When someone is a constant jokester, it can be difficult to take them seriously.
A lot of people who live for the comedy of a good prank are often rarely serious.
And the people who are consistently the butt of the gag can grow tired of the “comedy” of it all.
So it’s not a surprise when more serious moments aren’t acknowledged.
Then the jokester gets their feelings hurt, and comedy turns to drama.
Redditor Ashamed_Purchase_681 wanted to discuss his experience and get some feedback, so naturally, he came to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subreddit.
He asked:
“AITA for laughing when my wife fell and pooped her pants because I thought it was a prank?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“I (33 M[ale]) think my wife (31 F[emale]) is genuinely funny, but her love of pranks and toilet humor can be a bit much.”
“One day, I was in the living room.”
“My wife ran in holding her tummy.”
“She slipped and fell.”
“Then she said something like, crap, I pooped my pants.”
“Everything about it seemed like a prank she would do.”
“From the double-meaning phrase, to the toilet humor, to the physical comedy.”
“Despite the fact that I dislike most of her pranks, I found this one funny.”
“But it wasn’t pranking.”
“When I realized, I tried to help her up.”
“She told me not to touch her.”
“She sarcastically called me husband of the year for laughing at her.”
“I explained, but she said I should have known it wasn’t a prank because she did a similar one before, and she doesn’t repeat the same pranks.”
The OP was left to wonder:
“Am I the a**hole?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed in on some options to the question AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared that OP WAS the A**hole.
“BAHAHAHAHAHAH NTA.”
“Your wife is just the girl who cried poop.” ~ Objective_Citron4560
“You should have known I was telling the truth because I’ve lied before.”
“OK… NTA!” ~ hushnecampus
“NTA – This is what fruit is born of frequent pranks.”
“And as a good partner, you were engaging and supporting her antics.”
“When you realized it was real, you immediately went to help.”
“She’s probably mad at herself because she KNOWS you laughing was essentially her own doing.” ~ Return_of_the_HoWaT
“It’s almost like a staged TikTok video; the only thing that makes it funny is if it’s real.”
“Her pranks are probably so trashy that he immediately knows it’s a prank and thus it’s not funny.”
“Then, when something actually happens to her that’s not staged, suddenly it’s humorous because it met all the qualifiers for comedy (spontaneity, unexpectedness), something he attributed to her finally producing a good prank only to be met with the truth.” ~ NipppppppleCrust
“Exactly this.”
“You can’t prank someone constantly and then get mad when they assume it’s another prank.”
“Natural consequence of crying wolf.” ~ Jwhiskey89
“Exactly this.”
“If you train someone to expect chaos every time you run into a room clutching your stomach, you can’t be shocked when they react like it’s another bit.”
“Honestly feels like a ‘play silly games, win silly prizes’ situation.”
“She set the stage, you just followed the script.” ~ firm75z
“So the story is probably fiction, but I do love the idea that it couldn’t be a prank, not because it was in poor taste or taking things too far, but because it was too close to something she’d pulled before.”
“NTA.” ~ Khalman
“Yeah, he’s supposed to recall every prank she has ever pulled and analyze it in the moment.” ~ sisterfunkhaus
“So by this logic, anything that happens to her that doesn’t repeat one of her ‘pranks’ he should assume is a prank… right?”
“NTA- this is karma.”
“She’s spent years making people—especially you—not believe her and assume anything that she says or that happens is just ‘her being wacky.'”
“Now she’s mad cause something actually happened and you figured it was just another one of her stupid pranks.”
“Hopefully, this makes her think because by her own logic, you should never believe anything she says or that happens to her unless she’s already done that in a prank.”
“What if there’s an actual emergency (she’s in an accident, there’s an intruder in the house, etc.) and you just assume it’s yet another one of her stupid pranks?”
“I genuinely wonder how people actually bring themselves to trust someone like this.”
“Can you have like a safe word or something for use when there’s an emergency (no, probably not, cause then she’d use that, cause otherwise you won’t fall for her precious prank).”
“Ugh… sorry, I cannot stand Pranksters, they just make it harder to trust people.”
“Honestly, I hope she was very embarrassed and maybe learns a lesson here.” ~ acegirl1985
“First time I’ve ever heard someone cry wolf about pooping themselves.” ~ wannabeknowitall
“Right? I’m gonna take it as true simply because I’m a big fan of karma (the actual concept, not the points or whatever here).”
“I flat out can’t stand pranksters—it’s literally just bullying/quasi-abusing someone and then gaslighting them into thinking it was nothing, and their victim is actually the bad guy for not having a sense of humor.”
“I freaking LOVE the idea of something happening to a prankster and everyone just laughing, ignoring it because they’ve done the same thing as a prank.”
“NTA and good, I hope this is true.”
“She totally brought this on herself.”
“Far as I’m concerned, any prankster that ends up screwed over by their own actions is just reaping what they sowed.” ~ acegirl1985
“NTA- she’s the boy who cried wolf.” ~ ThrowRA4153
“This is exactly the kind of low-stakes drama I live for on this Reddit.”
“I’m on your side, though I would apologize to your wife that this happened to her in the first place.”
“It is objectively funny when written out. NTA.” ~ cobaltaureus
“NTA. Read her the story of the boy who cried wolf.”
“Unfortunately, the downside of being the lovable prankster is that people don’t know when you are being serious.” ~ Mauinfinity-0805
“NTA, it’s sad for your wife in the moment, and I hope she’ll forgive you for laughing, but that is pretty funny.”
“Now go buy her something to make her feel less embarrassed.” ~ JynxGirl
“NAH – Even without a history of pranks and toilet humor, that is hilarious.”
“Without the history, I would say maybe a little AH just for not making sure she’s ok first.”
“But a full-grown adult falling while running to the bathroom and sh*tting themselves is a funny moment.”
“The one-liner of ‘crap I pooped my pants’ is hysterical, and she should be proud of it.”
“Albeit probably one of her more embarrassing moments, so I get him being a bit upset about it.” ~ No_Struggle_6465
“NAH. S**t happens.”
“Don’t overanalyze this and make it a big deal, and it will be forgotten tomorrow by both.” ~ MistressLyda
“Tell her this story about my grandpa.”
“My grandpa was very funny, and he really liked to make jokes and pranks.”
“He entertained himself and the whole family.”
“My mom was used to these jokes whole childhood.”
“Once my grandfather was climbing a tree to pick apples, he missed the ladder and fell.”
“He was in the garden just with my mom, a little girl.”
“My mom thought it was another joke, so she just stood there and laughed.”
“Grandpa was out of breath and couldn’t breathe.”
“He tried to get her to call for help, but she thought it was another joke and just laughed.”
“He finally got it together, got up, and it worked out well.”
“If your wife likes to make jokes, she has to expect that others will laugh.” ~ Life_Bit_4298
“NTA. If she continues to believe you were mockingly laughing at her, I would tell her that while it may have felt that way to her in the moment, you weren’t laughing, thinking she’d actually crapped her pants.”
“You were laughing because it fit her pranks and toilet humor, so that’s what you thought it was.”
“You were laughing at what you thought was her joke.”
“You’re not going to go along with a false image she has of the situation, because that would be harmful to your relationship.”
“What she’s upset about didn’t actually happen.”
“Apologizing or acting as if her mistaken view is justified would not be fair and wouldn’t go anywhere positive.”
“It’s not quite the same as crying wolf, but it’s the same pattern.”
“She pranks a lot and makes toilet humor jokes.”
“That’s fine, but she can’t stay seriously annoyed at you just because, for once, it was real and you didn’t realize.” ~ kurokomainu
“Bahaha, your only clue, she says, is that she’s already done a prank EXACTLY like this before and wouldn’t repeat it.”
“I think you’re off the hook. NTA.” ~ EbbWilling7785
“NTA. She brought this on herself.”
“Also hilarious.” ~ the_elephant_stan
“NTA. She brought it on herself.”
“You couldn’t tell she was being serious because most of the time she isn’t.”
“You might have her peruse ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ for reference as to what happens when you take things to the point when people can’t tell if you’re serious.” ~ cheekmo_52
“NTA. Can’t be surprised by laughter when you regularly behave like a fool.”
“Maybe she should grow up and stop pranks altogether?”
“I’m sure she can find a better use of her energies at her age.” ~ MorganFreemanCoPilot
Well, this gag went down the crapper.
Reddit is with you, OP.
Your wife keeps playing all of these pranks.
They were bound to catch up to her.
You weren’t trying to be malicious.
Hopefully, she’s learned a lesson.