If you’re a follower of the “Am I The A—hole? (AITA?)” you’d probably think the title “AITA for taking one of my husband’s cheeseburgers?” is funny. Because it is. Especially when the feed is normally filled with heinous in-laws and financial disasters. But when you peel back the layers and look at the *ahem* meat of the issue, you’ll get just as riled up as we are.
The Start Of Something Ba-Da-Ba-Ba Bad
The woman who originally posted on Reddit (the “OP”) and her husband share three sons. Last weekend, he took the boys out to run errands, and they stopped at McDonald’s on the way home. They ordered her the 10-piece chicken nuggets and medium fries she asked for, so, you would think that’s what she would get.
(But, as the mom, she is apparently entitled to jack sh*t.)
While driving back, her sons said they were still hungry and asked for some of their mom’s food. Their dad said they could have “a couple of nuggets and a few fries.”
“Well, they EACH took 2 nuggets and a few fries. Which means that what was handed to me for lunch was 4 nuggets and about 1/4 of the container of fries.”
And hold up, because things are just getting started.
That’s Not All
There was no need for OP to be left hungry like her sons had been. Or! As Redditors pointed out, maybe they just needed a moment to digest.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves!
OP explained that her husband buys himself three. extra. cheeseburgers when he goes to McDonald’s. Not because he’s that hungry then and there … but because he wants them for breakfast the next day.
“He puts them in the waffle iron to reheat them,” she said. “He swears it’s his favorite breakfast. He’s a weirdo.”
(Which is actually kind of brilliant and now I know what my next meal will be …)
“Knowing he had already eaten his full Mcdonald’s lunch and he still had those cheeseburgers, I asked him for one so I could have a full lunch,” OP said. “He said no because he needs them for breakfast.”
OP’s Decision
Well too bad, hubby! Mom was hungry and ate one anyway. Which she admitted was an a—hole-ish thing to do. “I was hungry, and annoyed that my food was eaten, and it didn’t make sense to me that he would deny me a full lunch so that he could have breakfast,” she said.
Especially when he still had two burgers left to make his crazy-yet-brilliant cheeseburger waffles! He, perhaps unsurprisingly, got mad and said this is not a tit-for-tat since he didn’t realize how much their kids had eaten and “didn’t intend to upset” OP.
“Whereas I knew I was upsetting him when I took the cheeseburger,” OP said. “He thinks I could have just eaten leftovers or something. But like … he could do that too, and should, since he gave my food away.”
“I was not given the opportunity to say no before he let the kids take my food, so it’s not a fair comparison,” she continued, ultimately letting the internet decide who was the AH here.
Reddit’s Reaction
You probably already know that Reddit thinks this dad is the a—hole and recognizes that this is, unfortunately, par for the course for a mom. They’re always left with the scraps and taught to suck it up. If this was a cake instead of McDonald’s, you know she would be given the last slice because how could she ever dream of going first when there are big hungry men? And why would she need to go first when all that’s appropriate for her to eat is a sliver?
Through his actions, this dad is just driving that point home for his sons like, “Eh, Mom will be fine with whatever we graciously leave behind.” Reddit is not only horrified, but can’t wrap their heads around the idea that this dad wouldn’t think of any other option than to give his sons the majority of their mom’s food. Could he not have told them to wait until they got home? Could he not have stopped somewhere else? As one person cheekily said, he should have bought them backup food like he does for himself.
“Or with three kids and 3 extra cheeseburgers he could have given them each one and his wife could have eaten her entire meal,” another said. “He doesn’t get 2 full meals while wife goes hungry, sacrifices, and only gets 1/3 of a meal.”
“Well, he didn’t intend to leave her with next to no food, and as we all know, intent is magic and totally replaces a meal you gave away to people who have already eaten,” someone said sarcastically.
It ultimately comes down to a respect thing for Redditors. Dad was teaching his sons that disrespecting their mom like that was OK. They came home with what was basically a Happy Meal for her and then were mad at her for being hungry and unhappy? Nuh-uh. Not gonna fly. “Eating mom’s food should be seen as absolutely a no-go,” one Redditor said, and we couldn’t agree more.
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