He’s been seeing her for a few months and she recently decided to move in with him – which he is super happy about.
A couple of weeks ago he mentioned (in confidence) she saw a rat running around outside the apartment building and was super worried about rat infestation.
Anyhoo, she moved in today and I went to visit.
I dropped a couple of raisins on the kitchen floor (after he had spent a week diligently cleaning everything) and then I said “omg, is that rat poop”?
She immediately freaked out, grabbed her shit and started to leave. I confessed it was me and just a joke.
I even picked them up and ate one, just to prove it was all safe & good. She was aghast, and blamed him for making fun of her.
She left and refuses to return. He told me to gtfo, and now won’t talk to me, despite me apologizing to both of them. Yeah, I get that it was maybe a bit insensitive, but it was really funny seeing the look on both their faces. Still a sad outcome. sigh.
TLDR: A practical joke went bad.
Comments
You should go to her place to apologize dressed up as a rat
is this real? probably just bait but in case its not. It’s concerning that you thought playing a joke like that was okay. It makes me wonder if this is how people treated you growing up. Which is kinda sad.
Yes, you did fuck up.
Hilarious 🥱
This is an extremely tame prank and if she was that quick to pack up and leave, maybe she was having second thoughts and was looking for any excuse to bail on your friend.
I heard it through the grape vine.
Im afraid of rodents. If this was pulled on me I would have left ans never returned. I wouldn’t feel safe. I would be too scared
You’re a fucking asshole. I hope they cut you out of their lives permanently. Pranks and practical jokes are euphenisms for abuse and bullying. You fucked up big time and don’t deserve to be forgiven.
Glad you enjoyed yourself.
It’s funny. Some people have no sense of humor and take themselves too seriously so that a joke at their expense becomes the greatest offense possible.
This reminds me of the time like maybe 3 months after my now wife moved in – we were watching a horror movie on the couch and she needed to go to the bathroom.
I had the brilliant idea of getting into a crab walk and starting to crawl backwards towards her, with my head hanging down staring, as she opened the door. . .
Take it from me. . .its not a good prank, and results in a pure terror.
So you get off on upsetting people then wonder why they don’t want you in their lives anymore? Pranks are just a nice way of saying bullying behavior. Hope it was super funny and worth it.
But…was it worth it?
It was funny, she needs a sense of humor
I never understand people who decide to screw with people they literally dont know at all.
Was it a tame prank? Sure. If you did it to a friend, it would be funny. Youd probably both laugh about it.
But you didnt do this to a friend, or even acquaintance – you did this to the new girlfriend that you do not really know. Pretty much a stranger to you. And you didnt do it because you thought theyd find it funny, you did it because you thought upsetting her would be funny for YOU. Going out of your way to upset people you barely know is just… disrespectful, and frankly weird.
Grow up. Don’t prank strangers. Don’t do stupid shit to intentionally upset people, especially your friends’ romantic interests. That’s just dick behavior.
Yep. This sure is an entire reddit thread
You’re nothing but a brat and damned proud of it too.
Here’s to hoping your former friend cuts you out of his life forever and the rest of your friends (if you have any) follow suit.
This is probably the most mixed opinions I’ve ever seen in Reddit replies lmaooo
OP is an AH is the TLDR
Lmao, if she left because of this, she’d leave because of anything. Your friend escaped a red flag and should be thankful.
Yeah, you’re most definitely a fucking asshole. Say goodbye to your friendship.
Whether you find her phobia understandable or not it is a phobia at the end of the day and you used confidential information to prank a stranger. It’s one thing to pull these things with people you know well but to do it to someone you don’t know well is something that a lot of people would find disrespectful.
Honestly doing this to a total stranger and new girlfriend is a complete douchebag move. She doesn’t know you or have any trust or relationship with you yet, and she barely knows and trusts her boyfriend and you just made all of that way more difficult or possibly even blew up their relationship for a 2-minute laugh. Live and learn, I guess? Or in your case, live and make more jokes about it.
Just tell your friend that your prank worked by humiliating her and now the relationship is over. Haha
“She decided to move in with him”
You sound jealous.
I understand she’s scared of rats but moving out over a joke is definitely an overreaction, if she had a sense of humor she would’ve stayed lol & anyone telling you it’s fucked up, is just wrong ignore them lol
I find it incredible anyone on reddit in 2025 doesn’t realise pranks are just bullying. You bullied your friend’s GF whom you didn’t know.
To those people in the comments. Where exactly does it say that she has a phobia of rats?
It states that she was worried about an infestation of rats. Which is an honest concern.
The “In confidence” portion of this is extremely light as well. If my friend said “Yeah my girlfriend is worried we might have a rat infestation because she saw a rat a few weeks ago” It would hardly be considered a secret.
Is he an asshole for pulling a prank, sure a little, but there is likely something more going on for her to be THAT pissed off to break up over it.
For a non AITA Post, people sure are coming in swinging using the word. All in all, he is only slightly more of an asshole than the people in these comments making assumptions and using them directly as fact. But then again. Reddit be like that sometimes.
If you were my friend and you did this to someone I’m seeing, trust that I’m not only gonna tell you to GTFO.
I knew a guy like you. All his friends got tired of his shit. Dude couldnt hold a job because pranks dont go over well at jobs. Eventually got to the point where he couldnt afford to live in his nice part of town. Keep doing what you are doing. Someone will do the same to you eventually and you wont enjoy it.
I’m sorry you lost a friendship over a prank. That bites the big one. Hopefully you can have a talk with her and explain you weren’t trying to make fun of her and were just wanting to do what you thought was a harmless prank. Maybe promise to never do it again and maybe give her a gift certificate for a date she can go on with your friend. Maybe she has a rat phobia or something.
Alternatively, she could be reacting so severely due to CPTSD. My friend has full on panic attacks if she sees a roach. She had neglectful parents and grew up with roaches that she’d find in her food and she never felt safe. She had a roach stuck in her ear once. Very traumatizing for her. That is why I don’t risk those kinds of pranks unless I know them very well. This is obviously just an assumption though! She just had such a severe reaction to me that I find it hard to believe she doesn’t have some kind of baggage. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Might have caused a mild exhale if you we’re friends. Extra points to you because he told you in confidence.
But really, it’s not bad enough for what happened after.
Good fucking riddance, Jesus Christ. No one needs that kind of drama in their life. You did your friend a favor, and he did you a favor.
If you don’t know the person, don’t prank the person. Sounds like you didn’t know her well.
Wow… What a jackass
Why don’t you prank your own GF like that? Oh wait…
I feel like you’ve kind of forgotten the guiding principle of a good prank: confuse, don’t abuse. Exploiting someone’s fear for your amusement, especially sometime you don’t know very well? Not harmless. That being said, I do think her reaction was a little over the top, but still understandable. I also think that your friend is right to be pissed at you.
This should be in AITA so we could all say yeah, yeah you are.
This sounds more like it should be on r/AITAH 🤔🤷♀️
In confidence
As far as I can tell, your friend broke his GF’s trust, and then you broke your friend’s trust. I don’t think this necessarily makes you the bad guy. Just like your friend isn’t a bad guy for venting to you. It’s a chain of people wishing they hadn’t been so open with their friends.
I understand that when I tell someone something, and put it out into the world, it may come back to me in ways I don’t expect. This is not to say you can’t have trust, or say things in confidence to anyone. But everyone handles it differently if/when their secrets get out.
I’d say give it time, don’t overreact, and show that you are trustworthy naturally. Hopefully it’s something you can all laugh about in the future.
Your boy dodged a bullet
They need to get over it.
I mean your friend told you a secret and you screwed him over by both exposing he told you the secret and pranking his new situation that he has used his time on. You wasted your friend time, snitched and put him in an awkward scenario unnecessarily.
“It was really funny seeing” the GF freak out.
You fu@$ed up. Own it. Don’t rationalize or minimize.
What is it called when you derive pleasure from causing fears or anxiety in others?
People are so up tight wtf lmao
Pranks are kind of dumb but yours was harmless imo. Tell her to get a grip and tell your friend to lighten the fuck up.
Maybe you dodged 2 bullets that day?
You find it funny to upset other people. What’s the joke here? If you’re the only one laughing, it’s not a joke, it’s an asshole move.
You’re an idiot playing “pranks” on a girl you barely know. Just go read a book or do something good for society
She’s over reacting. Needs a sense of humor
Funny for two seconds, disastrous forever.
you arent in the least remorseful and you expected to be forgiven for acting like a dipshit (sorry, being a dipshit). hope it was worth your friendship
They need to get over it. Couple of babies.
this seems to be a controversial take here … but this is a crazy overreaction. an adult could gather herself and tell you it’s a genuine phobia and that she wants you never to prank or joke about it again. she could also talk with her partner if she feels he was mocking her behind her back.
your friend could tell you it was in poor taste and support her.
you could also learn to judge situations and humor better in the future, but I don’t think this was a horrible crime, as you immediately came clean.
This is a wild over reaction. I can’t imagine how she might act if something real came into play.
You are the friend everyone needs. People are so serious sometimes for no reason.
a classic joke
Overreact much?