OK, let’s admit it: Jealousy makes us all do some really weird things sometimes. But some people think that one man’s recent case of the green-eyed monster was actually sort of … warranted. As he explained in a post on Reddit's AITA forum, he lost his cool at a supermarket employee after the man refused to stop flirting with his wife and even went as far as leaving a note with his phone number on her car window. But if you ask her, her husband had been nothing but a macho pig.
The Original Poster was grocery shopping with his wife when he noticed a 20-something-year-old guy following them wherever they went.
It turned out to be a store employee, and he kept following them “sort of like checking out my wife,” the man wrote in his post. “I wasn't sure but he kept trying to start conversations with her by offering to get her xyz products.”
The OP was annoyed — especially because the guy was 10 years younger than he is.
Once the two got out into the parking lot, the OP noticed a piece of paper on their windshield.
It was a phone number meant for his wife.
“I couldn't help but connect the dots as the following: this is my wife's car and she's [a] regular shopper so the staff knows her and most likely know her car. I figured it was someone who knew my wife,” he wrote.
The OP’s wife told him to throw away the letter and get in the car, but he couldn’t let it go.
Instead, he walked back into the supermarket and called the number.
One guess who picked up.
“I look near the register and see my guy standing there with a puzzled look on his face looking at his phone,” he recalled. “I immediately and loudly confront him about leaving a note with his phone number on my wife's windshield, he tries to act dumb asking what I'm talking about.”
The OP’s wife tried to get her husband to leave, but he refused.
A scene was starting to form around them, but the OP didn’t care — he demanded to see the manager.
Meanwhile, the employee completely denied leaving the note.
“The manager comes in minutes later and I tell him everything,” the OP wrote. “He apologetically agrees it was inappropriate and unprofessional and borderline harassment. He then tells the guy to go to the back and then tells me he'll take care of it then further apologizes to my wife.”
The OP later learned that the young man lost his job over what happened, and although the OP doesn’t think he should be to blame for it, his wife sort of thought they’re responsible.
She told the OP that he should’ve just thrown away the note and not made a scene “causing this college student (how did she know?) to lose his income when it's a frequent thing for guys that age to act like that,” he wrote.
“I don't know because I feel guilty for escalating things to this degree," he admitted. "I feel pathetic honestly and like I acted out of insecurity and anger." Now he wants to know if he's being an a–hole.
Some people weren't impressed by the OP's macho behavior.
“[You're the A–hole]. I think this was an issue for your wife to handle as she saw fit. It sounds as if she did not need, or want, you to rescue her as based on your comments she did not feel threatened by the situation," wrote one commenter "You and your wife could have had a private conversation about this at home once you were calmer, and together have decided how to handle it. Instead your jealousy led you to create an unnecessary and public scene in a store she frequents. If I were your wife, I would be furious."
“[You're the A–hole]. But not for the reason you think," someone else agreed. "F— that guy. It's your wife you were an a–hole to. If your wife WAS the victim of unwanted attention / sexual harassment guess how much worse her jealous husband screaming at the perpetrator and then getting them fired in public will make her feel though?
"If you really had to know you could have called the number, then left and talked it over with your wife and decided to call (or not call) management together," the commenter continued. "If you felt he was a danger to other shoppers and called anyway, at least it wouldn't be a public scene. You humiliated her in public instead of listening to how she wanted to handle a situation you say you did for her. None of this was about your wife; it was all about you."
Another person put it this way: "I'm shocked that more people aren't getting this. His wife told him to let it go multiple times but he insisted on acting like she's his property."
On the other hand, some commenters thought the OP had done the right thing.
“[Not the A–hole]. Your wife might not feel violated, but think about this: this time he followed a woman around the store and then left a note on her car. What if next time he follows a woman home?" one commenter argued. "He absolutely needs to learn that he cannot behave that way."
“This is not acceptable workplace behavior," someone else wrote.
"He played a stupid game and won a stupid prize. While I never want anyone to lose their job, it was inappropriate for this person to leave their phone number on the car," answered another commenter.
Later in the thread it seemed the OP agreed.
"I'm sorry but since my wife hates confrontation then I figured it was my duty to step up and protect her," he wrote.
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