doesn't appreciate that I've picked up.
When this happens with a friend, it's like, oh, so if you're Venmo requesting me for this,
does that mean whenever I've done this for you, it's completely gone out of your mind
the second it's over?
Yeah.
Does this been meaningless?
I know, and that's how I feel about it because like obviously you don't do something kind
with the expectation of getting something back.
Like praise or whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
But it just almost feels like that.
It's like, wait, I took care of you.
Like, did that not mean anything?
Like, why don't you want to reciprocate the same kindness I showed you?
And then that kind of goes to a deeper level of like, hey, maybe the friendship is unbalanced and it's just pointing out a crack. And I think that's what is happening
here. It's just pointing out how truly unbalanced the relationship is. And I get he's making
less money and I get obviously like the canvas should be paid for, but he's going above and
beyond now.
She's already helping him with the money stuff.
She's already lending him money.
Like she...
That added context.
She doesn't need to give him a percentage of her work just because, like out of guilt.
I mean, hey, if you're married and you're going in on everything, sure, eventually,
that's the kind of situation that happens.
Like your money is their money and blah, blah, blah.
But she's actually doing more creative for him
in the sense that she should get a cut
than he is doing for her.
Well, and I'm kind of confused too,
where it's like, I'm making more money,
but I'm doing all this freelance stuff.
I'm hustling, I have all these jobs.
I'm able to make more money
because I'm putting in all this extra crazy work. Yeah.
Versus, well, he's a full-time artist, so he doesn't make as much.
Right.
You're a full-time artist, you're just doing multiple different variations and freelance.
Absolutely.
Why isn't he hustling in the same way as you? Why are you willing to take care of his shortcomings
when you have the same hours in a day and he could also take on some freelance stuff?
Yeah. She's promoting him on social media, like and he could also take on some freelance stuff.
Like, why?
And she's promoting him on social media.
Like, maybe he could be looking into that as well.
Like, she's clearly, she is thinking of extra ways
to boost what she's doing, and like this choice of business.
She's coming up with ideas,
she's finding ways to make it work.
And he doesn't have that same, yeah.
He's just like, well, I could just take a cut
of my girlfriend's work.
I'll just take a cut,
and I'll have my sister pay my credit card.
Yeah.
Which it sounds like that's maybe an arrangement
he's used to getting, like sort of just
skating by on other people's charities.
Self-absorbed.
Which like, it's amazing to follow your dreams
if you're an artist and you're trying to be an artist,
like that's hard work, it's hard to get there.
Although, yeah, like I was a musical theater major
and at a certain point I was like,
I'm not actually gonna make money doing this.
I have to change, like I love this, it's so much fun.
I have to do something else though, unfortunately. Like sometimes that point does come as well. Yeah.
If you're at the point where you're just like, you're 37. I mean, you can become successful
at anything at any time in life, but you're 37, you're still like, you take money from
your sister and your girlfriend. At a certain point, you have to think maybe I do something
else. Or maybe I should start doing some freelance.
Yeah, maybe like there's something additionally that I could be doing.
Yeah.
Top comment on this one.
Your boyfriend is using you as an ATM.
Stop giving him money like every other female in his life.
This man is 37 years old.
What the actual fuck?
This isn't a healthy relationship no matter how much you think you need to communicate.
You are being used. Next comment. Exactly. He saw a young girl with potential and has
been trying to groom her from the start, using the canvas as a manipulation tactic. OP, you
deserve better. Be proud of your work. Pay him the same amount for the canvas as you
did in the beginning and walk away from him with your head held high.
Yeah.
Business-wise, he's nothing more than a vendor.
Her canvas dealer.
He shouldn't get a penny more than whatever his cost is plus 10%.
That seems fair.
Fuck the 10%.
Why would there be a 10%?
Why would there be 10%?
Why would there be a 10%?
Hell no.
She was willing to pay for it upfront.
It's not even like he was investing in her company and like deserved some kind of investment stake. She was willing to pay for it upfront. It's not even like he was investing in her company and like deserved some kind of investment stake.
She was willing to pay for it upfront.
She wanted to.
Then they agreed, I'll just pay you for it when it sells.
Like there is no, no, this is falling into his manipulation
of being like, oh, we'll just approach it at a later date.
That's what he wanted.
I know.
Well, I also want to bring up that first comment's point of like,
this isn't a healthy relationship no matter how much you think you need to communicate.
She does mention like in previous fights, he like shuts down and doesn't want to talk about it.
Like, I don't want to fight. Like, I don't want to fight. First of all, fighting is healthy.
Yeah.
Every relationship, no matter what it is, if fighting is okay.
But not name calling.
As long as you fight constructively.
Yeah.
Fighting helps build relationships.
It strengthens them, it deepens them.
Fighting is not inherently bad.
You not communicating is bad.
So I'm like, why is he gaslighting her about like,
she's just trying to communicate.
And then he like cuts her off.
He's like, sorry, don't wanna fight.
That's weird.
He's like, we'll also approach this at a later date.
Just so weird.
I'm gonna go to OP's comments
to make sure we're not missing anything.
Cause I haven't really gone into these.
Okay.
Three comments I see, all three of which
are longer than the post.
So let's see what they're really about.
When he complains about having zero money from time to time,
I lay him options to how he can earn more,
mostly telling him to get employed
and keep his art aside hustle.
It'll be a win-win when he has a stable cashflow
from a job and extra money from his art.
But he tells me he can't work for anyone
and get paid so little.
He said he doesn't wanna get tired over a job.
Well, many such cases, many of us don't want to get tired from a job. A lot of people don't.
People, the reality is-
Your sister is tired. Your girlfriend is tired.
There are so many, like, I've seen this argument a lot where it's like some people like work to live
and some people live to work. It's okay if you're just working to live.
You don't have to like be in love with your job. Like there's some people that enjoy their nine to
five, don't have to take their work home and that's happy. They work so they can live their life.
And that's happy. They work so they can live their life. Mm-hmm.
Sir, I want to beat him with a stick.
Like, just... That's aggressive.
But no, and this is another...
My soft paddle. I want to just hit him with my soft little paddle.
This is another instance of the self-absorption,
because it's like, do you not think everyone else struggles with that?
Like, the people that are helping you right now, do you not think everyone else struggles with that? Like the people, the people that are helping you right now,
do you not think that they're also like tired sometimes?
So you're OK with taking other people's hard earned money?
Yeah. You're OK being a glorified sugar baby?
Oh, my God.
OP has another comment.
I think someone was asking, like, what do you really help with?
Mm-hmm. He does ask for my service,
digital layout designing for his commission sometimes. First time I gave it to him for free,
the next are paid. I stuck to my client pricing since it's my business. But then recently,
he's persuading a potential project and told me his words, quote, make me a contract and sample layouts love without payments as an investment in me.
And will she be getting a percentage? Yeah. Will she be getting that percentage?
Insane. Of course I will not do it for free. He expects his canvases to be paid.
I will ask him to pay for my services, although sure enough he can't afford them, honestly speaking.
I will ask him to pay for my services. Although sure enough, he can't afford them, honestly speaking.
Last comment from OP is in response to someone
saying, you realize you're just a fuck toy in ATM to him, right? Oh, ow.
What's the age rule from Parks and Recs again? Divide the age by half and plus seven
so the youngest he should be dating rounded up is someone who's 26 years and older.
Anything under is creep territory.
Now, if you two just had a one night stand and that was it, okay, whatever.
But no, it's a full blown relationship.
Pop off Tia's street.
OP responds, we had fights before when I caught him adding profiles of minor high school girls on Facebook. Fork found in kitchen.
And you know what?
Yeah, from the first sentence of this story, I smelled it.
Jail.
This is why we need a murder one.
We need a murder one.
Where's that third option?
I can see his profile following. Where's that third option?
I can see his profile following.
It's public and on Facebook.
When you try to add a profile as a friend,
if they do not accept, it goes to your following.
He did that while courting me
and in a relationship with me months in.
I wish I would have seen it earlier or so
when I confronted him.
He acted like he doesn't know how that happened.
Of course. But I was being crazy. I just wanted to know why. He keeps saying he doesn't know how that happened. Of course. But I was being crazy. I just wanted to know why.
He keeps saying he doesn't know and he didn't do that and will just start unfollowing everyone.
I just tried to understand it since his hobbies and work are one and outside of that, he has
nothing else to do.
It might be a habit from when he was single and it just cannot die.
He did unfollow the girls after our fight and never followed a girl again.
I fucked my mind for months knowing he already got me and is seeking other girls. What's
the purpose of trying to connect with other girls when he's already taken?
He probably just found a sneakier way. Yeah.
He probably just found a sneakier way. I don't think he stopped.
That's what happened. And the thing is, it's hard because that defense has worked on me
where they're just like, I don't know how that happened. I can't tell you. I have no idea that happened. I'm like, well, I guess
if you don't know how it happened, what can I do about it? But like, there, even if he
was completely single, you have no reason to be adding high school girls at your big
age. It is desperate. It's gross. It's creepy.
It's predatory.
And predi... Yeah.
It is predatory.
Looking for the ones with the talent too, I bet.
Ugh.
37. He could be their dad.
That's just...
Disgusting.
Yeah.
Red flags all over the place.
Yeah.
I love you. I love you.
Break up with him. Break up. Break up. We're drowning in love you break up with him
Yeah, break up break up break up break up. It's nice to know that since you're on the two out takes subreddit
You will probably hear this also if you want to share your art
We would be interested in seeing it. Oh my gosh. I don't know if you don't want to
Reveal any personal information about yourself, but if you did, we would love
to see it.
I'm sending you a message.
I hope you see it before this episode comes out so I can include a picture of your art
and share a link.
Yes, that would be amazing.
Yeah.
I mean, there's so many people that buy prints online and want to support people.
Absolutely.
So if you're comfortable, and honestly, make your website really anonymous, like you can
still...
Totally.
You could make a new Etsy shop that's like secret.
Yeah.
Secrets.
I'm going to send...
As long as he gets no cut.
He does not get a percentage.
Not as long as like I still want to see it either way, but hey, you know.
I'm sending you a message.
So reply and maybe share your art in the comments of the post if you're comfy, but you gotta break
up.
Yeah, unfortunately.
Thank God that you don't have children with this man.
Thank God you're not married to this man.
It's a good time to just, hey, and you have your whole life ahead of you.
Whole life.
You've got some, you're talented, you're young, you've got a lot to come so.
So much to live for.
Keep making your art and leave this dud behind.
Yeah.
Moving along.
Bye.
I'm titling the message, show me your art.
Show me your art.
Okay, you ready for this next one?
Yeah.
So this next one comes with a little bit of homework for you guys.
If, if you want to get entered into a drawing to have me send you a little two hot takes
present and it's going to be fun because the homework requires you to share some hot takes
or stories, opinions about audio books.
Okay.
Titled, Am I the Asshole for Not Being Impressed by My Wife Listening to Audio Books at Three
Times Speed?
Earlier this year, my wife started listening to audio books at three times speed.
Last night, we went to a holiday party and she was talking about how this gave her the
ability to read almost 100 books this year.
Someone we don't know well responded they didn't understand how she could possibly retain information that way and that it seems like it would ruin the pleasure of reading.
She got upset because that's exactly what I tell her.
On the ride home, she was going on about how people don't take audiobook listeners seriously.
And I, immaturally, rolled my eyes at that point and told her that it's not about that.
It's that when she talks about listening to things at three times speed, it's because
she thinks she has a superior ability to process information quickly and wants people to be impressed.
It's not actually about reading at all.
I know this sounds harsh, but I also know my wife well enough to know that impressing
people is extremely important to her.
And she has acknowledged she's prone to having a superiority complex.
So am I the asshole? Well, I feel she does have a talent
because if you get to the point where
she can listen at three times speed
and then you put her up against someone who's
physically read an actual copy of the book,
if they can both answer the same questions correctly
about the plot and anything you'd wanna ask,
then what's the difference?
At some point, it's someone's personal taste of how they would like to take in the information.
Yeah.
I know we have listeners that listen to the podcast on like 1.5 or 2 times speed.
Three times is wild.
Have you listened to something at three times?
I think three times is a little wild. And I'm curious about that and if she's actually doing it because a part of audiobooks, at
least for me, is really enjoying the time and like, and not having to hold a book and
you know, work as hard like you're getting read this information by an amazing narrator
sort of crank it up that much.
I don't know, that's just me.
I'm a one times, I'm a normal speed girly.
And that's fine.
And that's a preference and this is her preference.
So if she's going around saying, I can do this,
I can listen this fast,
then we're starting to break the barriers
of just doing it for enjoyment. But if you like to listen at three times to get through the material for your enjoyment,
then that's up to you.
Do it! To each their own.
But maybe when you start leading with that anytime you meet someone,
Hi, I'm blah blah blah. I listen at three times speed on audiobooks, whatever.
Then, yeah, then are you really doing it for yourself
or is it to achieve that 100 book goal
or just show that you are superior?
This is a hot take and this has come up
in AITA and AITH a bunch.
Multiple people have said even crazier things
like the listening speed is one thing,
but someone else said that listening to an audio book
is not real.
Like it doesn't count as having experienced the book.
Why does that matter?
You're still hearing the words.
Who actually cares?
You're understanding the words that are dictated
from the page.
Would it be better if you downloaded a transcript
of this episode and read it instead of listen to it?
Ooh.
What's the difference?
As long as information's being conveyed
and you're enjoying yourself, who cares?
Well, what's interesting too about this one
is the top comment does mention some of those hot takes
we were talking about.
Top comment, not the asshole.
This seems like a silly fight.
As an audible listener, I can't say I listened to them
on three times speed, but I have listened
to about 80 books this year.
It's great listening while driving
or working out and cleaning.
OP actually responds, oh, I'm all for audio books
and disagree with those who think listening to them
isn't equivalent to reading.
Okay.
Why do people try to gatekeep number of books
you've listened to?
What's up with gatekeeping books like this?
What is this about?
But I'm ready for your hot takes your opinions your stories on audiobooks
So head over to the link. It is a Google form
Super easy to fill out and share your take and if you do share you will be entered
Into a drawing to win a little present from me
So get get typing on those hot takes y'all. Okay, thank you. Okay, before we move on,
Dad overheard us reading this story and he has a little piece of information to share.
So Dad is dyslexic. I do audible books because I can truly digest it and I don't get lost by inserting words, switching words, and fighting it.
And for me, I get it.
It works.
So it's accessible too?
I mean, what's not to like?
Okay, submit those hot takes.
There you go.
Another one of this week's partners is Lume.
I want to be honest, I forgot my deodorant today and the only one I had in my car was
not a Lume deodorant.
And as I sit here right now recording this ad, I can smell myself and it is not good. And I
know, I know if I would have put on my Lumi deodorant, I would not be smelling. I would
be feeling fresh. Lumi is a game changer when it comes to deodorant. It really works. It
lasts for up to 72 hours. Lumi is also baking soda free and paraben free and pH balanced so it's safe for
use everywhere. And Lumi's starter pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with a solid stick
deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products of your choice like mini body wash and deodorant
wipes and free shipping. Now through Cyber Monday customers get up to 30% off all Lumi products.
The perfect time to get your starter pack.
Head to lumedeodorant.com to take advantage of their biggest sale through Cyber Monday.
That's L-U-M-E-D-E-O-D-O-R-A-N-T.com.
And when they ask you, please support our show and tell them we sent you.
Thanks, Lume.
I just don't know if today's gonna be good at all.
Oh no.
Oh no.
How bad is this one?
It's pretty bad.
Okay.
Is it as bad as the semen in the cups one?
I don't know.
That one was really...
Yeah.
My mom talked to me about that one.
What did she say about it? That one was really... Yeah, my mom talked to me about that one. No. She was like...
Oh, what did she say about it?
She was just like, that was so horrible.
And I was like, and I couldn't even repeat it
to her on the phone.
I was like the one with the cup.
So she was like, yes, that was...
She's...
There it is, so...
But she said it was a really good episode.
Okay, thank you, Michaela's mom.
Shout out, mom.
I love that.
I'd love a mom's take on this next one too. So tell her to get in the comments.
Oh, she'll be.
Try to get in there.
This next one is coming from r slash relationship advice,
six days old, titled,
my 29 female husband, 36 male hopes I have a C-section.
Oh God, okay. Posting from my friend's account because my
husband follows mine. I've been with my husband for a little over 10 years
married for two. We weren't planning on having kids for a couple more years but
we had a slip up with our birth control and now I'm 11 weeks along with our
first. The stress of this being an unplanned pregnancy is weighing heavy on
both of
us right now, and I guess to alleviate the anxiety, my husband has been talking more and more about
plans for the future and getting ready for the baby. During one of these conversations,
he casually dropped that he hopes I get a c-section when delivering our child,
and wondered if it was something that happened often. I had no clue where he got this idea from or why he thought that was an appropriate thing to say.
So I asked what he meant. He explained that he'd heard awful things about natural delivery,
the pain, the risks of tearing, etc. And then added, completely serious,
et cetera, and then added, completely serious, that he'd hate to have our sex life ruined
if I ended up getting a tear or was looser.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was worried about.
After birth.
He said the last part semi-jokingly,
but by that point I was so angry.
I couldn't stay calm or explain how fucking stupid
what he said was, not even
mentioning all the dangers of a c-section. I was repulsed he'd even bring up his own
pleasure in the same sentence of something so serious for me, the baby, and our well-being.
My husband says I'm overreacting and it was just a joke, but I don't know. It clearly was not a fucking joke.
Also, C-sections are serious.
There was actually a video, not of an actual C-section,
but just like of all of the layers
that they have to go through was on my feed recently.
I was on mine too.
That's so funny. We have similar algorithms.
Yeah.
But I was like, oh my God,
that is so much more invasive and like scary
than I thought
it would be.
There are so many dangers to that.
And then this week there was a photo on Twitter of like a C-section scar and it was quote
tweeted with like, this is how you know a woman has failed at like being a woman or
something like that.
So I've been recently getting a lot of C-section content
on my feed.
So that's why I was like, wait a minute, but-
Isn't that crazy?
Think about that though.
It's like, this is the hard part that
at least I feel sometimes is like a parent
in being a woman and my experience of it.
You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Yeah, exactly.
You can't give birth naturally via vaginal delivery
because then you'll be loose and stretched out
and not as tight and not as great
and you'll get fucked up down there.
Yeah.
But then you can't have a C-section
because that's not very womanly.
You failed as a mother.
Yeah, and you'll have a scar.
Yeah.
What?
I know.
Why is the goalpost always seemingly shifting?
Why can't the goalpost just stay where they're at and just be normal goalposts?
Yeah.
And then insane goalposts.
And childbirth is like historically so dangerous.
It's already stressful to be pregnant.
It's stressful to like, sorry, I'm saying that as if I'm like experienced.
No, people think I'm pregnant every week.
So you never know.
Just like from your behaviors or?
I cry a lot.
Oh yeah.
I'm emotional.
Hey, then you get used to it everybody.
But no, like it's stressful already to be thinking about how your body is going to change.
And like, if anything could go wrong during the delivery, if there'll be complications, like if it'll be a safe delivery for the baby, there's so much to
already be worried about for your husband to come in and be like, I'm worried about
how your body will change.
It's like already a fear, but it shouldn't be the main thing you're thinking about.
So it's like, why are we doing this?
And also like so many women give birth and continue
to live their lives and like be in their relationships. Like that doesn't need to be your main concern.
No.
Oh my God.
No, it's very self-absorbed that it is your concern.
Absolutely. I was worried from the moment, from the moment you said the title, I was like, oh, God, it better not be because he's worried she'll be less tight.
And yeah, you can say that that's a joke,
but like, there's no actual medical reason to prefer a c-section.
Otherwise, they would just be doing c-sections.
If c-sections were safer and like less dangerous...
It would be a standard.
Yeah. I think some people do choose
to get elective c-sections because like I've seen it most times with like professional athletes wives.
I think they try to like time it based on like things like that. So like I've seen that a lot.
Because you can choose the time a little bit more with a C-section.
But I've also seen it where like,
baby has a heart defect.
And so they wanna control the environment
and schedule the baby's open heart surgery.
Like, oh yeah.
There's times where, you know, it might not be.
Where a C-section is safer,
where a C-section's the right choice, of course.
But that's not where we're at here.
And his biggest priority should be making sure
wife survives this, baby comes out healthy, like a couple months in or something.
Like wait, that's not...
This is, also you're at 11 weeks, like you're still in a risky time period, like and your
wife's vagina is your concern, your biggest concern.
Like yeah, your doctor will tell you what the safer option is for you when they get more information
about like where the baby is sitting in your belly.
Well, where does it say uterus?
Your uterus?
Yeah, in your uterus.
And your belly.
Pregnancy freaks me.
It just freaks me out so much.
And I'm just like, the reality is, based on statistics that keep coming out,
in this country that we live in, giving birth, being pregnant is becoming more
dangerous.
I mean, the stats are there.
That is an objective statement.
People are dying more than they have previously.
And more than in other developed countries.
So I'm just blown away that that's his concern.
Blown away.
And it's like, is this helpful?
How is this helpful to her?
Dude, I need people to start questioning
in their heads more before they say stuff.
Am I going to be helpful or hurtful with this statement?
Oh my God, I think that all the time on Twitter.
What are you trying to accomplish?
What is the intent?
What is the end goal that you're hoping for?
And is what you're saying actually going to achieve that?
Will it lead in that direction or does it not?
Because then why are we here?
People need to embrace inside thoughts more.
I think there should be a big public initiative.
Make inside thoughts happen more often
because some of the stuff people have gotten comfortable
with saying out loud, they should not be comfortable.
Especially recently, I've seen a lot of commenting
on other people's bodies and questioning
if they have an eating disorder,
questioning if they have X eating disorder, questioning if they have XYZ. And it's like, if your goal is to stop this person from having that issue,
do you think commenting like, oh my God, they're so skinny is going to achieve that? Or do
you think if someone has that, that that will actually encourage them?
There's a fine line with that one.
We need to be thinking about what our end goal is
and if we're actually-
I know.
I just saw the greatest video on that
and obviously there's so much nuance
to that conversation. Of course, yeah.
But the way in which she put it
was the best way I've ever heard it be said.
I'm gonna have to show you the video.
But it's essentially like, we should be able to have the nuance that like, hey, leave that direct person alone
while also recognizing like, no, something is clearly not healthy. And the overall problem
is like portraying that as a healthy image for young girls. There's a difference. And
so it's just like, it was a really good video.
Yeah, I would love to watch it. We've, we've talked about a few topics that have a lot
of nuance, unfortunately.
So, that's life.
Like age gap discourse and all those things.
I hate touching those things because you almost have to say five different variations of like,
but also if this situation, then that's not what we're talking about.
Or if, you know, it's like...
There's so much gray area to everything we talk about.
And that's why like, we can have 10 wedding stories.
They're all going to be slightly different. They're all going to have a little bit different context. And we's why like we can have 10 wedding stories. They're all gonna be slightly different.
They're all gonna have a little bit different context
and we're probably gonna have different takes.
Even two very similar stories.
Right.
Totally different takes.
Yeah.
I could wake up tomorrow
and I'm just a little crappier tomorrow.
And so my take is a little meaner.
That's so true.
You never know.
You never know.
Like it's just, that's life.
Life is nuanced.
You need to have like a mean episode.
Dude.
On a warpath.
I literally, I told someone the other day,
someone was like, you're funny.
And I'm like, I'm not that funny.
And the reality is like, I know I'm not that funny.
I would be funnier if I wasn't scared about being mean.
Yeah.
But I'm like, then is that funny if you're being mean?
I don't know. I don't know.
No, I do find that issue a lot of the time though, where it's like there are certain
things that you want to be more sensitive about because, but like that's because there
are other people out there listening and you don't want to attack everybody who might relate
to certain things as well.
I don't know.
It's a whole thing.
It's a whole thing.
There are certain things that like I'll say in a private group chat with my friends that
I wouldn't post on Twitter or post to talk about on a podcast.
And I think that that's how it should be.
Inside thoughts as well.
Inside thoughts, maybe in the group chat.
Keep it in the group chat.
So top comment on this one, men who think women are looser after childbirth
are objectively stupid.
Not to mention the men who think that's the only thing
that's going to affect their sex life.
Laughing emoji.
So, next comment.
Yeah, they'll never get it.
Next comment.
Because understanding it would involve effort on their behalf,
acknowledging their part in relational issues
and attempting to make consistent change after receiving therapy or feedback from their partner.
And we all know that's not likely to ever happen.
Too lazy, as so many of them prove time and again.
Also you shouldn't, isn't it like four weeks you shouldn't have sex after pregnancy anyway?
It's longer.
Yeah.
I have six.
Oh, right, right, right.
It's not four. It's longer than four. In my head six weeks. God, that just, it doesn't even sound comfortable. Yeah. I have six. Oh, right, right, right. It's not four.
It's longer than four.
In my head six weeks.
God, that just, it doesn't even sound comfortable.
Right.
Like it's-
You better control yourself while your wife is healing.
It's a, don't even get me started-
Let's not even start on that yet.
On the people that are like, well, we can't have sex.
Can you give me a blow job?
I just had your baby.
Is that not enough?
Oh my God.
Is that not enough? Oh my God.
Surely you can have some patience.
You have two hands, likely.
Figure it out.
Yeah, yeah, that's a lot.
We can't even, yeah.
But this one's wild.
Absolutely wild. Seeing if there's wild. Absolutely wild.
Oh, seeing if there's any comments from OP.
We do have a few.
We definitely use humor to cope with stress, but I still thought he'd be more sensitive
over something that has me scared as hell.
Not worried about how he'll see me postpartum on top of everything else.
Mm-hmm.
Intent doesn't negate effect though. And what would he be even trying to
accomplish by telling me this? We're having a serious conversation about the future of
our family and he brings up a different medical procedure for the sake of his own pleasure?
Fuck that. Nefarious or not, it's a shitty thing to say. So OP gets it. OP's not being
gaslight by this. Yeah. I used to think I was a C-section because I didn't think being like given birth to is
something I would do. I thought I was more like hatched.
You feel like you were hatched?
Yeah.
I wish we could hatch kids.
But my mom insists that I wasn't a C-section. So.
Shoot.
Which is crazy because it's my experience, but.
Crazy for a to guess, so you like that?
That's an interesting thing to feel hatched.
I just can't see myself like doing the whole birth thing.
I just see like, nevermind.
No, I talk about this all the time.
Like I really don't want to be pregnant.
I'm kind of in the boat of if it happens once, I'll do it.
But I really don't, I'm not trying to, I don't know.
It's a weird feeling I have.
I'm totally down to do other methods.
But I'm hoping we'll get to the whole baby in a bag thing very soon.
Oh, we talked about this together.
We might be close to that.
Have you seen the lambs in a bag?
No, the lambs.
We haven't talked about this.
I've talked about it so much on the podcast.
I don't want to bore people, but I'll share with you after.
Yeah, please do.
Yeah, baby in a bag.
Show me the lambs.
Yeah, science.
Let's get there.
Let's get there.
So the comments do take a turn.
And something I do just want to point out again,
we keep coming back to age gaps on this one.
They started dating when OP was 19 and he was 26,
which isn't my favorite.
And then they've been married for two.
We weren't planning on having kids,
but we had a slip up on birth control. You start getting into comments from OP regarding
birth control. OP did go off the pill and then they were using condoms. However, there's
comments here that kind of allude to, we've been using condoms, obviously condoms fail.
And then someone replies, but if he's taking it off,
that means no birth control sometimes.
And OP goes, he didn't always tell me.
That doesn't mean I was trying to get pregnant.
Oh my God, every single story is like,
they're already awful.
And then in the comments, it gets so much worse.
And I don't like read the comments a lot of times before.
I'll read the story to make sure the story's good because that's all I need.
And every single comment that keeps coming up today is like, again, yeah, like you said,
it just keeps making it worse.
Next comment, girl, that's called stealthing.
It's a form of essay.
This is unfortunately very bad.
And again, a lot of people will do this because babies and having kids keep people tied.
Like, oh, what the fuck?
I will say, because initially with this story, I was like, that is really bad.
Maybe there is a chance he was genuinely joking.
Still a really bad joke, still awful to hear.
Maybe they could work it out, I don't know.
But this is like, oh, and I hate it because I,
because she's having a baby with him.
And it's always like, this is really bad,
but unfortunately now it's like, what do you do?
I know.
And it's like, okay, this could be one of those that like,
it's looking really bad, but like isn't.
Like, it's just a weird circumstance,
coincidence of events.
Like, you know what I mean?
I don't know.
Like, yeah, until we got to the comments.
I know.
I'm just like, I don't know what's happening here.
So the most recent comment from OP, again, because this post is only six days old.
Right.
And the most recent comment from OP is six days old.
So I'm hoping we get an update.
I'm just like, all is well.
All is well.
I don't know.
Self-absorbed. I just, yeah, it feels like... All is well? All is well. But, I don't know.
Self-absorbed.
I just, yeah, it feels like all of the additional information, like she was 19 when they met
and he's just sneakily been taking the condoms off sometimes during sex and it's like, it
seems like that kind of thing she's mentioning more casually than the comments.
I know.
When it's like those are actually even more concerning.
Well, and like, OPs, so the reason why people are deducing,
like he took them off is from OP saying,
all condoms after I took a break from the pill,
I know those aren't 100%.
So I guess there was always a risk with him taking it off
every now and then.
Oh, she didn't say sometimes he was doing it without her knowing? So I guess there was always a risk of him taking it off every now and then. Oh, she didn't say sometimes he was doing it without her knowing?
So I guess there was always a risk of him taking it off every now and then.
I don't know if that's definitive.
I don't know. I'm like...
Oh, misunderstood.
But like other people did in the comments as well.
Like everyone's jumping to conclusions here.
OK.
So I'm not sure if it's 100 percent, but like regardless,
he can just as easily poke holes in the condoms.
Like if someone wants to baby trap you, they can find ways.
We've done episodes on baby trapping.
It's a big issue.
I thought he, I thought she made a comment
of sometimes he was taking them off and I didn't know.
Kind of saying that.
It's very like, well it could be.
It's like it could be interpreted one way or the other.
And it's like, how dark does your mind go when you hear that?
I see.
I guess there was always a risk.
There's always a risk.
Yeah, of course.
Like, that's risk.
It's just, it's all out there floating around.
Some people quantify it and it...
The pullout method is not enough, you guys.
It's just not enough.
Pullout method is not a method.
I had a friend who...
Yeah, calling it a method does really kind of like
make it sound more than it is, huh?
Dude, I literally had a friend who was like 30 years old
and we were talking about like, you know, sex and pregnancy
and like, do you want kids?
Do you want kids soon?
And I asked, I was like, do you want like, do you want kids?
She's like, no, not anytime soon. I was like, well, you're not on you want kids? She's like, no, not anytime soon.
I was like, well, you're not on birth control, right?
She goes, yeah, no, no, no.
And I was like, so you're using condoms?
No, we use the pullout method.
And I'm like, so you're trying to get pregnant.
Like I always say it like that, which again, nuance.
And she's like, no, like the pullout method is 96,
blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, do you hear yourself?
96 is not that good.
I'm like Googling it.
What is the pull out method?
Percent, percent rate?
What do I Google?
Oh yeah, how successful,
what percentage successful is the pull out?
So what we do know is that withdrawal,
withdrawal works about 78% of the time overall.
78.
That's not good odds, my friends.
That's not good.
Even 96 wouldn't be good though, because if you're having sex like once a week, then that
would be like two pregnancies a year.
I'm really bad at math, so don't check me on that, but I think it might be close to
accurate.
It might be close to right.
Well, there's 365 days in a year.
Yeah, and like 52 weeks.
So if you're having sex like once a week, and that would be like almost 100, but it's
half of 100.
So half of four, because it's 96%.
So that'd be out of 100 sex times, you would get pregnant four of the sex times.
So then half of that, because there's 50 something weeks in a year,
so like two, two times a year you're getting pregnant.
Is that good?
I believe you.
I kind of nailed that.
I don't math well, so I'm going to believe you.
How let the comments tell us how you did?
Oh my god, like with the genetics thing where I was like,
wouldn't they share a hundred percent genes if they're both their siblings?
I just don't.
They were like, well, no, girl.
Cute, but no.
Oh yeah.
So don't pull out.
Use birth control.
Use condoms.
Yeah.
Like they protect against STDs, STIs.
Like use, use stuff.
I practice abstinence personally, unfortunately.
I do.
Or there's the big A. Or the back door. Use stuff. I practice abstinence personally, unfortunately. I do. I do.
Or there's the big A. Or the back door.
But again, back door still doesn't protect against diseases, only pregnancy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anyways.
I'm not doing it as a birth control method.
It's not like that's just because...
It's just that I'm not...
I mean, you said unfortunately after you added that, so...
Well, it's actually not a... It's like...
But it's also by choice.
Yeah, it's just like sort of an abstinence time for me.
Caffeine season? Nah.
Abstinence season.
That's why I think it's funny when it's named as like a birth control method,
because it's like, who... I mean, I guess there there are people but who's like not having sex solely for the purpose
of like birth control as birth control.
Mormons I guess yeah yeah yeah good for them.
I learned we went to Utah and did a live show I learned about soaking.
Yeah that was the first time you ever heard of it.
Well I had known about it but more info we had a listener come on stage and really tell us about it.
That's what is so nice about doing a tour all across the country, girl.
You really get to interact with the people.
Yeah, you get to learn a lot.
It was a good time.
Another one of this week's partners is Audible.
Ready to get into a new audiobook?
Audible's best of 2024 picks are here.
Discover this year's top audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in your favorite genres.
From memoirs and sci-fi to mysteries and thrillers, from romance to well-being and fiction, Audible's
carefully curated list in every category is the best way to hear 2024's best of the year
in audio entertainment.
Like an almost unbelievably star-studded production
of George Orwell's 1984, which both honors
and reinvigorates the terrifying classic.
It's actually one of the best original dramatizations
we've ever heard.
Or romance that hits the spot,
like Emily Henry's funny story.
There's also heartfelt memoirs,
like Supreme Court Justice Katanji Brown Jackson's lovely one. And you can listen to the year's best fiction like The Woman
by Kristin Hannah and Percival Everett's brilliantly subversive James. And you can
even choose your listening speed. Audible, there's more to imagine when you listen.
Go to audible.com slash THT and discover all the year's best waiting for you.
at audible.com slash THT and discover all the year's best waiting for you.
Okay, this next one,
coming from our own too hot takes subreddit,
five days old, titled,
am I the asshole for telling my girlfriend
that I don't wanna sell my family heirlooms yet,
despite how immoral she thinks they are to keep?
Oh, wow, yeah, this they are to keep. Oh wow, yeah this is hard to this is hard
to know. I, 25 female, recently lost my grandmother, 90s. She was a wealthy,
educated, eccentric, and well-traveled woman who has a lot of expensive but
controversial pieces in her home, which I inherited. These include ivory, taxidermy of native and exotic animals,
minx coats, fox furs, a snake bag, and a seal fur jacket. But the most
uncomfortable by far is the animal heads mounted on her wall that she inherited
from my grandfather's side of the family. Everything is all legal and
registered.
There's a lot of furniture and other things
that belong to my family, long gone.
Some of these have been in my family
for nearly five generations.
Oh, wow.
My girlfriend Penny is vegetarian
and adamantly against any animal cruelty,
which I do agree with.
However, our opinions differ on this particular situation.
I'm in the camp of most of these animals
have been dead for 50 plus years.
It's more ethical to wear the clothing than to buy faux fur,
which is all plastic.
Nothing we do will bring the animals back to life.
For example, the taxidermy lion head
was killed by my great, great-grandfather in 1912.
That lion isn't coming back, even if I detest hunting.
Penny thinks it's immoral to own them outright, despite the family connection and timeline
of when the animals died.
She thinks we should sell them or destroy them outright.
She believes the only ethical animal consumption, clothing, furniture, etc. is for museums and
cultural practices.
We did some digging and the low end is $5,000 to $20,000 and the high end is $50,000 to
$200,000 if we sold all the animal products. I'm not totally opposed to selling items,
but my grandma died three weeks ago,
and I want to wait a little bit.
I've agreed to remove the heads
from the wall slash move the taxidermy,
but I've made it clear to Penny
that I have no issue wearing the fur,
as again, I view it as moral to do so.
It's caused some arguments between us,
and I'm worried we'll break up over this.
My close friends have suggested maybe Penny just wants the money and doesn't care about
the sentimental value of the items. But I don't know if I can necessarily fault Penny
for that as times are tough with the cost of living crisis. Am I the asshole for this
situation? I can't, okay, I think no one is that much of an asshole here.
No.
I think that like the issue is it being so soon and like trying to force her to sell
it.
I understand being uncomfortable like with those, like seeing those things if you're
a vegetarian or you're vegan or you feel really strongly about that.
Like that to me isn't that crazy that you would be uncomfortable like looking at those
things if that's clearly something that important to you that that's a lifestyle choice you've
made.
Yeah.
But I think bringing this up so soon after the passing and those things being in their
family for so long is, is a little bit like, okay, like we can take a break on this
and like let her have some time before doing the whole moral whatever.
Yeah, like this is three weeks.
This is very fresh, which I don't know, maybe for someone that might be an appropriate timeline,
but this person is saying it's not.
Like this person is being like, I just want a little time to grieve
and then I can sort stuff.
But I find it concerning that Penny did say,
like we should sell them.
Yeah, that's true.
There's no we.
They're just dating.
You're just dating, you're not married.
And I do think it is concerning that even OP was like,
my friends are like, maybe Penny just wants the money.
Right.
It's not Penny's money.
Yeah.
So that to me is really weird.
It feels like there's some ulterior motives there.
And I do agree with OP and like, this is a hot take,
but I've watched a lot of videos from people
who are specialists in like sustainability.
Yeah.
And especially like the meat industry,
we had this green washing shift,
like, oh, faux leather, faux leather.
It's like, no, no, no, it's plastic.
Right.
It literally is plastic.
Those faux leather jackets are worse for the environment
than a leather jacket.
Because a lot of times the leather jackets
are coming from,
this is gonna get a little dark if you're not a meat eater,
or maybe even if you are, it's gross, I don't know.
But a lot of that leather, those hides,
are coming from the meat industry.
We produce so much beef in this country.
Think of all the restaurants, think of our foods.
You're not gonna convince millions of people
to become vegetarian, it's not gonna happen. So if you don't use the leather from the meat industry,
then you have an abundance of waste.
It actually makes more sense to have a full cycle
where you're using every bit of that animal.
Mm-hmm.
So why not have leather jackets?
Why then make all this plastic that hurts us more?
Yeah. Although I think from the vegetarian's perspective,
it's not about like the plastic or like waste.
It's just about the animals, yeah, in general.
But I, yeah, I personally would wear the jackets.
I don't know. I almost think it's like...
I'd be scared to wear the jacket in fear of getting paint thrown on me.
Yeah.
But I don't think like, if you don't care about the money and you want to keep the jackets,
you should be able to keep the jackets.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you should be able to keep whatever it is that you do want to keep.
I mean, that's a lot of stuff to keep.
That's like big home decor choices to be making based on like your families.
But again, if that's, you might just have intrinsic differences, it feels like. Because yes,
this girlfriend might be just doing it for the money, but I also don't think it's completely
unbelievable that someone who's vegetarian would just morally really have an issue with this.
But like, I feel like the mental gymnastics she's doing is very odd to me.
Like, what's this line here?
She believes the only ethical animal consumption, clothing, furniture, etc. is for museums and
cultural practices, which cultural practices I completely get.
And then I'm like, well, what's the difference of like this person having a private collection
in their home if they're not going out killing new animals?
What's the difference between that and a museum?
And if you truly cared about not profiting and for things to give back because they've
already been harvested and you want it to go to a museum, which you believe is okay,
then why not donate to a museum versus selling? So then why are you selling?
Because if it's an ethical thing, then selling it doesn't make any sense. If it's just,
I don't want to see it because it bothers me, then I get it. If it's like, as a vegetarian,
like seeing dead meat really freaks me out or seeing whatever, like seeing skin hides freaks me out.
I can understand, but like sell, yeah, if it's-
That, right?
Yeah.
I don't know.
Because it's like you're so against these animals, but you're okay accepting the money
from the animals.
Yeah.
And selling it to someone else.
And then it's still there.
It's not in a museum.
At some point, didn't she say that she'd be okay destroying it?
Yeah.
I guess that's the point too, but do you feel like that's...
I feel like that's a bluff.
Maybe. Maybe.
I don't know! Penny's tricky.
It's tricky.
I like, this is one of those ones where it's like,
yeah, it could be dark and sinister.
It is, regardless, inappropriate to be pushing this so soon.
And also like, I also just think pushing it in general.
That's weird.
Like, it's one thing to say, if we live together,
I don't want dead animal hides on my wall
or like a lion's, you know, carcass on my wall.
That's, I get that, yeah.
But like telling her what to do with her family heirlooms
at any point, I think, it's one thing to be like,
yeah, it makes me uncomfortable.
I don't really want to see it.
It's super strange.
I'm struggling with this one.
I know.
You can tell I'm struggling with this one.
I mean, I fully believe like OP, not the asshole.
Absolutely, yeah.
I'm a little like, kind of like, well Penny's kind of being a little aggressive.
Absolutely.
I don't know if true asshole, if it's truly just her fighting for her beliefs.
But then I think it goes to your point, like maybe you are just mismatched.
But I would love more context on like, how long have you guys been dating?
And like, just kind of things like that.
Like, do you live together?
So Penny's worried about this coming to your house.
Like, I just want more info.
Yeah, it's a tough one.
It's a tough one.
I don't think, I think if anyone is the asshole, it's Penny.
I don't think there's anything wrong like morally even if you're trying to do good
for the animals to keep things from like five generations of your family that have like been long done already.
Yeah.
Like, that's the thing.
This is, again, it's done.
Yeah.
I don't agree with going trophy hunting now.
Yeah.
I don't think that's, I'm not with that.
No, I don't either.
Like, and I guess you could say like this ain't, this is like normalizing it or this
is like, I don't know, whatever. Either way, it's too soon and also it's not gonna be
your money, so chill out on that.
If that's what you think is gonna happen.
Want more context on Penny.
But yeah, I mean, I have a vegetarian roommate
and if I had family heirloom deadline,
I personally wouldn't want it,
but I also wouldn't put it in our shared spaces either.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, that's respectful. I have so many questions. Do you guys use the same pots and pans or
do you have your own set?
We have our own, but she's not as much of a... Like she has gone back and forth.
She's vegetarian. But like last year she wasn't a vegetarian.
Okay.
So like it's not like she cheats, but I also don't think she's like as...
She's not working for PETA.
Okay. That makes sense. I have a clear image now.
Top comment on this one. Not the asshole. Listen to your gut on this. Grieve, decide, and act later.
Absolutely.
Next comment, this OP. Plus, if you decide to sell any of those items, don't share the
money with your girlfriend.
Yeah, why would that even be an option? Why would that even be on the table as a possibility?
That's why I was like, we should sell. There's no we.
Yeah. I mean, maybe I would say that in the sense of like, I'll help you, but it'll be your
money of course.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Again, I want more clarification.
Am I doing mental gymnastics to defend Penny?
Maybe.
Maybe.
I will say I'm against Penny right now.
Next comment.
It would be immoral of her to enjoy any of the spoils.
Agree.
It's so weird. I'm going to see if there are any comments from OP. I just got to know. a moral of her to enjoy any of the spoils. Agree.
It's so weird. I'm gonna see if there's any comments from OP.
I just got to know.
Oh, OP, what are you doing?
No comments.
There's no comments.
I would like a little more context on this one.
I would too.
Like does she truly expect money from this?
Because if so, then that's a freak.
That doesn't make any sense to me.
Like why?
And also then that kind of goes
against your whole moral argument
if you're expecting money from it.
Yeah.
If it's just, I don't want to be seeing it,
then I think that that makes sense to me as like
that seems in line with her beliefs in general.
Yeah.
Sorry, I'm kind of like saying the same thing
I've already said a bunch of times.
I think you're cool.
Fine.
But there's, if she's expecting money, then absolutely not. I agree. Yeah. No, that's a weird mental gymnastics she's doing. Also,
leave her alone. It's three weeks. Three weeks. Three weeks. So OP did have an ad that I guess
I'll read before we really move along. Okay. Some added info. We're currently staying in my
grand's house to sort all of her belongings. That's why I took down the animal heads and moved the taxidermy. I saw some people confused about if I moved all
of this stuff back to our apartment. I'm going to do inventory of the heirlooms slash anything
expensive and handle it accordingly. Storage, give them to family, et cetera. Our apartment.
So I'm getting the vibe they live together. Yeah.
They do live together.
Yeah, that's so hard.
That's actually like, that's one where they just might be morally opposed because I would
also struggle with having like taxidermy in my house.
But then if you really love someone and it like really truly means a lot to them because
of like if it really meant a lot to them, I could maybe be fine with it.
I don't know how I'd feel.
I'm like if someone gave me a stuffed lion, would I want it?
Well I certainly wouldn't want it personally.
I don't know.
I'm curious if I'm like, would I put it in a library?
A den?
I don't know.
Oh, the lion going back into the den?
Another.
Damn.
Another wicked reference.
Yeah, I would love more context.
We need an update on this one for sure.
Cause they're not married, right?
No.
Okay.
Just dating.
Just dating but living together.
You'd think at least a couple months
then if they moved in.
Of course.
Well, yeah.
Teach their own.
Okay, I have one last one for you.
I think I'm gonna give you a choice.
Oh wow, a choice.
A choice.
Trade offer or no choice.
I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know.
Is your heart leaning in a direction?
Well, they just have two very different vibes.
I see.
I'll read the titles and I'll see where you lean.
So, this one is titled, Am I the Asshole for Finally talking to my brother's girlfriend?
Should I apologize?
Down low is like everyone lives in the same house with a parent and the girlfriend does
some weird behaviors.
Okay.
Or option two, my 30 male wife, 30 female, is trying to change an agreement we had.
How can I get her to respect my football time?"
Is there one that you prefer?
No, their boss is just so good. They are?
Yeah, I did read, I'm trying to remember what show it was.
You read one of them on a show?
I read the football one at a live show.
I don't remember which show, but we had some really diverse opinions on it.
Okay, let's do the football one.
Football?
Yeah. Okay. So this is the football one. Football? Yeah.
Okay.
So this is coming from r slash relationship advice,
15 days old.
So it must've been one of my last tour stints.
Arizona?
Maybe, was it you?
My 30 male wife, 30 female,
is trying to change an agreement we had.
How can I get her to respect my football time?
Hey Reddit, I am unfortunately a huge
Jaguars fan and also a Georgia fan. I went to UGA and I'm still pissed by their loss
yesterday. Anyways, it's been seven years since I've been with my lovely wife, married
for three, and she's almost perfect. Oh boy. When we first got together I told her
that my football time is non-negotiable. She initially was great with
respecting that until we had a baby. Recently she's been violating our
agreement. I have compromised by giving her my Saturday except for the few hours
my Bulldogs play, not NFL.
She's saying now that we have a kid, I just can't watch football all Sunday,
Monday night and Thursday night, which is ridiculous and unfair, especially since it's not like football is all year round.
This is hard because, okay, I do understand being really into something like football.
You know, I usually will watch like my team and sometimes if I'm doing fantasy that you're
all watch other teams as well.
But if you're like a crazy, crazy watcher of football, then it's literally the majority
of the week.
Like Monday, Sunday, Saturday for college, Thursday,
sometimes Fridays.
It's like, yeah, it's a whole thing.
So there has to be, I think when you have children,
things do change and maybe compromises are thought up.
Like, hey, what's your favorite team?
Or like, you know, your favorite college
team and your favorite professional team, because then that's still six hours a week,
at least. And then maybe one, yeah, it's hard, because that can be so much. And then it's
like, when football season ends, do you watch baseball or basketball? Or is that it? Like,
is that really it?
I know, like, is it just football? But even saying it's just football and it's not the whole year...
No, it's four days of the week, though, at least.
Well, in preseason, the season is getting longer.
Yeah, yeah.
Preseason starts August.
Then sometimes they watch, like, the announcers,
and they watch the after shows, and they watch, like, Sports Center.
Yeah.
There's podcasts, there's shows, but it's August to mid-February, August, September,
October, November, December, January, February.
Yeah, that's more than half the year.
That is more than half the year.
More than half the year and more than half the week.
And I think the thing is it's like, okay, if you replaced watching football, because
this is his hobby, this is his passion, understand.
But if you traded that out for something, say she could do, or even another hobby he
could do, where it's like, I'm going hunting, I'm going fishing, I'm golfing.
No, I'm on animals.
But it's like golf is a great example.
Like, I'm going golfing four days a week, at least, you know, three hours Monday night,
three hours Thursday night, three hours Saturday,
and all day Sunday.
Yeah.
No one would be okay with that.
Yeah.
And it is more of a passive, leisurely hobby,
but then you need to adjust and like,
if you're watching football all day Sunday,
the baby is with you all day Sunday.
You're at home sitting in front of the TV,
but that's not great for a baby to be in front of the TV.
So then I'm like, fuck.
I'm like, can we like strap, like, can he listen?
Would that be okay?
Like if he got to listen?
But I'm like, you need to be doing something to trade off.
Like, does she get four days a week?
No, because there aren't that many days left.
I just like, I get, I don't want him to neglect his passion,
but at the same time, like you did decide to have a kid.
Yeah.
And also you don't have to watch every single game.
I swear to God, you'll be okay
if you don't watch every single game.
Like who is really that passionate about every single game?
This is my little brother.
And I told that to people on the live show.
I go, my little brother is this person.
He doesn't even watch, like, single games.
He puts on the red zone, where, like, there's four split screens happening at once.
And it'll shift to every touchdown.
You're a little super fan.
Well, I play fantasy football. And that's,'s like one of the only reasons that you would watch
every single game because you have players on all of the teams.
But like, I can't imagine actually doing that with like a family and like, I, again, I don't
watch every single game because like I don't have a player sometimes on Thursdays or I
don't have them on Mondays or like it's just something like I don't watch every single game because I don't have a player sometimes on Thursdays or I don't have them on Mondays.
I don't watch college football either.
You really can pick and choose.
And I do think sometimes this becomes an excuse to skirt childcare and skirt responsibilities.
Although I know that there is a genuine place of, I really enjoy this and this is what I've
loved doing for forever.
Although, whatever.
But then also it's like, well, it's football time so I get to be alone and actually now
the, these two random ass teams are playing each other.
I've got to go to the basement to watch that and then like sit on your phone and actually
just have your own space.
It almost feels like it's a cop out.
It's a cop out too. Even's a cop-out too. Yeah.
Even though it can be that you're genuinely interested
in every single fucking NFL game that exists, but come on.
Well, and that's the thing.
Like, if this was his career and he was an announcer,
he was a stat guy, like...
Sure, why not?
It would be a different argument,
but this is a passion, and like,
you're in a season of life right now
where you just had a baby, and like,
she's saying, like, hey, we have a kid,
like, there's gotta be a little give and
take. And then he, what,
I think what really pisses me off about this one is he's like, well,
I have compromised already by giving her my Saturdays except for the few hours,
my Bulldogs play.
It's the free hours. That's a long time. Again,
it's then four days of the week. It's a majority of the week, which like,
you're basically like splitting 50-50. Like it's...
Also, you're saying that like, you're saying that she was totally fine about this until you had a
baby. So clearly the only reason this is coming up is because like things have changed
and it's important now and your time is more needed.
Like this isn't just her wanting more of your time first.
I don't know.
No, I think so.
It's like, it's a time of need right now.
And it's like maybe she didn't anticipate,
maybe she thought she could do it on her own.
Maybe she didn't think it would be an issue and she was okay with it.
Her first thought when she got pregnant probably wasn't like...
Oh no, football.
Yeah.
Football.
Is he going to be okay with not watching football on Fridays and Thursdays?
I mean, there's going to be eventually, I do think this,
I could see there being football every day of the week.
Yeah.
There's always like a random day where I'm like,
wait, why are they playing today?
I know, like when they have games in like Brazil or,
yeah, London, stuff like that.
It is very interesting.
We do have a couple of comments from OP.
Okay, what's he saying to us?
The first one I see him respond to is,
this is something so little though.
It was like a verbal agreement, right?
Like I can understand if you need your me time
or football time, basically just talk to her
and come to a compromise because a successful marriage
is all about communication and commitment
to which compromise branch off from those two things.
Okay?
And then OP goes, I've been trying to compromise, but it's like you give her an inch and she
asks for a mile.
I love my wife.
I hate this guy.
And she is great outside of this.
I give her an inch.
He like, he moved from all day Saturday to only three hours of Saturday.
And he's like, I give her so much of my time.
Sorry, you want the entire weekend to yourself
for the majority of the year.
And she just has to watch the baby
because you spoke about it when you were children
and you weren't married and you didn't have kids.
And she was like, yeah.
And she's stuck by that until it became a time of need.
She was like, yeah, and she stuck by that until it became a time of need. We do have a comment about someone asking for clarification on wife's free time.
They go, when does your wife have free time?
You're asking for 20-ish hours a week.
What does she get?
And OP responds, on non-football days, I do the majority of the cooking and cleaning.
Also, by the time Monday and Thursday night football are on,
we already put the baby to sleep.
And someone goes, when you're cooking and cleaning, who's watching your kid?
And OP goes, look, I know where this is going.
But I also get off work before my wife does.
So by the time she gets home, I already did the baby stuff.
Okay.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, like that's great.
And I then would say like, okay,
so Mondays and Thursdays football locked in, 100%.
Baby's asleep, I got no issue with that.
Baby's asleep, I'm actually gonna go
and do some wine night with the girls.
I'm gonna go to book club, I'm gonna go to sewing,
I'm gonna do something. Right. There's her time. He can sit at home with
a baby monitor next to him. I'm down for that. But then it's like, you're giving up both
weekend days for football. There's got to be a, this weekend you can pick Saturday,
next weekend you pick Sunday. You don't need to be plastered to the TV both weekend days.
Because that's still, they both work on the weekdays, so then...
Where's your family time?
She just doesn't get the, and she doesn't get the weekend days?
No.
Like...
She's giving up her weekend so she can watch football?
So she works all week and then also has to watch the baby all weekend so we can watch
football?
I would also just like feel from like emotional and mental stimulation, with my partner like I would feel so
neglected like it's a weekend we have a baby like let's go to an apple orchard let's take
the baby out and go on a hike let's do something like this is also an important development
time and for you to not be bonding with your family.
Yeah.
And this clearly isn't someone who's saying you can't watch football you can never watch
football.
No. Like this has been something that she's been okay with
for all of your relationship.
She's agreed to it, she's stood by that
as you said yourself until you had kids.
Like it's not a situation where this woman is just saying,
you can never watch football.
No, it doesn't feel like a bait and switch.
It doesn't feel like one of those where it's like,
oh, you can watch football.
And then she gets the marriage, she gets the baby.
And then it's like, no football.
She's not even saying that.
Like she's just like, hey, like we need a little more.
I need a little help.
She's probably like in over her head.
At least it doesn't feel like a bait and switch to me,
but some people might have different takes.
I'd love to hear them.
That would be a crazy bait and switch.
I'm gonna trick them into marrying me
and then, ha ha, I take your football away.
It's crazy.
And I'm thinking in my head,
and I'm like, if the genders were flipped
and she had something that was like...
Yeah, like watching The Bachelorette.
Yeah.
Four days a week, all day Sunday.
I'd say that's unhinged.
And he has to watch the baby
whenever she's watching The Bachelorette. I'd say that's unhinged. I go, that's a week, all day Sunday. And he has to watch the baby whenever she's watching The Bachelorette.
I'd say that's unhinged.
I go, that's a little too much.
She just has all of her favorite reality TV shows all day.
Too much?
For seven months of the year.
Nope, you gotta compromise.
Yeah, absolutely.
Put on a reality show podcast that gives you spark notes instead.
You can stay caught up, but it's a little much.
Yeah, 1000%.
I think he's being a little selfish.
I don't think he is thinking about it from her perspective.
I think he's like too honed in on the,
she told me this years ago thing.
I know.
And not in the, we have a baby now.
Yeah.
That's something that I encounter a lot.
And I think the ability to be flexible
is something I really hold dear.
And I really appreciate with people like you today.
And I feel like every time we record,
I'm like, I need to sleep a little more.
Can we push an hour?
And I just appreciate the flexibility so much.
And some people don't have that.
I feel like that's not an innate characteristic of some people, some people don't have that. I feel like that's like not an innate
characteristic of some people where it's like, hey, yeah, okay, I'll be there at four.
But it's like if you show up at four fifteen, it's the end of the world for them.
Like they do not have the ability to adapt or be fluid with plans. Or in a disagreement.
They're like really hanging on to that one thing. That one time? Yeah. You let me down or.
And it's like.
Exactly.
Okay, but that was one time.
And like, you can't keep holding that like dagger in my back.
Like we have to move on.
We have to move on.
And if we can't move on, it's not gonna work.
Right.
She had never been a mother before either.
Like neither of you had ever been parents.
The things you agreed to about your time
and your priorities changes when you have a child.
Hugely shocking, I know.
Can't imagine your priorities have to change when you have a kid, but they do.
And I'm shocked that yours haven't just changed by yourself.
Like, sorry, they should just...
You should have just decided that your child had become more important
than some of your Sunday games and Saturday games.
You would think.
You would think. You would think.
You would think.
Top comment on this one.
Yeah, you have a baby.
You can't just expect to tune out and leave her to it
so you can watch football for hours.
Does she get her time for hours a day's day of the week?
Yeah, does she get three nights a week free to do anything
she wants without interruptions?
I'm guessing not.
Yeah, that was a good one though. I understand why there were different opinions because...
I don't want him to lose his passion.
Of course.
But I love football. I love watching football. Not this season as much because...
I know, the Cowboys are getting really bad. Minnesota's scraping by, scraping by.
And I'm just like, I'm not gonna get my hopes up.
Our quarterback situation is stressful, cause for concern.
Yeah.
Over nine and two.
And you can enjoy things and be normal about it.
Yeah, nine and two I watched yesterday.
That's really good actually.
I know, but football, like a lot of people enjoy football, but.
And then they still balance healthy lives.
Let's be a little more reasonable.
My brother, he needs to find a better balance.
He needs a girlfriend.
He needs a girlfriend.
Someone, it was so funny.
Oh my God.
I posted on the Instagram for like game time because they sent us to the Vikings game.
And someone on the comments was like,
I swiped on your brother on hinge, but it wasn't a match.
And I'm like.
That's so funny.
So I'm like, I think he does need a girlfriend.
Maybe he'd be a little better about football, but.
It's a Morgan's brother call out right now.
Yeah, Taylor.
He's a character. He's a good kid, but he's a character.
Those were good stories.
I hope everyone agrees.
I tried to have a well-rounded, balanced episode.
Yeah, I'm interested to see because I do feel that there will be some disagreements.
I think there's going to be a lot of strong opinions.
I think so as well.
I'm nervous about it.
No, we're all entitled to our own opinions.
Yeah. That's so true.
Just be civil.
Just some are better than others.
Michaela, where can everyone find you?
Hi, I'm Michaela Uckland on Instagram and Twitter.
Although I'm like, should I leave Twitter? I don't know. We're still thinking about it.
Blue sky, baby.
I know, but I don't remember my password or my email, but I'll find it.
I'll figure it out.
Yeah.
I actually really like it.
Yeah.
I have an account.
I just need to get back in.
It's giving me like OG Twitter vibes.
Like it's very like happy and funny.
I love that.
Like it's, it's funny.
It's funny that like threads isn't getting that space too.
Yeah. Like I really thought threads was going to be something. I know. It's funny that threads isn't getting that space too.
I really thought threads was going to be something.
I know.
Well, what I appreciate about Blue Sky is that it's open source.
And so it cannot be bought by someone or controlled in that way, which I really like.
It does feel more neutral.
I really like it.
I watched some news story with one of the founders or something on it and I was like,
I like this.
Good for them.
Yeah.
Good for them when they say that they're making social media to be neutral and then they actually
do make social media to be neutral.
Shocking.
Absolutely shocking.
But thank you guys so much for being here.
Another episode.
We have amazing content on Patreon for this month, November.
If you're hearing this in December, it's still there.
And if you join in December, you get all of December's content
and November's content and October's content and September's.
You get all the content.
There's a back catalog of, I think, at least 500 posts on our Patreon.
Whoa.
And depending on when you're hearing this,
the top two tiers are 50% off until December 2nd.
So come on over and join us. It's going to be really fun.
But thank you again for being here and until next time. Bye! Thanks for watching!