Smosh Reads Reddit Stories

Jokes On Us | Reading Reddit Stories

71 min
Jan 17, 20263 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Smosh Reads Reddit Stories analyzes prank-themed Reddit posts, examining why pranks often backfire in relationships and professional settings. The episode explores the psychological impact of pranks on trust, boundaries, and mental health, concluding that successful pranks require mutual consent and shared enjoyment from all parties involved.

Insights
  • Pranks that cause genuine distress or violate boundaries are not pranks but forms of psychological manipulation or abuse, regardless of the prankster's intent
  • Successful relationships require clear communication about boundaries; pranks that ignore explicitly stated preferences signal disrespect and undermine trust
  • The 'reveal' moment of a prank is only satisfying if the target can laugh along; if they're hurt, humiliated, or traumatized, the prank has failed fundamentally
  • Service workers and strangers should never be targets of pranks due to power imbalances and unknown personal circumstances that could amplify harm
  • Timing and context matter critically; pranks during vulnerable periods (new jobs, stress, grief) compound damage and reveal the prankster's lack of empathy
Trends
Relationship conflict driven by partners who use humor and pranks to avoid emotional intimacy or serious conversationsGaslighting through pranks: pranksters denying the target's emotional response as overreaction to maintain controlGenerational desensitization to pranks via social media and Reddit creating unrealistic expectations about what constitutes 'harmless fun'Boundary violations in intimate relationships masked as playfulness, indicating deeper compatibility issuesService industry workers facing increased harassment disguised as pranks or 'jokes' without recourse or support
Topics
Relationship Trust and BoundariesPsychological Impact of PranksEmotional Manipulation in DatingService Worker HarassmentCommunication Breakdown in RelationshipsConsent and Mutual Enjoyment in HumorGaslighting and Emotional AbuseApril Fool's Day Social NormsPower Dynamics in PranksMental Health and Sleep DisruptionInfidelity and Family DynamicsWorkplace ProfessionalismGenerational Attitudes Toward PranksBoundary Setting in FriendshipsAccountability and Remorse
Companies
Starbucks
Featured in story about customer giving barista a sexually suggestive fake name as prank, resulting in drink being th...
People
Shane
Co-host of Smosh Reads Reddit Stories who analyzes and comments on the prank stories throughout the episode
Arasha
Co-host of Smosh Reads Reddit Stories who provides perspective and analysis on relationship dynamics in prank stories
Quotes
"There's no payoff. Because, like, you faked an engagement for four months. However, the payoff was a video that did very well, and it was like, okay, great, I get what you're doing it for. But for him, I'm like, what's the payoff?"
ArashaEarly in episode discussing Appletarian prank
"A prank is not a prank unless the person you're pranking enjoys it as well. Enjoys it, right? So the fun is the switch up of, like, no, actually, there's a good, like, oh, there's a bad thing. Actually, it's a good thing."
ArashaMid-episode defining successful pranks
"This is torture. This is full-on torture. Right. Like, I see that device, and I think about who I would want to give that to, and it's nobody that I love."
ShaneDiscussing Arduino beeping device prank
"If somebody is actively being like, I am not in a good place. I'm actually anxious and I can't sleep. How is that not, like, setting off alarms for you? Being like, wait, this is my person. I need to help them."
ShaneAnalyzing boyfriend's lack of empathy
"Don't prank strangers. I think that's what it is. You don't know what this person's going through."
ArashaDiscussing Starbucks prank story
Full Transcript
Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Ha ha ha, pranked you. You thought I wasn't here, but I am. Oh, but where are our guests? There's no guests here. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Pranked you. We pranked you. Pranked. And for our audio listeners, you don't know what the hell's going on. Yeah. That was good. Oh, God, we're here. Yeah. Well, that's right. Welcome to Smosh Reads Reddit Stories. Actually. What's going on? I got you guys. Because there's actually nothing in my trench coat. Wow. Okay. You really did it. Even though you thought there was something there. I'm going to be honest. You wearing a trench coat and holding it together like this did have me pretty nervous. I got you guys, I got you guys. But hey, now I'm just ready to sit down and listen to some rice stories. Okay, she has a whoopee cushion taped to her ass, by the way. Let me try it again! Let me try it again! I got you guys! You're sitting down on a couch. It is a squishy couch. It's not gonna work. You're not sitting on a hard surface. It worked in the last one. You have permission to punch your ass. Yeah. Wait. Okay, hold on. Wait. Okay, okay. We had a rehearsal. We had a blocking rehearsal for that. You used the company dollar on this? We had blocking rehearsal. Earlier today, they literally were like, Arasha, can I talk to you for a second? And it was for that. For this. I thought it was for some intense shit. Listen, listen, it wasn't my idea. I just went along with it. I love that it failed. And I knew that it would. It wouldn't have been as funny if it worked. Because I was fully prepared for the fart. The second you were like, guys, it's all good, and you went to sit down, I was like, it's about to fart. And then it didn't happen, I was like, and it failed, and that's even funnier. Yeah. And then how haphazardly it was taped to your ass was also awesome. Listen, we had to work quickly. Welcome to Small Street Threaded Stories. I'm Shane, and today's theme is pranks. as you can probably guess. Hirasha goes, oh no, that was the intro. She's just now realizing that's how the episode's gonna start. Oh, you thought we're gonna cut all that? No, we're keeping that in. Oh no. My face is hot. My face is... Yeah, dude. We haven't even started this, and this is where we're at. Oh, my God. Okay. Okay. Guys, today's theme is prank. We've been here before with pranks. Every time we do prank on Reddit stories, we go, what is a prank? I shot her in the head. It's a prank. Yeah, got her. No, it's not. They're almost always mean and horrible. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see how they go this fast. Yeah, we're all warmed up. Yeah, we're ready. You know, like, the feeling, like, when your face is just, like, heat? Yeah. Yes, I do. When your face is heat. Yeah. Are we ready for our first prank story? Please. Let's do it. Please. All right. This comes from Am I the Asshole. It was posted in March of 2019. Am I the asshole for pretending to be an Appletarian eating only apple-derived foods slash drinks for three weeks as a prank, causing my friends to have an intervention for me? Okay. Huh. Appletarian. I feel like I maybe have read this before, but maybe I'm wrong. Apple-flavored stuff's good. I got the idea a few weeks ago to prank my friends by pretending to be an apple-terian, meaning somebody who only eats food products that are derived from apples and would only drink apple juice or apple cider. I told them all that I had read on the internet that eating only apples was the healthiest thing for you. When I first told them, they thought I was joking, but they underestimated how committed I would be to a joke. So whenever in the presence of one of my friends or friend of friends, co-workers, etc. who knew them. I was very careful to only be seen eating apples or drinking apple juice slash cider. Apples whole, apples diced, apples sauce, the inside of an apple pie, baked apples, candy apples with the chocolate shaved off, etc. Finally, after about a week, they bought that I had become an Appletarian. They started giving me information about how unhealthy it was to only eat apples and growing increasingly exasperated by it. Some of them even got angry, but I wanted to stick with the joke. Finally, after the end of three weeks, I walked into what I was told was a movie night, but was actually an intervention for me. They were all super concerned about my well-being and had all sorts of information or whatever. Finally, I started laughing hysterically. They were confused as hell, so I told them I had been faking it the whole time and had been eating real meals outside their knowledge. I even took out some beef jerky from my pants pocket to prove it and munched it. I thought they'd appreciate the joke, but they were actually really annoyed. My girlfriend even broke up with me over this because a few days ago I had ruined our date night when I told the waiter I only wanted apples because I was an apple tarian and had embarrassed her for a dumb joke in my opinion the joke was solid and they should appreciate my commitment to the prank but did I go too far dude dude bad joke my girlfriend broke up with me over it is really funny. No, it was really funny. It's really funny. They couldn't have been together for that long, so. It's like my girlfriend of five years broke up with me. This is something that from a third party perspective if you're not involved in any of like the relationships is funny. Yeah. But in practice Yeah. I guess everyone got a little concerned if they're gonna throw an intervention. He committed hard. Too hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, clue your girlfriend in on the joke at least. Right. And this is another one of those cases too where it's like, you know, the pranks that we pull, the commitment that we do, we're a comedy channel, right? This is just a group of friends that seem like they genuinely care about each other and are just trying to have date nights and fun nights together, and it's actually ruining it. Yeah, because it's like, what's the payoff, right? There's no payoff. Because, like, you faked an engagement for four months. However, the payoff was a video that did very well, and it was like, okay, great, I get what you're doing it for. But for him, I'm like, what's the payoff? You tell everyone, they go, great. So why'd you do that? For three weeks. Right. Like, damn. Also, that's a, may I say, a quick turnaround for an intervention. That is fast. No, they were on it. They must have been really, like, concerned. Or it just actually was that big of an issue. Because we didn't hear the date night thing until after the girlfriend broke up with him. So how many instances, how many experiences? How many events did he ruin with his Apple situation? I'd like to think that I would be more suspicious. because I'm like three weeks of only apples and apple juice. There's no way you're feeling good. No, it's nutritionally bad. I'm like, you are not going to be hanging in there. No. Yeah. No protein. You have zero protein. I mean, you're getting fiber, but like no. And some calories and sugar, but like you're not. Your body's going to be like, oh. The amount of apples you'd have to eat to maintain a normal caloric. Because they're not that many calories. No, like 50 to 100. It's like nothing. You'd need like 20 apples a day or something. Like, my God. Three weeks, I'd be like, you would not be functioning that well. Like if he were to actually be doing this apple diet. Yeah. I would think. Right. And it was just random, he said? Like he just decided to start doing it? Decided to be apple-tarian. I got the idea a few weeks ago to prank my friends by pretending to be an apple-tarian. It's not even April. This is posted in March. He's just like, brilliant. It's not April 1st yet. Do you think he was waiting for the reveal on April 1st? I guess, maybe. But that's like a long commitment. I'm like, this is exhausting. Yeah. The verdict was no assholes here. Just kind of like, yeah. That's how I feel. Right. I'm like, so why'd you do that? What are you doing, man? So what's that for? But again, the breakup makes, it clues us in that it was actually a lot more agonizing than he's telling. Exactly. He's like, yeah, I did this, I did that. And everyone else was probably like, you're ruining. our time with you. Like we can't be around you if you're going to continue to do this. Yeah. Comments. Someone said, no assholes here. I may be in a minority, but I think this is fucking funny as hell. I feel like your girlfriend overreacted, but maybe in the future include your girlfriend in said prank. Right. Someone said, not the asshole, absolute legend. That level of commitment is on par with the method acting of Daniel Day-Lewis. Thanks for the late night laugh. Someone else said, no assholes here, but the date thing is really pushing it. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, hmm. It just goes back to the quick turnaround intervention and the breakup means that this was more of a problem in the circle of people than, again, the zoom out is like, I guess that could be funny. I guess. No, yeah, yeah. But like practically in the real world, clearly people were concerned. I think the comments are in agreement with what you're saying, or I'm like, for me reading this online as a hypothetical situation, I'm like, funny. but if living through it what's going on Arasha? Now it's making me laugh because I'm thinking about how unfunny how much of a waste of time it is I'm thinking about how stupid this is and now I love it and now I'm on board with him now it's great when you think about it you're like wait why would you do that and you're like wait that's awesome three weeks he committed to it yeah nobody's filming it it's i wonder how long he was gonna go i wonder too because like he clearly stopped because of the intervention but like it's also how out of character is this you know like is this in par with like oh he's a silly guy he does pranks sometimes or was it like he's like a doctor he's never pulled a prank before in his life he can't be a doctor he's having all those apples yeah right i think he wants to be sneaky he like wants to be silly and this is his like breakout role. Yeah. Guys, I'm trying to be silly right now. He's hard launching silly personality. And it's not working because it's his first. But he'll get there. We'll check in with him soon. Oh my God. Wow. There's no updates. Why would there be? Update, I'm back to being Appletarian. Give it another shot, for real. Appletarian. This does open a whole world of word fusion where you can do a blank tarian that I've never even thought about. I mean, people do the carnivore diet, which is, to me, just as silly. Oh, sure, but I mean like I'm a food tarian. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a dessert tarian. A blonde tarian. Sign me up. Right. I'm a wine-a-tarian. Yes. Yeah. Shane was 48 for a second. Got little clips of the future there. Pretty scary. Oh no, it's gas leak. It's gas leak. It's very gas leak. It's the last video of the week. Guys, I filmed two Smosh Mouths and a previous Reddit story where we had the longest story that was very wholesome and had everybody crying in this room. And now I have to continue. That's why you're 48 at age, too. I'm 48 now. You read enough stories. All right, let's move on. Shopify by your side. This is our show. Our next story, it comes from Am I Overreacting? This was posted September of 2025. Am I overreacting over this small prank? What do we think? Is she overreacting? If it's small prank, and I'm going to say no, probably not. She's not overreacting. I'm going to say it's a bad prank, and she's reacting properly. I think she is overreacting, and I think it was like something happened, and then it was like, just kidding, it was a prank, and she's like, I'm deeply hurt. There was another story we read where a woman was talking about how her husband's pranks were just full-on abuse. Oh, I think I was in that. It was like putting, he was putting like baby poop on her toast and shit. Like, it would just be like, ha-ha, like, pranked. Wow. It was awful. Awful. Yeah, okay, now I'm medically concerned. Now I'm medically concerned that I don't have that memory. I feel like I have that memory, but maybe it was just so many. I took yours. I do not, I don't remember anything. Yeah, ever. Fans have pointed out a lot of me like, I'm surprised Shane doesn't remember that. I think I'm like, we've shot 5,000 episodes. So many words are sad. I'm reading like, these memories are in like the short term RAM. They're getting overwritten. I gotta move on. Because you ever just like rewatch an episode and you're like reacting to the story that you literally heard weeks ago, but you're like, oh my God. Oh, yeah. For the first time. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Short-term memory bank. No, the scariest is when I rewatch a Reddit stories and I disagree with my own take. And I'm like, oh, fuck. Yes. Because you have time. That's scary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've done that too. It's also what also happens sometimes now is we will film an episode of Reddit Stories, and in the three months before it comes out, I'll go, oh, I totally disagree with what I said there. Yep. Oh, well. Oh, well. People change. Okay. Am I overreacting over this small prank? I, a 22-year-old woman, have been with my boyfriend, who's 25, for a little over a year and a half. Recently, we've been running into hurdles because I have been feeling like he has been bothering, slash teasing slash poking slash biting me more than being a serious slash loving partner to me. For context, I mean making weird noises all the time, referencing Italian brain rot, or groping me randomly, even if I'm in the middle of a sentence and talking about something serious, et cetera, when I would prefer active listening, loving touch, unironic quality time. Big asks. Right. Yeah. We had a huge conversation about this recently as I was on the brink of ending things with him since the lack of warmth relative to his unseriousness was making me feel empty. Since then, there has been a genuine effort and big improvement, and I was starting to feel very hopeful that this was something we could work through. Fast forward a little, I am starting a new job as an educator, and while I am very excited about it, it is also a huge adjustment and has been really stressful. On top of that, for the past six days, I have been hearing this bizarre beeping noise coming from my closet that chirps once every 20 to 40 minutes, driving me nuts. I couldn't figure out what it was. It was keeping me up and infiltrating my dreams, and it started to freak me out since nothing I own makes that sound. Nothing in the closet even had a battery in it, and from my overall stress and lack of good sleep, I was starting to grow paranoid that someone had planted a device in my room. To add to this, I am extremely private, and the only people who are regularly in my room are myself and my boyfriend when he visits. This led to me fearing that my boyfriend was secretly stalking me and had planted a mic or something in my room that was starting to make noise. I had zero reason to believe this and had 100% trust in him, but was starting to go crazy. It even happened while talking with my therapist, and when I explained the mystery of its origins, she seemed equally concerned. To make matters worse, the fridge at work is broken and beeps nine times every minute, so it has started feeling like the chirping is following me, compounding my general distress. Last night, after a stressful day and finding out some unrelated unsettling news that is enough to affect me on its own, my sister heard the noise as well, and we decided to tear my closet apart at 10 p.m. when I had to wake up at 6 a.m. to figure out what has been plaguing me After timing the beeps for an hour it beeped in irregular intervals We found this tiny Arduino board deep in one of my boxes labeled Annoying PCB as pictured. Google it. Its literal sole purpose is to drive its victims insane. So the picture of the device, it's a tiny little device that just beeps. Oh my God, that's like as thin as a credit card, but like a quarter of the size. Yeah. So an Arduino board is just like a tiny little device for people getting into tech and stuff. It's just like a basic electronic device. And so this whole purpose of this is just to beep. I was immediately horrified, quite literally shaking and crying, as my wildest nightmare of someone planting a device in my room had literally come true. My immediate thought was, who would do something like this? What did I do to deserve this? I called my boyfriend immediately, and he admitted he knew what it was. I hung up and haven't spoken to him since. The reason I'm not sure if I'm overreacting is because, on the one hand, I understand how this might be funny, but to me that doesn't matter given A, the fact that I've been feeling like he hasn't been generally serious with me to a problematic extent, B, the fact that this has been plaguing me and disrupting my sleep literally the first week of my new job, and C, I've been complaining about it to him for days, and he played along being confused and concerned, repeatedly asking me, what does it sound like? And even dismissing my genuine concern slash paranoia, saying, maybe there's a little cricket in your room. I just feel like this is on par with glitter bombing, like something you do to someone you hate, not the supposed love of your life. It feels like psychological warfare, and between stretching this out for days and planting it in my room, this feels like a massive breach of trust. I haven't spoken to him at all, and he's been texting me saying things like, it was just a prank, and beep, beep, beep, beep, and I miss you, and please don't ignore me. I am so against stonewalling, but I have literally nothing to say to him, and he hasn't apologized or shown any remorse. I don't feel ready to speak to him at all. Maybe it was a good prank with bad timing, but I can't help but feel like this is just setting us back again, and I am genuinely shaken. I honestly don't see a future at this point, and I'm not really sure what to do. If you've read this far, thank you for listening, and I appreciate any advice or kindness. And I got it right. Not overreacting. Yeah, I should have believed women. Not beep beep. Beep beep is like, he's still going. Are you dating the Joker? Right. Like, holy God. Or like a fifth grader. Like, this is so frustrating. She specifically was like, I want you to just take things a little bit more seriously. And he was like, let me find the most serious week of your life when you're starting a new job and ruin. To basically torture you. And she said she had some unsettling news in her life going on. Right. That was already. And I didn't think that he even, like, at first I was like, oh, maybe he doesn't know how much it's affecting her. But then she said that they had conversations. And he's there going like, oh, what's it sound like? Like, he, these aren't, this isn't a prank to me. This is, he enjoys torturing you. Exactly. Yeah, it's just like. It's not fun. I feel like there's, it's the payoff again. It's like this, like, oh, ha, ha, ha. There's like relief in it from both parties. But clearly that's, A, just not your audience. Like, he clearly doesn't know her at all to be able to pull another prank like this. And then, B, to just like gaslight her the entire time that she's actually trying to figure out what's going on in her life. Like, it's just not funny. I feel like the only prank you can pull in a relationship that is beneficial and would work is, like, doing a prank to pull off a surprise party. Yes. That they would obviously be okay with. Those are the only pranks that I think I... To me, a prank is not a prank unless the person you're pranking... Enjoys it as well. Enjoys it, right? So the fun is the switch up of, like, no, actually, there's a good, like, oh, there's a bad thing. Actually, it's a good thing. But this isn't a prank. This is torture. This is torture. This is full-on torture. Right. Like, I see that device, and I think about who I would want to give that to, and it's nobody that I love. Yeah. No. Like, there's no, like, even a person who I think could laugh at that, I still wouldn't want to do that, because I know how terrible it would make their lives. And her, like, at work hearing the beeps and being like, it's following you, like, you're, like, sending her into an episode. Right, right. You're simulating, like, a paranoia problem. That's what he clearly wants. The amount of stories we read about boyfriends who do this, who are incapable of just genuine conversation or genuine connection. Right. Turn everything into a joke. Well, it goes back to the beginning, too, of what she was saying that he was doing, which was just groping her randomly. Sorry, we have to get back to biting? Like, what was that? That was a different thing. Yeah, a lot we breezed past in the story, and it's like, OP, what are you talking about? Right. And there's something about her being like, I guess it could be funny or whatever. Then I'm like, has he gotten into your brain about this stuff? Like, no, no, girl, it's not. I can imagine those conversations and that she would be questioning herself when the other person's like, no, it's funny. No, that's what I mean. You're overreacting. Yeah, exactly. Her coming to this being like, am I overreacting? I'm like, oh, please come back to us over here. Get out of that. Even if it was, I think, again, maybe objectively funny or something, it's still just like she doesn't want that. She was upfront about not enjoying those silly little things. And this clearly affected her in a different way. So even if it was like, oh, yeah, that could be funny to somebody else, that just wasn't the experience. Yeah. She said, please stop. He said, I'm going to do 20 times worse. Right. Let me up it a notch. Yeah. But let me wait. Let me get better and improve as a partner so then you don't see it coming. Exactly. He's interrupting her sleep, which is such a, like, vulnerable. And necessary. Necessary thing. Yeah. He put it, he hid it in her room, in her closet. It's like, you've been dating a year and a half, like, that's her space. Right. You're invading her space. There's so many breaches of boundaries in this. It's a total violation, and it's actually, like, a greater part of the terror that he was like, oh, I want this, like, overnight for you. Comments. Let me give you advice as someone who's been on the receiving end of this. Someone who has your safety, mental health, and trust in one hand and the ability to entertain themselves at the expense of another human being in the other, and they choose the second one, they're letting you know where you stand in their life. You were clearly suffering from this for multiple reasons, and he kept going. It was entertaining to him to watch you be scared and confused. The fact that he's sending you beeping messages and kicking a circle in the dirt going, sawy, while taking No Accountability Speaks volumes. He's not worth being with anymore. You deserve better than a partner that will torture you for their entertainment. Someone said, not overreacting. I agree stonewalling isn't appropriate in a relationship. However, I don't think that's what you're doing. He's added trauma and anxiety to your life, and you're momentarily setting boundaries while you collect yourself and decide your next step. Me, I'd never talk to him again. This is psycho behavior and the biggest red flag possible. Other people have gone into more detail, so I don't feel I need to reiterate what others are saying. But bottom line, I want to reinforce that this behavior is absolutely not okay on his part and not something a supportive boyfriend or partner would ever do. Not to mention he just played it off like he didn't know when you expressed how much it was bothering you and continues to tease you about it. I don't think you're reacting enough. Yes. Yeah, I fully agree with that. I mean, if I'm a friend of hers, I'm like, his behavior is scary. Yeah. I'm like, not only do not talk to him, we need to go about this in the proper way of getting you distance from this man. I mean, even just zooming out and looking at, like, the crux of a relationship, it's like you're in that because you care about the other person. You love them. You love their feelings. You want to take care of them. If somebody is actively being like, I am not in a good place. I'm actually anxious and I can't sleep. How is that not, like, setting off alarms for you? Being like, wait, this is my person. I need to help them. I need to stop doing this to her. Right. And instead he's like, I can't wait for this reveal. Like, what? No, it's truly scary where this could go. I'm like, put this guy on a list. Yeah, for real. Separate them. Lastly, someone said, going to focus only on the prank because you said boyfriend has noticeably improved in the other areas, which I hope is true because he sounds like he sucks. This would be a funny prank at an office or an open living space. Somewhere it happens occasionally. There can be a ha-ha moment together when it is found and it doesn't go on too long. Putting this deeply hidden in your bedroom and letting it run while you try to sleep is absolutely insane, huge asshole behavior. At absolute best, he has no consideration for your well-being. And at worst, he was trying to stress you out and drive you insane in a more serious sense than this prank could ever be. Not overreacting, and honestly, I hope for your sake, this is a breaking point for you because this is insane. For real? Yeah, 100%. Wow. Oh, my God. Well, we got the type of story I was expecting. There we go. The prank episode. Oh. And I've been told the next one is worse. Woo-hoo! Yay! All right, our next story comes from Relationship Advice. This was posted in August of 2023. I, a 28-year-old man, faked my own death as a prank, and now I'm afraid my girlfriend, who's 26, will leave me. Need advice. You left first. I don't think this is the first faking death prank story we've read on Reddit Stories, because I feel like I've made another Tom Sawyer joke before at some point. Also, like, haven't these people seen movies and things like this where it's like, what was it, Castaway? She thought Tom Hanks was gone. And then he comes back and they don't get back together because she's like, I mourned you. Right. No. You don't. What? And he lost Wilson, too. And that was the real tragedy of the story. Kills me. Kills me every time. I guess their thinking must be, like, let me make them feel really, really sad. so then when I come back, it's like, oh my God, yay, yeah. But prank. So that's a tactic to make me love, to be loved more. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe wires are getting crossed in their heads because clearly they're sick in the head. Let's hear a story. This is going to sound wild, but please hear me out. I recently made the most regrettable decision of my life by faking my own death as a prank. I know how it sounds. I thought it would be a big shock followed by relief and then laughter. I genuinely believe that it would be seen as just an elaborate joke, but the reality was far worse than I could have ever imagined. My girlfriend of four years has been supportive through thick and thin, and I can't believe I put her through the emotional turmoil of thinking I was gone. For two weeks, she grieved, she mourned, and I saw the post she wrote about me online. I came clean after realizing the deep pain I had caused. Now she's distant, and understandably so. She says she's reevaluating everything and that she never thought I was capable of something so cruel. She's still in shock and hasn't given me a clear answer about the future of our relationship. I love her deeply and I can't imagine my life without her. I know I messed up on an epic scale and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it right. I've already started therapy to get to the root of why I thought this was a good idea in the first place. But how do I approach this with her? How can I even begin to make amends? Is there any coming back from this or have I irreparably ruined the best relationship I've ever had? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Two weeks? Bro. Dude, it's over. And four year relationship. So you're in. You're in at four years. You're in. You're freaking in. And I will say now we don't have an update, so we don't know how he went about this faking death, but it had to have been fucking brutal. Right, you have to do that on a massive scale. And she had to have believed he was dead. So how do you even pull that off? He'd have to go somewhere else. He'd have to lie to his entire family, because four years in there, hopefully probably all connected. All of his friends, like everybody in his life, he had to have pranked. And it seems like this is the only reaction he's... Or did he have friends who like backed him up on this? I sure hope not. I sure hope not. Also, I don't think this needs to be said. Death isn't funny. Like, losing a loved one isn't funny. There's no joy in that. Right. There's no... Why would you think this would work out well? Right. Yeah. Especially, it seems like a younger person. Yeah. Like, oh my God. It's also, you know, it's not a prank. Like, you are going to make her believe 100%, even for a day, but for two weeks that you're dead. So she's now experienced that. And that was real. It's a true, real experience. That is a real experience. It reminds me of the story where a lady, unintentionally, she had a bath bomb that made the bath red. And then she fell asleep in the bath. and her boyfriend and his brother found her in the bath and thought she had died. Yeah. And it's like, oh, she was like, oh, no, I'm alive. I fell asleep in the bath and I just had a red bath bomb. But I'm like, for them, they have now experienced that. That trauma. That trauma is real. Yes. In their brain and body and nervous system. Yes. And he chose to actively create that for her. And so two weeks of it is fully, that's embedded. That's deeply embedded. Yeah. I mean, I will give him the credit in that it seems like he's also now coming to terms with what he did. And it seems like remorseful. And he's going to go to therapy to figure out why he thought it was a good idea. I think all that language is accurate. I just personally think that's not something that someone can get past. No, not at all. No. It's like, great, I'm glad you're going to figure out why you thought that was funny. But you're not getting your relationship back. You shouldn't get your relationship back. And it's, in his words, the best relationship of his life. So why gamble that? I mean, maybe self-sabotage? I was about to say, like, the most mega self-sabotage. It's like, Jesus, just cheat on her. Holy shit. I'm like, good God, dude. Oh, my God. Be an Appletarian or something. Yeah, be an Appletarian. Oh, Lord. Comments. Wait, you let her think you were dead for two weeks? You were a horrific partner, and if it were me, there would be no coming back. Nothing you could do would ever, ever make it right. Yeah. Someone said, two weeks? Jesus fucking Christ, what's wrong with you? What went through your head to do a two-week prank about being dead? I expected you to have done a five-minute prank and that was bad enough. Where the bloody hell were you during those two weeks? Didn't respond. Someone said, I mean, I'm impressed that your girlfriend is re-evaluating the relationship and being distant instead of just leaving you. Some people are really lucky. I have no advice for you. You don't deserve it. If I see a post of your girlfriend around, I will tell her she deserves better and she needs more self-esteem. they wrote self-esteem just so you know she doesn't need to re-evaluate shit she needs to dump you before you can say sorry again you have no remorse you are just afraid of the consequences of your actions your behavior is similar to a sociopath and if your girlfriend has any sense of self-preservation she will leave and I say this again I now understand why women are deciding to die single and having many cats the bar is in hell apparently yeah dear god That's a lot. I mean, even if it was like an afternoon, even if it was like. You still are experiencing it. Yeah. Like it's still awful. It's still that like initial like, oh my God, it's all the grief and everything that follows. And then even just before that of like, why would you think to do something like that to me? Unbelievable. Well, this sucks. Get a load of this guy. Yeah, the other guy suddenly seems better. Yeah, Appletarian's not that bad. Appletarian's funny. Because it's not. Back to the show. Our next story comes from Am I the Asshole. This was posted in September of 2021. Am I the Asshole for stranding my friend on her moving day because she pulled a prank on me? Let's see what the prank is. Then we'll be able to decide. Okay. I'm a 24-year-old man, and my friend Jess is a 22-year-old woman. We've known each other for about three years since we met in a class. We've always been platonic, and to be completely honest, I'm not the type of guy to go for it. Yesterday, Jess was supposed to move. I was going to drive my truck over to her place, help her load up her stuff, and get her out of her apartment. Her situation with her roommates has become highly unstable due to irreconcilable differences, so she was in a rush to leave. The day before yesterday, as a way of thanking me in advance, Jess ordered pizza for the two of us. We were sitting there watching a movie on my couch, being platonic friends as usual, and suddenly she inched closer to me. I figured it was nothing until a minute later she got a little closer. Then she got a little closer and all I could do was think about how it was finally happening. She squeezed up really close next to me and looked up at my face. I'm not the most confident guy, so all I could say was, hi, to which she responded, hi. Then she asked if I wanted to do something. I asked what something was and she said, oh, you know, something. Still trying to keep room for plausible deniability again. I laughed and I said, I don't know what something was. She kept staring at me and nodding, and I thought I'd take my chances. I asked if I could kiss her. She immediately stood up walked to the other end of the room and sat down on the armchair Then she took out her phone I immediately apologized to her and she said that I should just forget it A few minutes of incredibly awkward silence passed and then she said I guess Kim, her best friend, was right. I asked what Kim was right about, and she explained that for several years, Kim has repeated again and again that I was only trying to get into her pants. Apparently, Kim put her up to testing me. I felt horrible. Immediately, I apologized to Jess again, said that while I found her attractive, I'd do nothing to hurt our friendship, and then apologized yet again. Jess accepted it while crying a bit. Then I told her she had nothing to worry about. After Jess went home, I got to thinking that it was incredibly mean-spirited that she would do that to me. I apologized, but that juvenile high school prank just started to strike me the wrong way. I talked to my sister, who I can talk to about anything, who reinforced that it was disgusting behavior. Then she asked for Jess's address, which I declined to give her. The next morning, instead of meeting up with Jess at the promised time, I just didn't. I had taken the day off work, but I went in anyway because I wanted to get my mind off what happened. Jess was blowing up my phone all day, and then I got a couple of texts from a number I didn't recognize, which I imagine was Kim. Finally, Jess called me a flaking creep, and that was the end. I'm really mixed on this. I feel kind of bad, but not so bad. Was I wrong? I think I need some clarification. I think I mixed up Jess and Kim for a second. Kim is Jess's friend. for years has been like, he only wants to get into your pants. And so Kim was like, you need to test him. So make him think you're super into him. And OP said that he was platonically interested in this person, right? OP said that we've always been platonic, but he was saying like, oh, this is finally happening. Sure. He is attracted to her. So he was down for something, but he was never going to make a move. He was never trying to push for that. And they're painting that as like, bad on him. Yeah. Yeah. That he's attracted to her. In Kim's words, that he just wants to get in your pants. Gotcha. Yeah. Okay, okay. Even though he was like down to help her move, I don't know. Yeah, like it sounds like, to my interpretation, was like he's attracted to her but he understands like, oh, but we're friends and whatever. So I'll put that aside. We're friends and I care about you as a friend. Right, but wasn't necessarily. I'm not expecting anything. Exactly. So she then tricks him into being like, oh, like are you down for something and he's like, okay. And then. And then she's like, aha, I knew you were into me. I got you. Right. And then emotional about it. Right. I think that's mean. It's also not going to be like accurate because there's just a lot of people out there that might just be like down. Like even if he's not like into you. Right. Like truly a lot of single people out there. They're just like, all right. I mean like, I might just be like, sure. Sure. Don't have a deal to me. And it's not that I'm like trying to do something. but like, this is so weird. I mean, I hate tests. Anytime testing comes up. Test traps aren't good. It also seemed like he was like semi-respectful about it. He didn't do anything and then was like, okay. He kept going, what do you mean? Right. What is something? Okay, can I kiss you? Yeah. Also, this isn't a good test. There's no control. You're right. You need a control group. You need a control group. The variable. The variable. And she's coming on to him. Yeah. And so that's not, that's actually not the test. And then you have to submit it for peer review. Right, there's no review. Because we're peers. Oh. Oh, wow. How did you do that? Yeah, this is just a messed up situation, unfortunately, where, like, he's not the asshole. He doesn't need to feel bad, but that's not a friend. No. That's not a friend. It's not going to work. The fact that she then, she does that, but then it's like, oh, but you're helping me move. It's like, this is just not good. This is just a situation. And, like, if he wanted to, he could be like, cool, I'm not going to show up tomorrow. I was going to say. He could give her the heads up. He could have just been like, I'm not going to show up tomorrow. But also, it's like, I don't blame him for not going. Totally, totally. He was hurt, but I agree with you. I think even like a passive-aggressive one, but just some sort of text that's like, I'm not going to be there. Yeah. Like, that maybe would help with the communication of like, her bombarding him and stuff, but he's not a flaky creep. Yeah. No. I don't know. This kind of is all like, ugh, God. I know. Yeah. Like, why? They're just bored. This strikes me as one of those stories where I'm like, I need to know them in person to get more of the vibe. But I'm also just like, it just sounds like you guys are not going to be friends. Yeah. Like, you're both young, and it's just, yeah, you're 24, she's 22. It's just like, it's going to be one of those friendships that when you're 30, you're like, yeah, we were not friends. That didn't work. A hundred percent. Verdict was not the asshole. Comments, not the asshole. Jess is manipulative and cruel. What a dick move. I'm sorry this happened to you. Someone said, not the asshole. you don't do that to your friend and expect them to help you just after. She should be the one apologizing. Someone said, not the asshole. That's a lousy stunt to pull on anyone, but especially a friend. It's a lose-lose situation for you. She hit on you and you responded positively. She got upset. If she had hit on you and you responded no, she still would have been upset. Apparently, she doesn't value your relationship as much as you do. You have every right to pull back and reassess your friendship, including wondering if she's just using you for what you do for her and how much money you spend on her such as helping her move. That's a really good point. Yeah. Well, and also just like what would have happened, yeah, if he was like, I don't think I want to go there. So you think I'm ugly. Right. Are you going to help an ugly girl move? Uh-huh. It's an unfortunate situation because also you do it and he goes, oh, I'm not into you. But then he's now going, are you into me? And she goes, no, I was testing you. It's like, I wouldn't. So why'd you do that? I wouldn't believe that. I'd be like, oh, now this is weird. It's awkward no matter what. Yeah. There's no solution. That's why I don't like, testing is really bad because even after you say, oh, I was testing you, it's like, you better hope they believe you. Yeah. Right. Because many wouldn't. Now it's like, if something else happens, it's like, is this a test? Just in response to what you're saying. It's like, now everything could be a test. True. I also have a hard time believing in any of these stories of these people who test other people that they would be okay with being tested. Oh, yeah. I never believed that it would work in the flip. Well, it's just probably out of fear of, or just not understanding that you can have a conversation with somebody. Like, I think that person is right, that Jess is just not valuing this friendship. Because then there would have been the barrier of, hey, like, other friend, Kim, you don't have to question that between us. I know our friendship. We are friends. Don't worry. But then if you still are like, oh, maybe Kim's right. I'm not sure. Then there's the very natural step of communicating with OP, your actual friend, and being like, hey, my other friend brought up some concerns. Just want to check. How are we doing? Is everything okay? Not let's set up this weird test where I'm definitely going to lose you as a friend after. No matter what. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If she actually cared about him as a friend, she would have wanted to talk to him. Just had a conversation. Yeah. And then you could navigate, oh, you could have feelings for me. Okay. Well, I don't have that back. Are you okay with that? How does this look for us moving forward? You could navigate that positively. Yes. There is a solution in a conversation. But they're too scared. They're too scared. So they do a test. Oh, God. Boo. Boo. Boo. Our next story comes from Am I the Asshole. Am I the Asshole for playing a joke on a Starbucks worker and then reporting her? Stop. No. Leave the Starbucks worker alone. God, please. Let the barista be. They had to unionize. Their company is already torturing them. Exactly. Please. Leave them alone. Any service worker. No prank. No prank. No prank. No prank on service, please. Don't prank a service worker. So basically, I was ordering at a Starbucks, and I did the classic dirty name joke. I've done this before, and every time the worker laughed and found it funny, too. I thought it was a nice break from the serious customers who just want to get their coffee and go. And then they appreciated someone giving them some entertainment mid-shift. Clearly, I was wrong, and I apologize for that. I walked up, asked for a drink, paid for it, and gave her a name. In need more head. I need more head. That's good. That's the line she goes with. I need more head. Lazy. Which, if your accent doesn't really work for this name, mine doesn't, which is why it works so well. It sounds like I need more head in the area's native accent. Once my drink was ready, she read out the name and immediately realized what she had said. I raised my hand and started walking towards her to collect my drink, but she got this furious look on her face and hurled the drink across the room, with it landing at my feet and splattering all over my shoes. I just yelled, what the fuck at this? Because obviously now I need to clean up my shoes, which were Vans, and also because I paid for my drink already. I walked up to her and apologized, saying that I thought it was a harmless joke and that it wouldn't piss anyone off, and clearly I was wrong. She accepted my apology but told me she wouldn't be making another drink for me. I got pissed at this because I paid for this and Starbucks isn't cheap. Plus, she had ruined my shoes as well. I asked to speak to her manager, who then apologized for her and told her he'd remember this. I feel bad because Starbucks workers already deal with a lot of shit, and now I got into trouble for something that I 100% caused. Am I the asshole? I kind of love throwing the drink. Honestly, it's like you get someone at their wits end. It's awesome to see that. No, hearing you say hurled your drink across was really satisfying. I don't know why I can't get over it. I'm laughing really hard at the inclusion that they're Vans. It's like she, which got all over my shoes, which are, by the way, shoes. Right. Which are standard shoes. Which are standard shoes. So I'm like, thanks, man. I guess maybe if, I don't know, like if they're like the kind of velvety kinds, maybe it's like tough to clean. No, who cares? Yeah. Why not like Wanda Blowjob? You know? I want to blow, I don't know. Instead of In Need More Head. In Need More Head is so lame. I kind of like it. Too bad you weren't the barista. I know. Do you like it in the Appletarian way where it's like this is kind of lame? Yeah, but then it starts going back and forth so much then you never know. You know? Right. Like it's funny but then it's unfunny but then because it's unfunny it's funny. Okay, what about gentrification? Fun, you know? Where are the fun names? Then I would be like, ha ha. That one's good because it's at a Starbucks, so it's real. Exactly, exactly. So then you go, Jen. Yeah, I think maybe the issue here is, in both the cases of Wanda Blowjob and Need More Head, it makes the person who's saying the names look like such a fool. Of course. A big, big fool. I'm not saying the problem is just the name. Yes. I'm just saying, if we're going to do it, can we do it good? And if we do it good, I think that's a little bit more lighthearted, where it's like, ha ha, I said that out loud, you got me. but I didn't say something that I'm super embarrassed about. Right, exactly. At work. I just love that she threw it. That rocks. It's fucking, that rocks. See, I was picturing her too. Yeah, she's like, I need more head. God damn, bam! Yeah! I need more head. That is the funniest action taken in all these stories we've read today. Exactly. Now, if I was there in person, I'd be like, whoa. I'd be like, uh-oh, whoa! Yes, yes. Would I remember it forever? Yes. Now, how do we feel about her refusing to make another drink? She's like, I accept your apology. No more beverages for you. No more beverage. No more head. I mean, if the manager wants to step in and, like, make another drink, sure, whatever. But, like, I think, I don't know. I, for some reason, feel so hard for this Starbucks employee. It's like, if I were the manager, I'd be like, you were right. Like, I would, like, pull aside and be like, that was awesome. Go take a five. I'm going to handle this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. Yeah, I'm like, it's hard. It doesn't feel like, I'm not like incredibly mad at this guy because, again, it seems like he's like, I feel bad. I shouldn't have done that. I was just trying to like keep it lighthearted and have some fun. But I also am like, yeah, that sucks if you're not in the mood for it and you just told the coffee shop that you want more head. Like, that sucks. It's like, it's 5 a.m. Yeah. No, exactly. That sucks. It's like if you're at your wits end and you're dealing with something at home and then it's at the end of your shift and you work out at Starbucks, it's like you don't need a prank. You don't need a prank. No, you need more heads. I'm like, don't prank strangers. I think that's what it is. You don't know what this person's going through. Yes. And I'm like, you're going to complain about the price. I'm like, your first mistake was going to Starbucks, dude. 100%. You're spending so much money for dog shit. Right. Like, come on, man. Yeah, I think that's a good lie. If you have your local spot where you know the baristas and you've got a rapport with them, cool. Have fun. But you don't know this person. Nope. I can only assume based on just this post that I'm like, I'm guessing you're probably someone who's in their 30s or 40s and this barista is like 20 or something. Or just someone who's been working and they do not want to be working there. Yep. They're just grinding through the day, getting paid nothing for this bullshit. It comes off as a little selfish and definitely inconsiderate because it's just like, this will surely be funny for me. Let me do this. Yeah. And you don't know the person. So, like, you're saying you don't know what's going on with them today. And, like, cool. It worked for some other baristas. You know that baristas are not one person. Yeah. They're all a different person with a different life. They're not Nurse Joy. Like, OP, but OP views them like Nurse Joy. I know. It's like, oh, well, it made the other baristas laugh, and you're all the same. Mm-hmm. I think what you just said is, again, the core of the whole prank thing is it's like he finds it funny. They should find it funny too. Yes. Yes. That's the issue. All the parties have to be almost like consenting before it happens. Exactly. I will say, though, unfortunately, she, I mean, we don't know what kind of coffee he ordered. If she threw hot coffee at a person, that's. It does. That does change things a little bit. And if you're a manager and you're like, oh, you threw hot coffee at a customer. That is Vance. I understand. At his Vans, no less. At his Vans. It is like a, it's just kind of like. That's where it is more danger. Yeah, being a barista is a tough job. That sucks ass. That's very true. You cannot throw hot coffee. That could be a huge lawsuit. Totally. Like, I'm like on her side emotionally, but I'm also like, hey, you can't be doing that. I can't defend. Yeah. In my mind, it was a vanilla bean frat. I was imagining the rainbow unicorn situation. I'm imagining like the amount of people who order hot coffee at Starbucks I just don't feel like it's that many I feel like people go there for iced things yes that is correct and so I'm imagining it's an iced drink the way he's responding is not sounding like it was a hot coffee he didn't say oh my god he's like this is inconvenient yeah because yeah if it's a burning hot coffee that's I feel like he would have said my feet got burned not my vans got stained yeah he would have included that as well so as to give us not just all the information but also like get us more on his side yeah Because we would have picked that up. Yeah. But also, to go back, his prank is also making a stranger say, I need more head, which is very uncomfortable and sexual and richer and everything. So, a lot going on here. Verdict was asshole. Comments, you're the asshole. This wasn't a harmless prank. It was sexual harassment. Haven't you been living in the modern world? Surely you've been trained at work on what sexual harassment is and that you should not participate in it. so why would you bring sexual harassment into the workplace of a service worker? Cruel asshole move. OP said, I'm still in school. Oh my God. No. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. What, what, how old? What grade? OP says, I'm still in school. I'm 13, turning 14. I'm sorry I didn't know making someone say a dirty name was sexual harassment. Well, this changes a lot. Well, that would have been information. Include your age, OP. I was imagining like a 35-year-old man. I was imagining a 35-year-old man too. Way ahead of his time with the wordplay. Wait, this 13-year-old has impeccable writing ability. Yo, wait. Also, I need more head. I will say, kind of shitty, which would be a 13 year old. That's the only evidence. Okay, okay. Giving a prank name, I would say, I know 13 year olds do pranks and shit. This feels kind of like beneath a 13 year old in a way that I'm like, no, a 13 year old is going to do something far more devastating than a prank name at Starbucks. This explains the Vans, you guys. OP, let me read this whole comment first. OP says, I'm still in school. I'm 13 turning 14. I'm sorry I didn't know making someone say a dirty name was sexual harassment. Someone responded to that saying, I feel like you are possibly lying about your age because if you admit you're an adult, the judgment would be even harsher. The post doesn't read like it was written by a 13 14 but the behavior certainly suggests that age range I looking back at this post and they write I walked up asked for a drink paid for it and gave her a name, I need more head, which if your accent doesn't really work for this name, mine doesn't, which is why it works so well in parenthesis. It sounds like I need more head and in the area's native accent. I'm like, buddy, you might be an extremely, somehow an extremely mature 13-year-old, which I know is possible. But you're writing, you're doing the thing of like, he even writes, so basically I was ordering it at a Starbucks and I did the classic dirty name joke. Classic dirty name joke as a 13-year-old? How do you know what a classic thing is unless you're, yeah. I'm just really not buying it. I think this is a douchebag who's like, fuck, I'm 13. It feels like that would have also been included in the story. No way a barista's hurling a drink at a 13-year-old. Yeah. No way. And also probably not even accepting the order. What 13-year-old is coming up to the counter and paying for their own Starbucks? And they're also saying, okay, no, I'm not buying it to 13-year-olds. They're like, oh, I go up and I do this to the baristas all the time and it makes them laugh. I'm like, how? What barista's like, hello, eighth grader? You're a regular at this place where you make the baristas laugh? No. 13-year-old? No. Here comes little Jimmy. Once again, I know it's possible. I'm just, this is totally reading as an adult man. 13, I believe, is like eighth grade. An eighth grader is ordering at Starbucks regularly. Also, frankly, because I'm thinking back, me and my friends during eighth grade would go and we would fuck with people. Sure. Places. But if you're giving a fake name at Starbucks, it's not going to be a need more head. it's gonna be, yeah, fuck face, cum, dude. Exactly. Exactly. You're gonna be like, it's stupid and bad. And you're probably with your friend group because you're all like, he, he, he, this is so funny. This guy's by himself. He's by himself like, I told them a dirty joke. No. The classic. He's not 13. He's not 13. He would have said that earlier. He's saying it in response to the comment because it's a scary comment and brings up heavy topics and he got scared. Also, I just got to say, I'm guaranteeing this is not a 13-year-old, because if you've read any internet comments ever, 13-year-olds always go, I'm 13. And this and that, you know, they love saying that they're 13. They start with it. They start. They start by saying, I'm 13. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Or, like, there would just be lots of other, like, you know, there'd be clues. There'd be signs inside of the writing. and I don't think 13 year olds have that like layer to be able to discern on social media of like, oh, let me pull this away so that people aren't biased about my age. Like that's not something that they would think about. This 13 year olds is fluent in millennial writing. Like fluent. And I'm like, I'm just not buying it. You sound way too lame. Like, you know, 13 year olds are gonna make fun of me and I'm like, no. Right. Like, we bought it because we believed it for a second. And then it's like, wait. You go back and you're like, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Is it a throwaway account? Yeah, there's no other post. Okay, no other post. I'm not buying it. I think this is a grown man. 35. A absolute loser. Someone said, as someone who is a woman and who also worked at Starbucks, thus dealing with my fair share of sexual harassment, you're the asshole 100 times over. What you did wasn't a joke. It wasn't funny. It was absolutely disgusting. and you should be banned from that store. The fact that you got her in trouble for your behavior makes it even worse. And you're right. Starbucks employees get a lot of crap from customers and even their managers. But you doing that didn't make things any better. If you can't act your age, then stay at home. Even if you're 13. Right. Act your age. Act your age. Yeah. Someone said that's sexual harassment. You're the asshole. She doesn't owe you shit. In terms of reporting her, you completely manufactured this horrendous situation from nothing. And she was literally just trying to work. So you're the asshole times two. And wait a minute. He said he's 13 turning 14. 13-year-olds don't say that. They say they're 13 and a half. I think people give up the half by that age. Did you? It's okay. We'll let you have that. I didn't know you guys have 13. Oh, Rasha's 13. I'm 13 and a half. All right. The kids are saying it. Let's bring the whoopee cushion back out. I also, nah, I'm reading too much into it. I don't care. I don't, let us know if you think OP is 13. because I'm not buying it. Yeah. Yeah. I want to see how they're writing their words, but just the way that they put it together. It's written just perfectly. No typos, capitalizations, all correct. Which is fine. I think there's plenty of 13-year-olds who are really well-written, but it's just the wording. It's just how it's coming across. It's written as someone who has experience with just being a lame idiot for a lot longer. Yeah, also, I got, like, she wouldn't make another drink for me. I got pissed at this because I paid for this and Starbucks isn't cheap. It's like, buddy, if you're 13, you don't have a job. Everything isn't cheap. You're talking about money in a very different way than just, like, this isn't cheap. I used my whole allowance on. I'm like, you're going to Starbucks a lot. You also just say, like, oh, I'm still in school. I'm 13 turning 14. I'm like, you would say I'm in middle school or I'm in high school. Yeah. People who say I'm in school are referring to college, I feel like, usually. Yeah, I'm still in school. Actually, yeah, that discourse about money is so real. Because when you're a kid, you don't know what costs a lot and what doesn't. Right. I don't even care about the story anymore. I'm like, you're an adult saying you're 13 online. Asshole. You're a criminal now. You're going to jail, buddy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You and your vans. And if you are 13, if you are actually 13, you are the funniest person. Yeah, so sorry. Out of everybody. So sorry if you're 13. Sorry, if you're 13. So sorry. If you're 13, we need to study your brain or something. Yeah. Because you're developed. You're the Four Seasons baby. Yes. A little bit older. Me. Moving on to our last story. Today I fucked up by thinking divorce was an April Fool's gag. Oh. Oh, no. Shit. Oh, don't divorce someone on April 1st. This was posted April 2nd of 2019. Oh, God. Just don't do anything. Let me preface this off by blaming all of you, the entirety of Reddit, for desensitizing me and giving me major trust issues on April Fool's Day. So here it goes. Yesterday, I got a group text from my wife, Sarah's side of the family, stating there was an emergency family meeting happening that night over dinner at my mother-in-law Barb's house. I immediately had April Fool's spidey senses starting to tingle, but we haven't all gotten together since Christmas, so I overlooked it and said we, my wife and I, were in. We were the last to arrive and it was pretty somber when we walked in. We all sat down at the table and my wife's brother, Tim, informed the family that his wife, Ashley, has been having an affair and they are divorcing. The affair was with a longtime close family friend, Chris, who lived a block away. Chris's wife, Jen, had caught them when she came home early one day last week and broke the news to Tim. Both families have been friends for years. They live less than a block from each other. They each have been married for 15 plus years, have four kids right around the same age. Honestly, I have always thought both of them were picture perfect families. Hell, all four of them and their kids were at our house two weeks ago for a barbecue. Anyways, after airing a lot of dirty laundry and their plans to divorce, how it could affect future family functions, and opening it up to the group for any questions, there was silence. I broke the silence with laughter and a slow clap. Like a villain? Saying this was the best April Fool's gag I've ever seen, but I wasn't falling for it. I told Ashley and especially Tim that they needed to consider going into theater. Their performances were top-notch and tears seemed genuine. Being the newest member of the family, my wife and I married six months ago, this was probably not the best thing to say in hindsight. I probably should not have said anything. Everyone in the room looked horrified. My mother-in-law, who had been crying the entire time, lost all composure. She left the room in hysterics and did not return before we left. Tim just shook his head and his cheating wife actually let out a brief chuckle before calling me out for being a dumbass for thinking this was a ruse, then berated me for being so insensitive. The rest of the family sat in silence, shaking their heads as my wife berated me for trying to make a joke out of a serious situation. I am still dumbfounded. In hindsight, I probably should have sat in silence, but I honestly still feel like I was calling out an April Fool's gag. In OP's defense, it was April 1st. For sure. That's kind of the only thing he's got on his defense. That's kind of his only card. Yeah. But it's kind of just like, wait. Was that the end of the story? That's the end of the story. Wow. Yeah, it is kind of like, you are the newest member of the family. You can sit this one out. Right. It's like, if it's an April Fool's gag, they're gonna come around. and do it. Let them have it. That's one of those, it's one of those where you kind of, if it's a prank, you kind of can't do anything about it. Even if you know it's a prank, you're like, well, I'm not going to be the one who says no. Exactly. This isn't happening. Right. Like, what are you going to win by being the identifier of this prank? Right. If for whatever reason this is a prank, they clearly are wanting to pull a big prank. Yeah. And they're wanting to do it, they're wanting to pull out all the stops, having the whole family there. It's a whole thing. It is selfish of you to think that you're going to be a big part of it by revealing it when you are a new member of this family. Exactly. Oh, that's painful. This sucks. This is so curb your enthusiasm. 100%. This is 100% curb your enthusiasm. I thought it was going to be his own divorce, which was just going to be really sad. But this is now just making it worse for everybody else. Yeah. He could only one up this by when the cheating wife called him a dumbass. He could have been like, well, you cheated on your husband. Right. To be fair. To be fair. I'm not the worst person in the room right now. Yeah. You're here. Can we talk about, that is a tense ass situation. The wife who cheated is there in the room. They are all there. Yeah. I have never heard of that type of situation. No, I've never heard of like a. We're all here to- A meeting. Yeah. I mean, it's probably a very involved, intertwined family, and they're like, we need to tell everybody what happened. Oh my God. I mean, there's like, you could do it over text. You could, you could. Oh, by like a phone call. I mean, Barb couldn't even take it. She left the room. To be like, hey, I don't have to be here for this. Yeah. Every situation, when I've heard of someone cheating, it's like, you talk to the party who was cheated on, and you're like, all right, we're talking to you. Yeah. I guess now that I'm looking at it, A family meeting to discuss a divorce is slightly bizarre. It's a situation I've never heard of. I've certainly never been part of. So maybe he has that on his side, too. He has it on his side. He just shouldn't have clapped and laughed. I would have been okay. It would have been okay if he even was just like, hey, like. It's like, what? It's what I expected you guys to do when I took off the trench coat. Well, taking off the trench coat was not the prank. Right. Sitting down was the prank. To be fair, you take off the trench coat. You can't still clap yourself an hour after you did the prank. You took off the trench coat, revealing a taped whoopee cushion on your back, and then sat down. Like, Tommy saw it before you sat down. Yeah, how did you see it? With my eyes. But I had the trench coat on. You took it off. You took it off and threw it on the ground. You could have kept it on to sit down again. Yeah, we still would have heard the fart. Nope, don't clap yourself again. because there's a version, it's April 1st, you have this crazy meeting where it's like, we're all together because she cheated on me and this is all gonna happen. Where you could, maybe if you could go, hey, like, I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time believing this. It's April 1st, please tell me this is a joke. Yeah. That's what it is, please tell me this is a joke. Please tell me this is a joke. And they go, no, it's not. I think they still would have been like, what? How can you even suggest that? But then move on? Yeah, it'd still be better. You could still get over that little moment other than going like, ha ha ha ha. Yeah, yeah, that's rough. Yeah, it's incredibly fulfilling though. It's really satisfying to do. Yeah. But it's like, that's not your moment. No. Yeah, the top comment is, why would the cheating wife be there for this? OP said, it was her decision to divorce. My brother-in-law is still open to working things out, but she is planning on starting over with the guy she had an affair with. As poor of a decision as this seems to be, I think she realizes that she's going to have some limited contact with this side of the family over the years. So to be clear, she's the worst person still in that room. He's just the biggest dumbass somehow. That's so, so sad. No, her thinking it's going to work out with the guy she's having an affair with does make her the biggest dumbass in the room. And also just a terrible, like, there's so many kids involved. Yeah. No, I get it. he did the Seinfeld situation, but she's still the reason everyone's hysterical. Totally. 100%. If there's gonna be a villain in the story, it's her. Oh, she's the villain. Yeah. Right. He's just a side little. He's the jester. He's the jester. He's the village idiot. Yeah. Someone said, who gets the whole family together to tell them they're getting divorced? How weird. Also, anybody who makes big announcements on April 1st is just asking for it. You did nothing wrong. Someone said, I broke the silence with laughter and a slow clap. Rest in peace, your marriage is next. I'm divorced. See, Opie said, tell me about it. I've gotten eight texts while at work asking why I would post this on Reddit. Apparently it's on the front page. Yeah, dude, what are you doing? Oh my God. What are you doing, man? Come on. No. Come on, bro. This guy, this guy is, he's George Costanza. 100%. Yeah, 100%, dude. Oh God. Sorry, you said that Opie later goes on to say there's Nest cameras in the house should he post the footage. This guy is somehow, yeah, he's the biggest dumbass. He's a buffoon. He's a buffoon, and that's okay. We gotta go back to the beginning of the post, too, because he even says, he's like, I blame Reddit because it's your fault. So he probably just spends most of his time on Reddit. This is a Redditor. This is a full-on Redditor. Yeah. He's forgotten regular human. What reality is. So he's like, hey, all my friends on here, you guys want to see the moment that I was an idiot? Yeah. Well, he's also 13. He's also 13. Right, and a half. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah, they're like, get out. And he's like, okay, well, thanks for the cake, kind stranger. And then leaves. To go to school. Classic divorce. Yeah. Angry upvote. Yeah. Jeez. Oh, God. I guess this is the part where I tell you guys that one of those stories might not have been real. I mean, that's probably the case for every episode of this show. No, she's cooking on something. She's trying to find something. Find the thing. Find it. Ha ha. Pranked you. I wrote one of those stories. Which one? What were they again? Right, right, right. We've already forgotten the stories. The toast. The baby poop on the toast. That wasn't from this episode. That was from a year and a half ago. I've been waiting. You weren't in that episode. Wow. Well, these were all awful. Yep. Makes me think back on Apple. Appletarian somehow comes out looking pretty good. I'll give you a pass in the general scheme of things. And these were all male pranksters, right? Well, Arasha, we don't know. Technically, the 13-year-old, we technically don't know, but we can only assume. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, the girl who tested and pranked him, she tested him. It's like not a prank. It's not necessarily a prank. It's just a bad person action. Because the prank has the idea that this is going to be funny. She was testing him. Yeah. So it's prank adjacent. Yeah. So she was shitty, but not in a prank way. In a bad person action way. In a bad person action way, yeah. Well. Hey, we did it. We did it. Hey, we did it. Thank you both for joining me today. I can't believe this is the final episode of Reddit. It's crazy. Final episode. Should we go back into our behind the couch? Oh, yeah. Let's, yeah. Should we end the episode behind the couch again? So that it's like a loop. All right. Yeah. Oh, because you're going to replay this over and over again. Yeah. This will just restart. And that'll be fun for you. All right. Thanks for watching. And we'll see you next Saturday. Bye. We're getting back behind the stuff. Yeah. You got Shane! You got Shane!