toxic relationship

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This could qualify as a horror story. It would be a good A24 film. A man gets smart-fridge notifications in the middle of the night while everyone is sound asleep. In this case, discovering a snack-eating ghost would’ve been a better outcome than what really happened. Infidelities are not solved via an exorcism

Man catches wife’s affair thanks to his smart fridge’s notifications: ‘She said she slept the whole night through, no interruptions. That was the exact wrong thing to say to a man holding fridge-door notification data’

Friendships are something most people want, yet not as many people make an effort to find and maintain them. It’s a tough subject because socially, we assume it's something people should naturally know how to do, and I’m starting to think many people fail at it because it doesn’t come as naturally to everyone.

Man wonders whether people are putting less effort into maintaining friendships, or whether people don’t want to be around him: ‘They always say “we need to hang more”/“we need to do this again soon!” and then they never reach out to set something up’

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I never thought baking delicious brownies could be implemented as a revenge tactic. Being 100% honest, I don’t even think the people who ate them understood it as such, but I’ve now got to a way deeper realization: Maybe the only one who needs to feel the revenge worked is the one who did it.

Student cooks delicious brownies as revenge against annoying teammates: ‘Even years later, I occasionally get a message from a group member asking for the recipe. I ignored them all’

Since when has shutting down and going quiet been considered overreacting? Of course, it can be used to make someone else furious, but I don’t think this is the case. Sometimes, when you receive a complaint in the form of aggression, the best you can do is stay silent and wait a while until, eventually, you are able to talk about it with the other person in a more mature manner.

Man shuts down when his girlfriend gets insecure with a restaurant server and spends the entire evening making petty remarks about her: 'I was wondering if I was overreacting by going quiet and just keeping to myself for the rest of the night'

Some people connect more easily with their inner child. Sometimes, so much so that it’s difficult to distinguish them from the adult person also living inside them. If we got stuck at some developmental stage, maybe it’s helpful for us to try to re-elaborate it once we are older.

30-year-old man starts treating his 28-year-old wife like she is a toddler because she acted like one towards her child:' I then told my wife to apologize, then after she said sorry I told her to say what she was sorry for'

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As we get older, we realize that being part of a group often costs money. We have to go for drinks, we celebrate birthdays, and we have dinner parties. On birthdays, we buy gifts, drinks cost money, and dinners are expensive, even if they are hosted by a friend of ours. For some people, it’s very hard to assume you don’t have that much money, and they’d rather fake it ‘til they make it.

Man exposes friend who always expects someone else to cover her bill during dinner parties: 'Before ordering, I quietly asked if everyone was okay paying for their own meals. Everyone agreed'

The much-feared group projects Back when I was in college, I had to work in groups all the time, and many of these things happened to me. And I suppose they happened to anyone who went through any sort of formal education.

College student is forced to do a group project in which nobody does anything so she decides to get revenge: 'I let the excruciatingly silent seconds drag on every single time, looking slowly to both of them with each question and taking my sweet time'

This story is the final proof that no absolute narrative exists; two people can have two opposing interpretations of what happened, and most of the time there is no use in trying to convince one of them otherwise.

Woman thinks her best friend of ten years is in love with her, friend says she is not and she doesn't believe it: 'Now, years later, I still question myself. Was there something I was unconsciously feeling and suppressing?'

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Two wrongs don’t make it right, but at least we’re even. Sometimes, in relationships characterized by disappointment, and even more so when disappointment always comes from one end, we have to revert to something more than words to set a boundary. I mean, when we are already tired of talking, and it falls on deaf ears.

27-year-old woman considers not celebrating 28-year-old boyfriend's birthday because he didn't celebrate hers: 'I just don’t care that much if he feels special or loved'

I have the strongest opinions about this story, but let’s bear with her, because I presume we all know what it’s like to be in love and how hard it is, sometimes, to see the red flags for what they are. It starts with a long-distance relationship; can you guess where it ends?

27-year-old man hosts his long-distance girlfriend for a week in his tiny room at his parent's house, 29-year-old girlfriend is afraid of bringing up moving to her cousin's house for the remaining days to be more comfortable: 'I feel so awkward'

Weddings are life-altering events; when we’re getting closer and closer to them, our opinion changes, new fears arise, and we might feel called to call it quits.

Man was supposed to be a groomsman on his 22-year-old friend's wedding until he cancelled it and ran away with another woman, now he wants to request reimbrusement for his investments: 'I want my money back for everything I put into HIS wedding'

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Introverts and extroverts speak different languages. The same event can be experienced in totally different ways depending on whether the person experiencing it is an introvert or an extrovert.

26-year-old leaves a hangout early because her friend didn't tell her she was bringing another friend, and now she questions her reaction: 'Later she went to chat with a table of pilots, and again I felt left out'

Luckily, most of this intense drama happens in high school and stays there. Still, years later, we find out we’re paying the price to this day with numerous insecurities and sensitivity around certain topics.

Best friend of six years dates the guy her friend liked in high-school, leaving her questioning if the friendship was toxic or if she is viewing everything from the lens of her own hurt: 'Was this friendship unhealthy from both sides?'

I don’t know about you guys, but I consider picky eating a very serious issue. To me, it’s unthinkable to be more than 7 years of age and still unable to eat anything with garlic.

Entitled 29-year-old picky-eater demands his girlfriend to exclude every ingredient he doesn't like from her diet leaving her wondering if she should accomodate: 'After I told him they were for me, he kept saying things like, “You know I don’t eat that”'

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Realistic hopecore Reading stories like this reignites my faith in humanity. Probably all the hearts he broke are mended by now, but he can at least stop himself from breaking more in the future. I thought my cold exes could never be self-aware, but this story makes me think they might be, one day, when they turn 34.

34-year-old man realizes he has been the toxic one in every single relationship he had and wonders what to do about it: 'I always thought codependent people had the problem and i was fine because i don't need anyone. but not needing anyone isn't strength'

This character flaw is rather hard to live with if a friend has it. You do your best; you tell them reunions start an hour before they actually start, so if they arrive one hour late, they are actually early.

Woman is always more than 40 minutes late to every event and friend doubts if she should confront her about her chronic tardiness or not: 'It's getting worse but at the same time I don't think she does it on purpose and I don't want to hurt her feelings'