Raise The Red Flag | Reading Reddit Stories
68 min
•May 9, 202621 days agoSummary
This episode of Smosh Reads Reddit Stories features hosts analyzing relationship and workplace red flags from Reddit submissions. The hosts discuss four main stories: a boyfriend uncomfortable with his girlfriend eating mozzarella balls, a marketing coordinator quitting over fake job postings, a boyfriend upset about Reddit advice his girlfriend discovered, and a mother-in-law spreading false accusations about witchcraft based on a Halloween costume.
Insights
- Controlling behavior often masks deeper insecurities—the mozzarella balls story revealed past infidelity trauma that required couples counseling to address
- Setting boundaries early prevents normalization of controlling behavior; the girlfriend's refusal to hide the painting prevented escalation
- Anonymous online personas can create jarring disconnects when partners discover Reddit histories, revealing value misalignments that need real-world conversation
- Black-and-white thinking prevalent on Reddit (especially in relationship advice) oversimplifies complex human situations and can damage real relationships
- Family toxicity and controlling behavior often have deep roots; the mother-in-law's actions suggest long-standing control patterns the son was already protecting himself from
Trends
Rise of couples therapy as relationship conflict resolution tool among younger demographicsIncreasing awareness of how anonymous online behavior differs from real-life personas, creating identity frictionGrowing recognition of controlling behavior as relationship red flag, particularly around food, appearance, and autonomyWorkplace exploitation through deceptive hiring practices targeting vulnerable job seekersReligious fundamentalism used as justification for family control and reputation management tacticsSocial media as amplifier of family conflict and reputational damage through coordinated messagingNormalization of 'no contact' as boundary-setting strategy in toxic family relationships
Topics
Relationship Red Flags and Controlling BehaviorInsecurity and Jealousy in Romantic RelationshipsCouples Counseling and Communication SkillsWorkplace Ethics and Deceptive Hiring PracticesOnline Anonymity vs. Real-Life IdentityReddit Culture and Relationship Advice QualityFamily Toxicity and Boundary SettingReligious Fundamentalism and Family ControlInfidelity Trauma and Trust IssuesSocial Media and Reputation ManagementNo Contact RelationshipsAutonomy and Personal Agency in RelationshipsSexualization of Everyday ActivitiesJob Market Vulnerability and ExploitationGenerational Differences in Family Dynamics
Companies
People
Trevor
Co-host analyzing Reddit stories and providing commentary on relationship and workplace dynamics
Courtney
Co-host analyzing Reddit stories and providing commentary on relationship and workplace dynamics
Shane
Primary host reading Reddit stories and leading discussion on red flags and relationship advice
Quotes
"That's a you problem. If you're seeing your girlfriend eat mozzarella cheese balls and you're getting a little bricked up like that, yeah, brother."
Trevor•Early in episode
"If you stop eating mozzarella cheese balls to make him comfortable, he's just going to think, good, she'll tolerate that crock of shit. She'll do whatever I tell her and it will get worse. Stand your ground."
Reddit commenter (read by host)•Mid-episode
"This guy is evil for doing it. Yeah. But yeah. No update. Oh. Well, she quit. She quit. She left."
Hosts discussing fake job postings story•Mid-episode
"I think it's so interesting because we have talked about where a partner sees their boyfriend or girlfriend's Reddit account and they see how they behave online and how it's not what they expected."
Host•Later in episode
"If this guy is as good of, if he is a good guy, like she says, I think if someone were to look him straight in the eyes and say, every time you see your girlfriend eat mozzarella cheese, you think of another man's balls, look inward."
Host•Early discussion
Full Transcript
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Who's who? Who is who? Trevor and Courtney. Red what? What did you call me? Red flag. I said something else. Don't. Shame. My boy, you can't say that. You can't say that white baby. We have red flags, we have red flags, we have red ones standing by and you're like flies. Sorry, so sorry. Hi, how's it going? Good, I'm ready to read. Well, you're not reading. I'm reading. Well, I'm ready to read OP.FL. I'm ready to practice my active listening skills. I think the red flag episodes are sometimes some of my favorites. And I think it's just the funny energy in the office and in the studio today because we've been like working from home a lot and moving the studio. So like it's just I forgot how to person a little bit. I have two. Yeah, like I was reading a book the other night. I was like, oh, I really need to read because like I'm not reading Reddit stories. So like what if when we film the next episode, I forgot how to read. Bro goes a couple of weeks with that Reddit story. You get into a flow with reading when you don't read for a while. You start reading and I'm like, I read really slow when I haven't read for a while. And I got to like you reading really slow out loud. I'm just like my boyfriend told imagine if that was how it was. All right. So we're going to read stories. They're going to have possible red flags, maybe some green flags, and you guys have red flags and green flags that you can hold up when you feel the signs. What if I don't want to? You don't have to. Cool. You can do whatever you want technically. Green flag that he's letting you do what you want. Green flag. Yeah. All right. We're going to hop into it. All right. Reader boy. Oh, let's see it. Oh, there's breeders and there's readers. Which one are you and I've got a lot of books. Okay. Here we go. Our first red flag story. This comes from relationship advice. It was posted in July of 2024. This is a 24 year old woman writing. She goes, my boyfriend who's 25 told me that snacking on mozzarella cheeseballs might be a deal breaker. What should I do? I'm going to do it. I'm going to do an early flag raise here. Yeah. Yeah. Snacking on mozzarella cheeseballs. Gross. No, no. The red flag is that he's telling her. Come on, bro. Look, I can get down with little mozzarella cheeseball, but please continue. Yeah. We're at half mast. Any sort of. I know. I know we're in silly territory still, but. He's sliding down. All right. We must hear this. Throw away account because my boyfriend knows my personal Reddit account. Red flag. Hey Reddit. So I'm in a very weird situation and I don't know how to proceed. I'm hoping to get some insight from people who don't know us personally because this is really embarrassing for me. So to preface, I'm a cheese lover. I absolutely adore cheese and it's my favorite snack. My number one cheese has got to be mozzarella, specifically ball shaped mozzarella. The texture and flavor are so good, especially with a little salt sprinkled. I buy those bell giosso packs of mozzarella balls and they have been my snack of choice since I was a freshman in college. They were easy and convenient to keep in my mini fridge for a quick, cheap and easy bite. My boyfriend and I have been dating for three years now and we recently moved in together. He's known about my love for cheese since our first date. He took me to a restaurant and we ordered like three charcuterie boards, lol. I don't think he knew what he was getting into with my snacking and he probably didn't expect to see me eat mozzarella balls on the daily. I thought he was fine with it, but now he's making an issue out of it and I don't know if I should stop. His specific issue is the shit. His specific issue is the shape of the cheese. I'm sorry. I was thinking a million other things before the shape of the cheese being the issue. He tells me that seeing me eat, you know, ball shaped cheese makes him uncomfortable. He says that it is lewd and that, and I quote, Trevor is deflating. Bro, it is lewd. It's lewd. Brother, that's a you problem. If you're seeing your girlfriend eat mozzarella cheese balls and you're getting a little bricked up like that, yeah, brother. Okay. Oh my God. He says seeing me pop a wet cheese ball in my mouth makes him think of me having another man's balls in my mouth. Yeah. I was really confused and I told him that I don't think this is that big of a deal and that it's literally cheese, but he told me the imagery still grosses him out. I thought we could work through this, but after a while, he said it might be a deal breaker if I don't stop. What? Afterwards, he left for work. And he left for work. She's like, okay, fine. I won't have that. Anyways, I'm going to eat this banana right now. He's like, no. Yeah, what the hell? What? What's the hot dog? No. Is she allowed to wear cleavage around the house? Like what is happening? Yeah. During the argument, he said he doesn't care if I eat mozzarella cheese, but he just wants me to eat it string or shredded instead. I know this is so high maintenance of me, but mozzarella balls are just my favorite snack. The texture, the taste, it's just so good. I like shredded cheese and string cheese, but they just aren't the same. I'm thinking I should maybe buy the smaller mozzarella balls that Belgeoso sells and hope they won't bother him. But if I feed into this, could it reinforce this mindset he has? I don't know what to do. I want to make him comfortable, but this feels really controlling and unnecessary. Not to mention, I don't really want to give up on my favorite snack. He's a great guy and I know this post isn't doing him justice, but I just want to know if this is a red flag from him or if putting my foot down on this is unreasonable. Thank you in advance to anyone who reads this and offers me some advice. By the way, this is not an ad for Belgeoso. Unless Belgeoso, you want to hit us up and send me some mozzarella balls of like the sizes of Belgeoso mozzarella balls because like, because I've seen the big, I've seen the big and I've seen the little. Yeah, they make the little pearl ones and those ones they put in like the sauce. They'll put them in like an olive oil, like a salted like olive oil type stuff. I won't lie. When I'm at the grocery store, they have those big balls of mozzarella cheese. I imagine biting into them every time I see them. Like an apple. Oh yeah. I love mozzarella cheese. It's so good, but it's basically like it's as not cheese as it gets. You know what I mean? Like it's basically cream. I'm just trying to understand. So how small is this man's ball? Or how small does he think other man's balls are? Does he think there's an average size of balls? I just like, if I see my girlfriend eating cheese and my first thought is another man's balls, I think that's a me problem. That's a million percent. Yeah. That's a problem. Like that's why I, sorry, I jumped straight to Cleve as you guys were probably like, whoa, whoa. But it's like, yeah, what is she, what's, that is how, well, I have a problem. It's his brain making it sexual. Yeah. She's eating cheese. He's going, that's another man's balls. Yeah. He's not even thinking of his own balls. He's just thinking of other man's balls. It's your balls. Yeah. He could be getting horny and being like, hmm, this could be my balls. And it could be like a hot thing for him. Who up getting their balls bit? I'm just imagining eating another man's balls. Like, bro. At what line do we dry it? What other balls do we draw the line? Like if we're eating cheese puffs, is he going, damn, those look like other men's balls to me too. This is a particularly large blueberry. What are we going to do? I know. Where are we at? What foods are reminding this man of other men's balls? I know. God forbid she eats a hard boiled egg. I know. I'm brief. Just torment for this man. Okay. To be clear, this is a red flag. Yeah. To be clear, this is a red flag. That was the percent. And like just like, let's even, let's talk about the bare fundamentals of this is this person is projecting their insecurity onto their partner by being insecure that their partner would do, would cheat on them. They're insinuating that this food is making them think of their partner cheating on them by eating this thing, but it's also calling it lewd and calling it sexual. It's like, that's commentary on society and how everything women do is somehow sexualized or that they want it to be or not. And because the definition of sexualizing something is something that wasn't intentionally sexual being made sexual. Like having your daily protein snack, like gosh dang. Yeah. God forbid a girl just snack on some mozzarella cheese balls. Yeah. And to be fair on the packaging, it does say testicle sized, but they call it fun size. They are testicle sized mozzarella balls. I need to try these all. Frankly, the perfect size. No, this is his problem for sure. I feel like he hits on a trifecta of things that are red flags, right? One is any sort of commenting or trying to control your partner's food or eating habits. Also taking away something that is like her favorite thing. This is my comfort thing. It's my favorite thing. And he's like, no, you got to stop because of my insecurity. But also it's hitting on the thing that I always think is a huge red flag, which is like, when your partner jumps to, oh, you're cheating on me. Or that reminds me of cheating on me. That to me, and the most of the stories that we read is usually the biggest sign that they might be doing something or having thoughts of their own or whatever. Obviously we don't know if any of that's true, but it is a red flag in that, hey, you should be mindful of this. If this guy is as good of, if he is a good guy, like she says, I think if someone were to look him straight in the eyes and say, every time you see your girlfriend eat mozzarella cheese, you think of another man's balls, look inward. I think maybe he could fix himself. I think if someone, if I was feeling that way and someone pointed that out to me in those words, I think maybe I'd be like, you know what, you're right. That's insane. And he really does, it feels like, yeah, if this is all that that boils down to, he needs someone to just point out how embarrassing. And he's literally calling it a deal breaker. A deal breaker? That's, and I don't like that too. I don't like how one to zero or a zero to a hundred he's going with this. Because that's the controlling nature of it. It'd be one thing if he's like, yeah, I don't know why I'm having these thoughts of another man's balls in your mouth, but like he could communicate that, I guess, but him being like, no, I'm going to break up with you. No, and that's like, this is dangerous. This is dangerous territory where precedents are set and boundaries are ignored. And if that's a deal breaker for him, it's like, she's about to run into so many deal breakers with him in the future, I feel like. This episode of Red Stories is sponsored by ZockDoc. I know whenever I feel something off, I start doom scrolling symptoms. And according to my recent spirals results, I've been self-diagnosed as a chronic overthinker. Luckily, I know that isn't true because this big brain of mine remembered I could find a professional who has everything I look for in a doctor. Makes me feel comfortable, explains things clearly, and most importantly, has a doctorate. 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Nailed it. All right, comments. Someone said, I would consider a partner who got sexually jealous over a cheese snack, a deal breaker personally. 15,000 upvotes. Someone quoted underneath. She was cheating on me with cheese balls, bro. Someone said, Red flag, he's so weirdly insecure that he's offended by you eating cheese. Real men would pound those suckers back right with you. By the way, what are his thoughts on banana's popsicles and corn dogs? God forbid I eat a corn dog. Yeah. No, literally. And what could she do about him then? Like, would she be like, let's think, let's think. Yeah, yeah, if he's getting in on a watermelon. Put that taco down. Yeah. Jesus Christ. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Put those corn dogs down. You better not be holding two large melons in your hand. At the grocery store, do you want a cantaloupe or like a honeydew? No. Okay. Okay. Final comment. If you stop eating mozzarella cheese balls to make him comfortable, he's just going to think, good, she'll tolerate that crock of shit. She'll do whatever I tell her and it will get worse. Stand your ground. If a man wants to lose you over cheese, let him. You'll have one. Yes. I do agree with that. You will have one. You will have one. Update. Yay. Yeah. Cheese. Update cheese. Update cheese. I also feel like, I feel like as a man, I feel like any man who's dumb enough to come between a woman and cheese. You're going to get broken up with you. Simply are fighting a force. Yeah. Like scientists have studied this and like they're like, this is a force stronger than the ocean. Solar waves and shit. They're just like, you can't stop this. Damn right. Damn right. Here, wait, shangle. There's a little thing in there. Give it. Yeah, I got it. Okay. Damn it. Do you going to finish that? Sorry, that was making me think of a woman in your nose. You're going to finish that? That's crazy. Okay. Update. July 3rd, 2024, two days later. Hey guys, I hope I'm doing this update thing right. I've never made one before, so I'm just trying to copy what other people in this sub have done. I was debating posting this update or not, but seeing just how many people saw it and became invested in my snacking made me want to give anyone who is still interested a little bit of closure. First of all, I wanted to thank you all for your time spent with me. It's honestly a little overwhelming to see how many people took a break from what I assume are very busy lives to give me advice and support. I think it's very beautiful how so many people in so many different places can come together and give some love to people who need it. Secondly, I have a short and savory update. Get it? Because I couldn't leave you guys hanging. The morning after I posted- Hanging like balls. Like like balls. Sorry. The morning after I posted, me and my boyfriend talked out this entire issue and he ended up explaining why his mind immediately went to a place of sexualizing something that has no implications. I left this out of my original post because it felt unrelated, even though in hindsight it was obvious. But there was an issue with infidelity in his previous relationship. I didn't know the details of what happened and never tried to bring it up because I didn't want to upset him. That was my mistake though because he is still struggling with insecurities and felt unsure if he could tell me about it. Both of us were lacking communication skills, but we ended up clearing the air and I found out both why his last relationship ended and why seeing me eat cheeseballs upset him. All I knew previously was that he had a serious relationship with his ex-girlfriend and they broke up because she cheated on him. Now, he let me know that he found out about the incident because the person she cheated with sent him a video of her eating another man's cheeseballs. Oh. He told me that he feels like by now he should have gotten over it, but the betrayal stuck with him. The new move-in together has started to trigger his unresolved feelings and has given him new anxieties that our relationship might end the same way. I think pairing that with the daily visual reminder through the cheeseballs was a little too much for him. I know many of you have very strong opinions about him and I'm sorry to disappoint, but I am not ready to let go of this relationship yet. During our conversation, I let him know that I didn't like the direction that he was going with his ultimatum because it felt controlling and I told him I wouldn't tolerate another incident like this in the future. We already decided we would be looking for couples counseling in our area to help us both move on from this incident and generally learn to communicate more openly so that neither of us will bottle up our negative emotions alone and instead we can help each other overcome these emotions as a unit. Right now, I'm feeling very hopeful and I think that knowing about his past will leave me better equipped to pave a better future with him. Thank you for all your advice and support. I think that without your perspectives, I might have just given up on my cheese and the two of us would continue to hide our emotions without realizing that we need to open ourselves up to more communication if we want to stay confident in both ourselves and each other. P.S. an extra thank you to everyone who gave me recipes and new cheeses to try. All right. I think Green Flag in the effort. Yeah. Communication. I think that's always huge and he admitted the other possibility that we were considering. I just guess I, yeah. Unfortunately, it's like both the saddest and the funniest. At the same time, I very much empathize getting cheated on that is an awful, awful thing. And unfortunately, it is kind of funny that it literally like the cheese balls remind. Yeah. I just can't. Can you imagine seeing a memory be perfectly recreated in front of you but with other things and your brain goes, oh, like that came from a very real place for him. A very real place. I mean, I very grateful that I cannot relate to someone like being cheated on and like seeing. Rubbing it in, yeah. Like seeing and being sent any sort of footage or photos. I'm like, and I've heard of people experiencing that and I'm like, that's a nightmare. That's a nightmare. That's going to stay with you forever. That's a psychological damage. Yeah. That's going to stay with you forever. Yeah. Absolutely. Tormenting. So I understand that and obviously like something that extreme like, yeah, therapies, you're going to need that. And like, yes, he had inner demons from this. Thank God he's telling her and I'm glad they're going to a couples counselor together because that's a lot to work through. And clearly if it's bubbling up now, like that is something he has to work through. Yeah. I mean, I'm so proud of her for like standing strong on like, I'm not tolerating this again and it's controlling. Like that's really important. And like the fact that he's willing to go do counseling with her too, like this is, I'm hopeful. I'm optimistic. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Excel comes down to trust and right in his trust was completely obliterated in the past. Yeah. But he's in a whole new relationship with a whole new person. He's got to establish new trust with her. Yeah. I feel bad now about what I said about being like, why would you think of another man's balls when you get cheeseballs? And I'm like, okay, like you that's pretty. That's fucked up. He has the one avenue of, okay, that makes sense. It makes sense. No, because there's a horrible world where there is a type of boyfriend who was like, this will be my first thing that I do, you know, like the first step in being controlling and making it a problem and stuff. So like, and being on this show, we assume the worst sometimes, but thank goodness. Absolutely. And I think even when it comes from a justified place, it's like, no, you still have your boundary. You cannot like, she was right to set her boundaries. And because she set her boundaries, this communication happened, right? Like would it have happened if she just said, okay, I'll stop. Like they had further conversations and she needed to know the truth about him and he needed to get it out there. And maybe one day he'll enjoy those cheeseballs with her. Hey, man. Thank you. I love this show. If everyone in the room will allow me to wax poetic for a second. Shane, sometimes when I think about the show, it's kind of like you're Jesus. And you're reading us these parables, you know? Yes. And it's like, you know, the parables that Jesus was saying, we're like, you know, the titles such as the Good Samaritan, you know, and then you're reading us the stories of hi, my boyfriend can't stop thinking about other men's balls when I eat mozzarella. And you know, it's like, are these stories true? You know, who's to say? But is the truth of these stories really, is it more important that these stories actually happened or does the truth of them lie in the lessons that we can learn? And it's just a really beautiful show that, you know, we can talk about mozzarella cheeseballs and, you know, and walk away with something. Hey. Hey. Yeah. So thank you, Jesus. Wow. You know, I guess, I guess what was Jesus, but a 30 year old podcaster, right? Oh my God. Look, the masses out there, they're listening. This is the sermon on the mount. You are. Sermon on the mount, come on the asshole. Oh my God. Every Christian listener of the show is like, I gotta stop. And now I have to stop. Now they're going, you know, that's a good point. You know, I never thought about it. Wait a minute. Oh God. Thank you. Thank you, Trevor. Yeah. That's just something that I've been thinking about. I like whenever anyone uses the term wax poetic. I'm like, I, when you said mind if I wax poetic, I just picture you like waxing a car with a lot of feeling. Because I don't know what that means. To speak beautifully for a moment. Going into great detail and, you know, yeah, trying to be a little bit, maybe drop some wisdom here. Yeah. Well, you certainly did. Thank you. You called me Jesus. Yeah. It's just the most, you know. No, it's not. It's maybe. The best comparison I could think of. Well, you know, people have said that before. Our next story comes from, am I the asshole posted in December of 2021? Am I the asshole for quitting without notice over fake job postings? Okay. We have a job red flag story. As of yesterday, I, a 31 year old woman was the marketing coordinator for a real estate agent. Let's call him John, 39 year old man. He's very successful and recently hired a life coach who gives him weekly goals. Some of them are normal. Like read this book on the cyclical nature of the real estate market. But other times it's shit like coach says I should take Friday off because sitting is the new smoking. Not the best behavior, but harmless enough. However, John's most recent goal caught me totally by surprise. Last week, John said his coach wanted him to develop his leadership skills. I asked what that entailed and he gave me a new task. Advertise fake job postings. One for every position on our team. John said he wanted 30 plus resumes per day and he'd interview the good ones. I can't overemphasize this enough. There are no job openings on our team. John's coach apparently thinks interviewing real people for fake jobs will make John a better leader. If someone can connect those dots for me, please do because I don't get it. I asked John if he was serious and pointed out that people are desperate for work right now. His response. Coach says real leaders are always looking for new talent. Reason number one why I might be the asshole. I couldn't refuse a direct request without getting fired. So I made the job postings, but I didn't list compensation in the hopes that people would see red flags. We got hundreds of resumes and John interviewed dozens of people. I listened in and they sounded like real interviews. At no point did John mention we're not currently hiring. One of the interviewees was a young woman who chatted with me while she was waiting and she said she's a single mother who had to get a last minute babysitter so she could make the interview. Oh! So not only is she not getting hired for this job, it cost her money to show up. Another was an older man and when I walked him out, he asked, do you think a fossil like me has any shot? I almost burst into tears, but fury won out. I told him there is no job. I'm sorry they lied to you. This company thinks nothing of wasting your time. He looked shocked and walked away. Oh! Someone must have heard me because I got called into John's office where he proceeded to yell at me. Apparently he's fine with lying to people's faces, but not with people knowing about it. He threatened to fire me and I said to do it because I can't go along with this. You're getting people's hopes up for no reason. John argued that the jobs could be real in the future and it was helping him lead the team. So that made it okay. Reason number two why I might be the asshole. I quit on the spot. No notice. I have a second job so I'll be okay. But John said to forget about a reference. I've never not given notice before and I feel bad about that, but I just know John would make me keep bringing him resumes until my last day. Okay, this is, this, this isn't even red flags. This guy is an asshole. This is awful. I'm like, how is that illegal? How is that even legal? I wonder, I never know about the legality of these types of business practices, but I would hope that's illegal. I think you should only be allowed to bring in like an interviewer if there's a real job opening. You are just wasting these people's time. That's so sad. No. And like especially hearing about the single mother spending their money to go to this interview, like, oh my gosh, that's so upsetting. Yeah. If you have ever like had to like, like take a lot of time looking for a job and a really awful job market, like the one that we're currently in, it's like every single time, you know, you get through an interview and then there's just, you don't hear anything back. It's demoralized. Oh, absolutely. It is so hard. And to be doing that, like giving, like making someone, yeah, take time out of their day to go do something and give them like, oh my God, like I got this interview in person. I'm going without there even being any chance of them actually getting a job. It's like evil. Yeah. Not only is her boss an asshole, he's also a huge dumb ass. Yeah. Like just like, this is a dumb guy. Like I'm sure there's out there, there's good life coaches, but I don't know. This, this reads to me like a bad man a sphere coach that he hired. That's just spouting some bullshit. And I'm just like, I don't like this. What is happening? Yeah. Cause it's like, I love the idea of people wanting to work on their leadership skills because leadership is a skill, but it's like, you're already a leader of a team. Like if you want to improve those skills, maybe like spend more time with the actual employees that you have at the company and without creating fake job opportunities for people. Like this, it's also just like, is the coach all of their bosses too? Like I personally, I don't think OP is the asshole for quitting. I wish they continued to be an asshole to the boss so that they'd get fired and maybe get severance. Yeah. Because quitting and being fired are very different things. That's true. But. But I mean, she just couldn't tolerate it. No. She couldn't go along with his horrible practices. I always also laugh at like, because it reminds me of just the man of sphere shit of like, what is in their mind a good leader? Cause I'm like, I'm like, oh, I'm a good leader. So I'm going to actually work on having less empathy and less understanding of human beings. I'm like, you don't even understand how another person works. Like what the hell? Just a dumb ass. Verdict, not the asshole. Comments, not the asshole, but report them to the board or some agent. This sounds highly illegal or immoral to say the least. John is using his power to steamroll hundreds of people. You. Someone else said, not the asshole. And if they ask why you do not have a reference or why you left your old job, tell them the truth. I would hire you in a second, just based on this incident. Someone said, not the asshole. Hopefully John's life coach has experience in helping people apply for unemployment benefits. I think John is going to need it. Someone said, not the asshole. Your notice period was exactly as real as those job openings. And hey, having to scramble to cover your spot will teach him flexibility and gumption, making him a better leader. Good on you for sticking to your ethics. Yeah. That is such like a, that's such an awful story to hear. Like it's just so sad. Yeah. Like there's so many people, like normal people that are just trying to get a job and like live, that are being affected by it. And like I would hope that this is something that is an isolated incident, but who knows what other like kind of awful business practices are going on. Oh yeah. I mean. Especially when the current era, because I've been so lucky to have worked at this job for so long, but like I see comments and I see discussions of people talking about how hard it is to get a job right now. Like people are sending out like just an absurd amount of resumes out there and not hearing back. And especially now with like, with the way the internet works and with AI now involved with bullshit, like it's so hard to like get face to face time and get this close to getting a job. Yeah. Like this guy is evil for doing it. Yeah. But yeah. No update. No update. Oh. Well, she quit. She quit. She left. Yeah. I hope that I hope other employees caught on. I hope this was back in 2021. I hope this guy's out of a job now. But yeah. Fridays sitting is the new smoking. Insane. Go play the Sims and do that in the Sims. Don't do this with real people. I was like, come on. Do it in VR chat. I don't know. Guys, don't go on VR chat. Don't do it. There's never a reason to go on VR chat. Oh my God. Anyways. All right. Moving on. Our next one comes from relationship advice. It's posted in October of 2021. Girlfriend 23 snooped through my mail 22 Reddit account and threatened to break up if I didn't change the advice I give out. I think Reddit just ruined my relationship. Let's go. That's awesome. Oh my God. Dude. Okay. This reminds me of a thing that I feel like you and I have talked about a few times. That maybe we'll come back to it. Throwaway account because my primary account is compromised. We have been dating since we were— It's been compromised. It's been compromised. Throwaway account, obviously. We have been dating since we were 19 and I love her a lot. She is overall a pretty awesome person and the dynamic of our relationship is great. We rarely use each other's phones but also don't mind when we do. Today she just picked my phone up and started using it. She asked me what Reddit was and I gave her a rundown of Reddit and how it works. Once I told her about this subreddit and similar ones, she was keen to know the advice I give to strangers on the internet because she thought of asking strangers for advice as a funny concept. She read through most of my comments and used my phone for two hours and was very upset at the end. I asked her what's up and she went ballistic on me saying I give horrible advice and that I should be ashamed. I was obviously confused because I only say stuff I would do and all my advice is in good faith. She said that most of my advice is about breaking up and don't consider biases that the OP might have made in the original post. Well, he sounds like a Reddit comment. Yeah, Reddit comments. People do be commenting to break up. Use your break up. Break up. Ah, break up. Are those mozzarella balls? One of the posts she was upset about was of a dude that dumped his girlfriend of nine years because she cheated on him at the start and lied about it or something. My advice was that he should dump the cheater because cheaters don't change and that lying is much worse than cheating. When my girlfriend told me my advice was not good and not true, I asked her if she is a cheater because she clearly is trying to defend one. She said what if she was one and I told her we'd be done. This upset her even more and my dumbass asked her, are you a cheater? In an asking slash implying tone. That's my bad and I apologize since that's not what I was trying to say. We talked about other advice I gave out and with each and every one she got mad at me. To her, she thought I was a different person and doesn't think as I do about relationships. In my opinion, I have done nothing wrong. I say everything I mean and would probably do that in real life. She said that I need to get a better perspective about relationships and change the kind of advice I give out otherwise we won't work out. I told her that she threatening me with a breakup for a change in behavior is manipulative and she already read the advice I gave to one OP in the same circumstance. This truly pissed her off and she left saying I need time to think about what I just said. I know this post is stupid but who else to ask for help with Reddit ruining my relationship other than Reddit. This is mostly a rant with some advice seeking. At it number one, I will show her this post once we make up. All to show her I'm not the only one that takes infidelity and similar acts so seriously and consider them instant dump worthy. At it number two, I have been trying to reach her but she isn't responding. Probably ignoring me so I just shot her a text that I'm done with her and now there is no point in contacting me. Since she can't even speak to me, I won't beg her to come back. This is not a rom-com. In our last interaction, she raised several red flags. So I felt it was only fair to move on from this relationship. To be honest, if I was not the OP but a normal commenter, I would advise to break up so that's what I'm doing. I'm not perfect but I'm also not a hypocrite. Guess I'm single now with a peace emoji. It's like, I lost my flag. Yeah, the last part is a little bit like, all right. Can I jump in? Yeah, sure, sure. I think it's so interesting because we have talked about where a partner sees their boyfriend or girlfriend's Reddit account and they see how they behave online and how it's not what they expected. I think it is so jarring to see internet behavior and then connect it to a real life person because we're so used to scrolling and it's just strangers. We're like, this person who's saying, I would hire you in a second, could be a 13-year-old. Like, we don't know and we see these comments all the time that are ignoring nuance every day but we don't connect it with a real life person in our life. And so it's obviously really jarring for her and like, I'm glad that nobody's really rubbing up against the fact that she went through his phone because with Reddit, you can go to an account and see every comment they've ever left. But I think it's just jarring to see such things and like, oh, that's a real person that I am close with talking like that. Yeah, because what I think what I've said to you is I'm like, it's kind of crazy that for most people in the world, there are two people and there's who they are in real life and then who they are on the internet because you see so many accounts on Reddit. I'd say especially with Reddit where it's all anonymous of I'm like, who are these people? Do they believe what they're saying here? I guarantee you with the way humans work, there are so many comments we've read where people are like, cheating is wrong, you should break up with them. And those are left by cheaters. You just, you don't know who these people are and that's the weird thing with, as people point out all the time, they're like, oh, that story is probably fake. I'm like, we don't know anything. This can be written by a 12-year-old. That marriage advice you're getting could be from anyone. We don't know. But it's got to be jarring because there was a story I read where a woman found out that her husband, who she was like, he's a great guy, he's so sweet, but his Reddit account, he just comments horribly misogynistic shit on posts all the time. And it's just like, who is this guy? Yeah. It's like, that is who he is, but it's like weird where the internet gives people permission in weird ways. Yeah. The anonymity. Anyways, I think this story brings up a lot of topics around the story. But yeah. I think for me, I think that this is a, I want to say it's a red flag. And I think that a lot of Reddit is prone to it, especially with a lot of stories that reread. But people living in a fully, like everything is black and white. There is right and wrong. If someone has cheated in the past, they are a cheater. If someone is a cheater, they deserve to be broken up with. Like I think that it's very easy for people online to read a story that is coming from one perspective and has bias and be like, okay, this is what's right in the situation. This person's right and this person's wrong. And I think like there's so much nuance that you can't capture in a Reddit story and so much nuance that is completely lost on commenters. And I don't know, honestly, with a story like this, I'm like, for me to make an opinion, I'm like, I got to read everything this guy's ever said. Every piece of advice he's ever said. Yeah. But yeah, because it felt like he cherry picked like the most blatantly obvious story where I'm like, okay, but I'm like, what else was going on in this conversation? Truly. It's like, oh, so interesting that, you know, he had to start a new account so we can't go see what he was talking about. I also like, I think it's so interesting how she was like, you need to change how you give advice. It's like, no, it sounds like he needs to, she's asking him to change his morals. Like it goes, it's all like that's like a different guy posting those things. This is his guy, this guy with his feelings. He backs it up immediately. To his credit, he immediately is like, I believe that. Like, he doesn't deny like that or try to. Yeah, it's just so interesting to hear it worded like that. I don't know. Yeah. And for him to just like, you know, be like, oh, she like didn't text back. So she obviously like isn't getting me the time of day and everybody that commented on this was like, she's probably a cheater and is breaking up. It's like, you were living in such like, I feel like a distorted reality of like. You have to at least give her a chance to like, if she ghosts you and doesn't say anything for a week, then it's like, okay, yeah, like I could see that, but I feel like to live in this world of I'm right, you're wrong, you're wrong. I like whatever it is, it's just, it's really damaging and I don't think it, you know, is conducive to healthy relationships. I think that there is a lot more talking and figuring out that needs to be done. I agree with that. And I think, yeah, I think it's very convenient. I think the black and white thinking, especially with the internet and especially with, I think in our world today where we feel so little control over anything, it's comforting to go like, that's a bad person. I get to file you into the bad person box and I get to be the good person. I think it's algorithmic thinking and we are using apps that are run by algorithms and it is affected how we think and we now think algorithmically of categorizing things and putting things into boxes and going, I've read the story, I know you, I know your relationship breakup, that's the answer. It's like, sometimes the answers are complicated. People who listen to the show know like how I feel about cheating and that I've been cheated on. Does that mean that if someone I'm talking to goes, oh, I don't know if someone cheated on me, if that's a deal breaker, do I immediately go, then you're a cheater? Like, I'm like, no, like people are complicated and it's more a matter of like trust. It's not a matter of like good and bad. It's a matter of like what I think works and doesn't work. Yeah. Yeah. Like the other, the first story. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I feel like with how long Reddit has existed, there's, it's just, these heuristics have been formed of like, if someone says this thing, that makes them this. If they speak like this, this is what they believe and that makes them this type of person and that's always the case. It's the jumping to character assumptions with things that always frustrates me with Reddit, right? Because it's going, oh, that, that act, what you did was wrong. Like that's hurtful. I'm like, yes, I agree with that. But it's like, therefore, that's who this person is, through and through. And I'm like, well, we don't know that. Yeah. Like there's a difference between, it's like, Shane, you're being a bitch or Shane, you're a bitch. Like, and I am both. I'm a man of multi-treat. Yeah. A bad bitch. Like you're acting like a bitch is different than Shane. You are a full on 100% of the time. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. I've said this before, but like the thing that I, that frustrates me and I see it in our comments is like, I don't have a problem if I say something, go, oh, I disagree with what Shane said there. I go, yeah, I, even in rewatching it, maybe disagree with what I said. What, what frustrates me is when they go, Shane said this and therefore he must be a really bad friend or Shane clearly is this type of person. I'm like, wow, whoa, like a person I don't know and have never seen like that. That's where I'm like, let's be careful there. Based on the context of the story, it sounds like he is the type of person to be like that. Yes. It sounds like he is doing those things of like making very harsh and concise judgments based on the three paragraphs of text that he's read from the person's perspective. And to be clear as well, if, if like him talking to his partner and he goes, oh, this, this guy got cheated on and she lied and tried to hide the cheating. Like, and she goes, I don't think that's a problem. I'd be like, that is a red flag. I'm not saying she is in fear here. I'm like, what she displayed was a red flag also. We're just ignore, we're just observing all the aspects of the story. He was like, I might have been an asshole for going, are you a cheater? But it's like, that's kind of where the conversation was going. And she was actively antagonizing him in that moment. I think he was permitted to ask that question. So like, I do give him that, but yeah, there, there, it was a lot. There was a lot. It was more the tone there at the end that I was observing. Like everything that actually happened, I don't necessarily have a problem with of him being like, oh, like, I think cheating is wrong. And she goes, oh, I don't think cheating is wrong. He goes, are you a cheater? And she goes, what if I am? I'd be like, all right, like that's a conversation. I'm like, I'm a cheater. And, and, and for me, it's like, not about if you're a bad person. It's like, do you have trust for this person now? You don't have trust in the relationship. It doesn't work. Yeah. I only thing I will criticize him for is I'm like, you went to the place where you frequent of people that you know are like-minded to you to get advice. Yeah. Maybe go to someone in real life to, if you're having real relationship advice, that like, you know the response. Yeah. I also like, if we have the opportunity to read every comment that each person in our lives has ever left, I think we all would have a lot of shattering experience. Oh, for sure. Whoa. Yeah. So the comments, someone said, so as an avid advisor on this sub, what advice would you give yourself? OP said, this is funny. I feel bad for laughing. My advice would be something I have given out many, many times. Looks like this would be the hill I die on. Someone said, it's a possibility for people to change, but it's also very hard to get trust back that is taken away. People try to go to counseling and try to work out the relationship, but that trust is never going to go back. You can build on new trust, but there's always going to be a lingering feeling. You have no problem giving it to her because you know yourself and you didn't do anything wrong. She took things way out of proportion. Once you're done healing, I hope you find someone that you can trust and speak your mind with that holds no judgment. It's really hard to find, but just stick it out. You have to, you have a good head on your shoulders. Good luck. Someone said, a couple of years ago, my husband borrowed my laptop while I was logged into Reddit and had left the page open. He read through a bit of my comment history, which actually really freaked me out when he told me, but his comment was that it was comforting to know that I sounded like exactly the same person on the internet as I am in his life and that I didn't have some secret dark side or inner troll. The point being, I agree with you. If OP genuinely feels like he is the same person on Reddit that he is in real life, something is off in terms of their communication with or perception of each other. Yeah, I would say like it, I'm a little shocked they haven't had any sort of convo of like, what's a deal breaker as far as infidelity goes. Yeah. Not that that's like a obvious conversation for people, but I'm just like, that was a big topic that they had never broached and she had an extreme take and he had an extreme. How long were they together again? Like four years. They were on polar opposite sides of this view and it's like, yeah, that doesn't work. Yeah. Yeah, not to be a Redditor, but I feel like, no, I mean, it's like, her response to the question and topic of cheating is like, I would feel equally as uncomfortable. I'd be like, that is not how I would want someone to respond. I don't want anybody listening to this to think that I'm saying what she said was fine. No, doing this show and reading so many Reddit stories, this story was interesting because it felt meta in a way. Yeah, I was going to say, it feels like the whole time I was talking about it, I was like, I don't even think I was actually talking about this story. I think I was just talking about Reddit as a whole and like people like there is, it is possible for two people to be both right and wrong in the same story. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Everyone sucks. And in the end, everyone sucks. Yeah. Everyone sucks mozzarella balls. Oh, double refrains. Double go-backs. Our next story comes from Am I the Asshole, posted in May of 2021. Am I the asshole for refusing to get rid of a painting my friend made me? My best friend and I, 23-year-old women, met doing art at uni and since then have always had a tradition of giving each other homemade gifts, varying in levels from absolutely awful, but well-loved, to genuinely time-consuming pieces of art. They have always been a bit on the nose, collages of drunken misdeeds and dodgy-shaped pottery, etc. Everyone I'm close to is well aware of this tradition and we all tend to get a laugh out of it. This year, she gifted me a canvas, a four-ish size, painting of me standing beside a male celebrity that we both like. I absolutely loved it and sent pictures to one of our group chats where everyone laughed at how cringe but genuinely lovely of a gift it was. Straight afterwards, I got a text from my boyfriend two years telling me that he was pissed off and upset at how insulting it was for me to be displaying that in my flat when he would be coming over. It really upset me, but I stood my ground and told him that it was my flat and this was a genuinely time-consuming piece of art that my friend had put time and effort into. So I would not be getting rid of it just because it made him insecure. I know there wasn't any malice on my friend's part in gifting it to me. She, like me, genuinely wouldn't have considered something like that would be upsetting. My boyfriend lives in a house with roommates where they have posters of women on the walls and I don't really see the difference, but now I'm beginning to doubt myself. I won't get rid of it like- I broke the flag. I broke the flag. I waited too hard. Oh my god. Too red of a flag. Oh no. I'm beginning to doubt myself. I won't get rid of it like he wants me to, but should I be more sympathetic and hide it from him? Edit. Thank you so much for all the advice. Since people have asked, it's a very PG painting. The celeb's chest up with an arm around me. I think she took reference from a meet and greet with him and a fan and just replaced the fan with me. Oh, see, I thought it was going to be a painting of like her and the Grinch and the Grinch's balls are in her mouth. Oh my god, Shane. Now that would be funny. Shane. Now that would be funny. I want one of those, but me. Sorry. It was like, come on. Really good. It was low-hanging fruit. Hey. Sorry. That's good stuff. I'm just picturing like imagine like your girlfriend is drawing something and it's like them and you're like, oh, that's so nice. And then you start seeing them drawing another guy and you're like, no, no, no, no. Like it is not real. It's not real. Come on, bro. Okay. Um, yeah, this is a red flag on the boyfriend. Yeah. I want to know who this celebrity is. Yeah. Is it Edward Cullen? Okay, guesses. I would guess like, let's see, this is posted 2021. And they're 23 year olds. They're 23 in 2021. Could be like Harry Styles. Could be a style. I think a Pattinson or a Styles because Pattinson Styles. They're at uni. They're calling it at uni. They're probably. Oh, they're British. Yeah, or from the UK. Are you British? Chris Evans? Yeah, it could be. It could be Chris Evans. There's no way it's like a Timmy C. What if it was like Liam Eason? It doesn't feel like a Timmy C. Liam Eason would be kind of like. I don't think it's like. Yeah, no. I'm going. You're going Grinch with balls in the mouth. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. Yeah, we know, Shay. Yeah, we know. No, we know. That's funny. No. Grinch green. To all our fan art friends, don't. Dump. Or do. Dump. Or do. Dump. Dump. I drew fan art of Shane. I was like, oh. Our PO Box. Dang it. Why'd I have to get cast in the Grinch Balls episode? Grinch Balls Reddit stories. Please. Hi. That's so good. All right. What's the internet saying? Okay. Okay. He's looking at pictures of Grinch's balls. No. I got out. Okay. Comments. Disposal services. I'd like to arrange a pickup. Yes, the whole man. Nice. Got it. Singer. Someone said, my mom has a full room of shitty portraits of various male hunks that I did for her during my teenage. I'm a being artist phase. My father never baddened an eye. This room is now unofficially his office. Someone said, not the asshole. And this is a huge red flag. It makes no sense for him to be pissed off or insecure about a painting. He wants you to get rid of something that your friend lovingly made for you. And he's making you doubt yourself. Yeah. Not only is it not something like she made her. It's like a friend made this. It's like a gift. It's like, come on. Dude, it's the sweater curse. Remember the like when someone hits a sweater, it affects somebody. Somebody gets affected. Someone, someone. Yeah, you're right. Let's shed some light on the fact that the guy has a house that has sexy women and posters in their place. There is a serious issue if you have this level of jealousy over what is just a gift and is a fictional concept. Right. God forbid she actually went to a meet and greet and got a pick. Yeah. I think that there is some nuance to the like celebrity crush thing. And I could understand how like some people could be insecure about like if someone was like way over the top and constantly being like, oh my God, I love that they're so hot. Like constantly talking. But if it's a little portrait that your friend drew and it's like a little inside joke between two of your whatever, just someone that you like, like where is the harm. Yeah, truly. There is healthy amounts of it. It kind of falls into it's it's it's a different category. I was going to say there was the one where the guy was like mad that his girlfriend was reading like spicy books. Right. And she's kind of like, hey man, there's a realm of fiction. And I think a lot of celebrity crushes fall into the like realm of fiction. Yeah, 100%. Right. Where it's like, oh, this is a real thing. I just like this idea of a thing and it's just a fun whatever. Yeah. 100%. No. And it's still like the fact that they that the wherever he lives with his guy roommates, they have pictures of women up all over the place. Like then. They're living in the 80s. I know. I literally am picturing like the 80s high, the high, waisty, like, muscley tan girls. I feel like you would have that poster. I do. No, you don't. It's just not up right now. It's up in a room you don't know about, bro. I do have that one painting that's like sexy legs. Yeah. That's like a very artsy. That's not so so. It's the same. It's like, but do you know what I'm saying? I know. Like it is. It's not sexual, but it is. I've got this a little cat and he's got a little cowboy hat on and then a little gun. Yeah. Like a little kitten with a little cowboy. It's like a little cowboy cat. That's awesome. I think what I'm trying to say is it's like, it's all harmless. Right. So like if he should not see the harm and if he doesn't see the harm in his own. Absolutely. Update. Whoa. They painted the bottom half of the painting and they're naked in the bottom half of the painting. Final guesses for celebrities. It's a celebrity man popular in 2021. Robert Downey Jr. It's a good guess. I think, I feel like RP. I think Robert Pattinson was a good guess. That was a good guess. Okay. I've seen the photo. So I know. Okay. For those interested, we have split up. I know it seems like it's over something so trivial. It's laughable, but I tried to have a civil conversation and explain that I wasn't willing to compromise on this. He got physically imposing and called me and my friend, which was truly the last straw, various vulgarities, which was very out of character, but enough of a raging red flag for me to get the fuck out. He didn't even try to explain rationally why it made him upset. Just that he was upset, I hadn't thrown it away. Upon recollection, he probably was looking for an excuse to break up. At least I'm hoping so, or I really did waste two years of my life hung up on somebody genuinely threatened by an oil painting. He picked his hill and died a really embarrassing death on it. I've contacted his mom to make sure he's okay. Booked a drinks night with my best friend and I will now officially be telling everybody that Sebastian Stan ended my last relationship. Thank you so much to everyone who gave me advice. You were all lovely ex. Whoa, Sebastian Stan's a good one. That's a good one. That's a good one. With the Winter Soldier wig on? Oh, duh, bro. Winter Soldier. Sebastian Stan. Oh my God. Yeah, but with the wig though, because that wig is rough on me. No, not the greasy wig. I can't do the greasy wig. Yeah, I don't know. I need the haircut, whatever one he got a haircut in. Good pic though. The haircut one. A pic we respect. Yeah, I mean, his response did the absolute right call. I know we just before said like, hey, like not everything is breakup worthy, but like, no, this, this, this. She tried to talk to him and he gave her his response. He did his big one. I will also point out something that I feel like has commented a lot that I think of is like, oh, he yelled out these vulgarities, which is very out of character for him. It's like, actually, I think you just got to finally see his character. Unlocked character. Yeah, like, no, that's his character. You're like unlocking a skill tree in life and it's like, oh, I'm going to choose the calling people vulgarities one. That's my next level up. Yeah. Love that tree. Yeah. Or like the star constellation in, in, in the sky. Yeah. The abusive narcissist. Which is like, oh, what kind of build are you doing this run? Stealth narcissist. Stealth narcissist is crazy. Oh my God. It's like, oh, crazy. Anyways, I think I'm going to do a barbarian. Barbarian cheater. Barbarian cheater. I was just thinking about doing like a mage, but I don't know. Oh yeah. Just a normal one. Maged redditor. Oh yeah. What are you playing as? Oh, so I'm an Argonian cheater right now. All right. We're having fun here. All right. It's time for our final story. And this comes from the subreddit, two hot takes. Shout out to Morgan over at two hot takes. Man, good subreddit. People submit some good shit over there. Like this one. Mother-in-law thinks I am a witch because I dressed up as one for Halloween. Well, if it's that one episode of Buffy. Hot. Yeah, it is. Oh yeah. Yeah. And that Buffy anyway. For the few Buffy fans out there. Any Buffy. Few, bro. Grow up. It's a lot more than a few. You're telling Jane to grow up is all. Grow up. That show came out before you were born. Yeah. So what? So did a lot of great pieces of media. I guess I was also. To be fair, I was also like five years old when it started. So it's like I was watching it either. I married my husband about a year ago and we'd been together for about three. I don't know his parents all too well, mainly because he had made a point to keep a fair amount of distance from them. But during all the wedding planning and events, I thought it would be nice to be closer with them, especially as both of my parents have passed away several years ago. I encouraged my husband to build more of a relationship with them. However, around the time of the wedding, I started to see a bunch of red flags. I generally chalk them up to wedding stress on them. My husband is their only son. But after the wedding, the red flags started getting even bigger. I was still nothing but kind towards them, but my husband was frustrated and started going low contact with them. So that's the backstory. Now on Saturday, my husband and I went to a friend's birthday party, which was Halloween themed and costumes mandatory. We both got too busy with work and at the last minute, the only costume we could put together was him wearing a t-shirt that said, I'm with the witch and me wearing a black dress I already owned with a black choker necklace. That's it, you guys, the extent of our costume. We took a picture at this party and it was put on the socials. The next day, mother-in-law Tex hubby and I, a screenshot of said picture and writes a message about how concerned she is about us and that she is praying for us. I was confused until my husband reminded me of her Karen Christianity. You know the kind that gets offended if anyone happens to be a different religion, offended if anyone says, what the hell, etc. My husband then starts getting phone calls from random distant and extended family members asking if he's okay. Turns out Karen has texted my husband's entire extended family, uncles, aunts, cousins, all over the country. The same screenshot of our picture with the long five paragraph text asking everyone to pray for her son that I, her daughter-in-law, am into some dangerous things and is a danger to her son. She doesn't spell out her kaka-mami belief that she thinks I am a witch. Instead, she says that I am into bad and dangerous things and that I am dragging her son down with me and she asks everyone to pray for him and pray for me too. Bless her heart for being so generous with her prayers for I am but an evil witch. So of course the extended family members assume maybe I'm into drugs or I'm poisoning him or some other type of abuse. You can see what this would do for my reputation in this extended family. I text her back and tell her that her actions were uncalled for and that I will be going no contact with her moving forward. She responds with daughter-in-law, we all know you dabble in witchcraft. I am only concerned about my son. I pray for you both. Husband called his father and asked him how he could let her do something like this. But father-in-law doubled down on Karen's accusations. So now my husband has gone no contact with his parents too. I feel like I am in a really bad soap opera. This isn't real life. This has to be certifiably insane, right? Part of me feels like no contact isn't forever and that eventually my husband and they will reconnect even if I don't, which does bother me. What would you all do in this situation? Pick of the costume. It's nothing. It's yeah. She's got a choker on. She says I'm with the witch. Honestly, I'm reserving a very tiny speck of my judgment here for how low effort that costume is. Yeah, I mean. I have a lot of judgment for the parents and I'm like you could have- I was expecting so much more. I was expecting hat, gown, broom, skin painted. Yeah, you left me wanting more there on the costume. But I'll allow it. I'll let it slide this time, OP. This is, you know, I feel like we've brought up a lot of big Reddit convos and this is another one of another Reddit thing is no contact. It's like, oh, cut them out of your life. But here's the reality is a lot of people's parents, it's like, they're no contact for a damn good reason. It's like- Because they're dangerous to him. They are controlling, they're manipulative and they are just- Yeah, what do you do about this? Like this is so extreme. I'm so confused because like what fed into this that this one photo decided it? I think, I mean, because he was saying, so where I'm a little frustrated at OP, like a little frustrated is that she talks about, she's like, he's very distant from his parents. Right. So planning up to the wedding, I encouraged him to like get his parents back into his life. Because her parents are passed away. She clearly must have had a good relationship with her parents or she's going, you should be- You should be. You should too. It's like, why- I feel like what they should have is really had more of a convo of why are you almost- or low contact or almost no contact with your parents? Because this happened very quickly. Yeah. I think, coming from not a family like that, but growing up in Idaho and around a lot of kind of like conservative, like Christian evangelical type things is like, this is the type of person, if I had to guess, the mother is very Christian and very controlling of her son or for whatever reason. And he goes off to live his life and probably like kind of steps away from that a little bit. And is now marrying someone who's, if I had to guess, not a Christian. And now she's putting all of that blame because in her eyes, it's like, oh, that's my perfect Christian son. And this woman, the secular woman has come in and ruined him and turned him to the devil. And now maybe this picture on Instagram was enough for her to be like, all right, here's finally the piece of evidence that I can send around to everyone and be like, see, she's evil. She's ruining our, this is your family member and they're, and it's just so toxic and awful. And it just comes from this very like controlling place. Like imagine having to feel like you need to put out a PR statement for your family, for your bloodline. Like the fact that a witch picture, a costume photo, it's like, hello, just getting on here to say, I am not a witch. Yeah. Hey everyone, like where are we in the internet? The people are believing that. I know. And the fact that, so, so this Karen might be saying some really nasty things to try and back up this, this, because it's baseless. It's one photo. On a smaller note, it's so disrespectful and controlling for her to do to her son, where she's like, my son, who is incapable of living his own life or making his own decisions. I must make the decision for him. Right. And tell all our family how they should feel about my son. It's like she's completely taking away his life and agency. Yeah. And it's like, this is a fully grown man. Like this isn't some kid, you know, like I just based on the picture, it's like, this is clearly a man who's like definitely old, like in his 30s or 40s. It's like, oh my God, you're doing that to him now. Like she probably was way worse back in the day. And it's like, and yeah, it's probably because they, they got into more contact with, yeah, everything. And they're probably just regretting it. I don't think necessarily she needs to feel worried that they're going to get back close to the family without her. I don't think he needs much of an excuse to go no contact with her again. Like, I think the biggest red flag is like, I've experienced this where someone will like go around calling people and just disparaging a person. And like, it's sad that that's happening, obviously. And it's also sad when people just choose to believe that. And like, but you know, people were texting him saying, Hey, are you okay? Like what's going on? They thought something, yeah. Yeah. So I would hope that that was them giving them the benefit of the doubt because it's like, if someone's ever calling around or calling you just to like talk, just to talk shit about someone, it's a red flag to me. And it's like, so it's so toxic on her part to her entire family because she's clearly misrepresenting this and like making them worried, like potentially, like you're now adding worry into their life that like, oh, it's like something going on. Like is everything okay when he's just living his normal life and he's very happy. And now they're like, okay, I've spent this time now worrying because she's crazy. And like, yeah, it's just, it's so insane. It's comments. She was looking for a reason to give you the boot and the costume was the perfect moment. She seemed super toxic. No wonder why he kept his distance to begin with. Hope he said you were absolutely right. Someone said, Mother-in-law wrote herself out of your lives with this one. I would go no contact until she apologized, which might be never. It might be for the best for this to happen now over something as trivial and silly as a Halloween costume. If it wasn't this, it'd be something else eventually. Someone said your husband knew of his parents' red flags and did his best to keep you safe from them. W. Hubby. W. Hubby. W. Hubby. W. Hubby. Lastly, someone said dress up as your mother-in-law as a witch. Side note, if she really thinks you're a witch and into dangerous things, why is she messing with you? Ask her. Then ask for a lock of hair. I actually think after all this, I don't know if I believe the mother actually believes she's a witch. I think she's just willing to do whatever she has to do to like. Yeah, I think it's like, yeah, she's just controlling. And it's this very weird, I don't know why it is such a thing, but this weird little mama's boy, like, oh, that's my little precious baby boy. And he can never do any wrong. And if he doesn't have the perfect girl that I picked out for him, then I'm just going to be an evil, awful person to her. No, that's so real. So what do we think they should dress up next, Halloween? To angels? Probably as safe? Change your mind. Torment her. Angels. Angels. And they post, they go, we've gone to heaven. And she's just like, oh, Jesus. Yeah, she should be Jesus. That'll really tick her off. Ooh. The Jesus is a little woman. That explodes. Well, that was our last story. That was it. I think witches are awesome. Yeah, I do too. I like witches. I think so. I love the movie. The Wicked Witch of the East, bro. That sounds scary. The Vich. The Vich. The Vich. The Vich is one of my favorites. What's the one, what's the Midnight Margarita one? A Practical Magic. Practical Magic. I've never seen Practical Magic. I don't tell Amanda. You've never seen Practical Magic? How could you not know a Practical Magic? You've never seen Pract... I know what Practical Magic is. Practical Magic is like the Muhammad Ali of witch movies. Good reference. Nice. Good reference. And that was good. Wow. People are going to know what reddit stories I was watching. I was practicing being with Trevor this morning by watching a reddit story. Yeah. He was like, I haven't talked to Trevor in so long. I've been in a video with Trevor in so long. I got to remember what this kid's like. Feels good to be back in here, guys. And just making videos and doing... I'm excited for us to be in our actual new studio. Oh, yeah. That'd be cool. It's going to be sick. It's going to be sick. Hey, stick around. I don't know when the air dates or when we'll get new videos. Stick around. Stick around. Next up is the sweet life of Zach and Co. Anyways, yeah. All right. This has been chill. Hey. Eat mozzarella balls responsibly. You guys are a couple of green flags to me. You are a green flag, Trevor. Always have been. Look, since I know you guys in real life, you guys are green flags. Now, I need to see your reddit history. Good dude. I'm perfect. No, we're good about it. I have one comment. Do you know what it is? It was one where Xbox was down and there was a whole thread about Xbox being down and I was like, it's 3 PM and it's still down. This is great. This is real and true. I don't even have a reddit account. I don't have a reddit account. I've never left a comment. I've thought about making one. I have too. I've thought about making one and then commenting on the Smosh Reddit. And just be like, I see you guys. Yeah. I'm lurking. I'm always here. Someone leaves a mean comment and you're just like, you're being a real dork right now. I'm not kidding. I've thought about making a reddit account and being my biggest hater as a bit. Yeah. That's pretty good. So that people are like, who's this guy who hates Shane? Why is it a band? And then I would reveal it like years later, be like, I was my biggest hater. And there's a lesson there. And there's a lesson. That's wax poetic, but aren't we all? Anyways. All right. Bye, guys. Love you. See you later. Bye.