We have all had that one friend who is a little too obsessed with their plants or an aunt who treats her cat like a Victorian child. It is a quirk! It is what makes people interesting. But apparently for one guy on Reddit, a harmless personality trait is a social emergency that needs to be shut down in the most aggressive way possible. We are looking at a classic case of a guy who needs to learn how to read the room and maybe how to say thank you before he finds himself walking to every bar for the rest of his life.
The Original Poster (OP) is a 25-year-old guy who has been dating his girlfriend for about nine months. Early on, he realized she had a very specific attachment to her car, a gift from her parents named Angie. Now, lots of people name their cars, but this girl takes it a step further by personifying the vehicle. She does not just go to the car wash; she gives Angie a bath. When she gets a flat tire, she tells him Angie’s shoe broke. Is it a little bit eccentric? Sure. Is it hurting anyone? Absolutely not.
Most people would find this charming or at the very least a harmless part of the package. If you love someone, you usually embrace the weird little things they do. But for the OP, this was a weird and embarrassing problem that was bubbling under the surface for nearly a year. He apparently spent months seething over the fact that his girlfriend has an imagination, and it all came to a spectacular, drunken head recently.
Let us set the scene: the OP and his friends spent the night getting absolutely wasted. His girlfriend, being a literal saint, agreed to be the designated driver. She stayed sober, drove to pick up a carload of drunk guys, and was in the process of getting them all home safely. On the way, she stopped at a gas station and made a lighthearted comment about getting Angie something to drink. Instead of being grateful that he was not currently in a pricey Uber or trying to navigate a bus schedule while nauseous, the OP decided this was the moment to fix her.
He told her, in front of his friends, that the way she talks is weird and embarrassing. He lectured her on how a normal person treats a machine and told her to stop treating her car like a pet or a kid. There is a special kind of audacity that comes with being a drunk person who is currently dependent on someone else’s kindness and choosing that exact moment to give them an unprompted personality critique. It is the definition of biting the hand that feeds you, or in this case, the hand that is steering you home.
Predictably, the girlfriend shut down. She went radio silent for the rest of the drive, dropped off his friends, and then delivered the OP to his apartment. When he asked why they were not going back to her place, she told him she needed time to think and told him to get out. Honestly? Good for her. There is nothing less attractive than a partner who tries to shame you for being whimsical, especially when you are doing them a massive favor.
The OP is now sitting in his apartment wondering if he did something wrong. Let us help you out with that, buddy: YES. You took a moment of pure, selfless service and turned it into an opportunity to make your girlfriend feel small. Calling someone embarrassing for having a harmless quirk is a quick way to k!ll the intimacy in a relationship. If you cannot handle a girl who thinks her car has shoes, you probably do not deserve the girl who makes sure you get home safely after a night of drinking.
There is also the embarrassment factor. He was worried about how he looked in front of his friends, but he failed to realize that the only person looking like an ahole in that car was him. His friends probably did not care about the car’s name; they were likely just happy they did not have to pay for a ride. The only thing embarrassing about the situation was a 25-year-old man who cannot handle his liquor or his girlfriend’s personality.
The phrase “treat it like how a normal person would” is such a red flag. Who gets to define normal? If she pays her insurance, changes the oil, and drives safely, she can call the car whatever she wants. She could tell people the car is a sentient space creature from the planet Volvo and it still would not be as weird as her boyfriend insulting her while she is doing him a favor.
The girlfriend has not responded to his texts, and honestly, we hope she stays quiet until she finds someone who will actually help her give Angie a bath instead of complaining about it. This is not about a car; it is about a guy who thinks he is too cool or logical to let his partner have a little bit of fun. Life is too short and too boring to date someone who wants to drain the color out of your world because it makes them uncomfortable.
So, is the OP the ahole? 100% YTA. He was rude, he was ungrateful, and he was a judgmental b!tch to the one person looking out for him. He does not need an explanation for why she is silent; he needs a mirror and a very sincere apology. If he ever wants to see Angie or the girl behind the wheel again, he better start groveling now.
What do you think? Is naming a car and giving it shoes too much, or is this guy just a total buzzk!ll who does not deserve a DD? Let us know in the comments if you have ever had a partner try to fix one of your harmless quirks!
YTA I have named every vehicle I have owned. I currently get out and about with BB. My little green Ford escort was frog, and I would often say frog jumped a puddle. Not one guy I ever met thought it we as weird. Your not a very happy person are you. That or your a control freak cause geeze lighten up.