Some people hide the truth in jokes and pranks.
But, a prank implies that all participants find it funny. Not that you’re going to randomly break their heart and just assume they’ll laugh it off.
A Redditor encountered this very issue with her boyfriend. So she turned to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit for moral judgment.
She asked:
“AITA for getting mad when my boyfriend ‘pranked’ me?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“My(F19) boyfriend(20) and I have been dating for a year.”
“The relationship is fine. We’ve had a few problems but we were able to work them out quickly.”
“My boyfriend is quite childish and he likes to prank me. We both have different ideas on what we consider a prank.”
“My boyfriend came over last night and we were just watching Netflix in my room. Out of nowhere he asks if it’s okay if we take a break for a month. He said he wanted to work on himself.”
“Starting tomorrow (November 1), he will be working 7 days a week. He initially said that during this month we would not speak to each other, but we would remain exclusive.”
“He then went on to say that we would still see each other once a week, but he wouldn’t be saying that he loves me as much anymore because he doesn’t. This is where I got a little mad.”
“I told him that if he felt that way then we should just break up.”
“I said that a month break is not going to fix that. He looked shocked and asked me if I was serious.”
“He told me that he was just pranking me and that I need to chill out.”
“He said that I was rude for immediately suggesting that we break up. I made it very clear afterwards that I didn’t like his pranks, but he still thinks I was an ass for what I said.”
“So AITA for getting mad at him for pranking me?”
Redditors gave their opinions on the situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors agreed OP was not the a**hole.
“NTA. A prank is something you can both laugh at later. This is a wake-up call.” ~ rexconroy
“Exactly. This ‘pranking’ has been going on for a while, it seems like OP has made it clear that she doesn’t agree with his idea of what a prank is. So if he’s still doing it, it’s obvious that he thinks very little of her and is quite possibly building up to do worse things. The latest ‘prank’ OP has written about is not a prank in any shape or form.” ~ meowchiha
“I f*cking hate this prank trend bs that’s everywhere.”
“People, if you’re not 100% sure the other person will laugh – immediately and heartily – it’s not funny, it’s mean. If it causes someone to get seriously panicked or afraid- it’s not funny, its bullying. If it damages anything – belongings, trust, feelings – it’s not fucking funny.”
“People who do this are emotionally stunted and need to grow the eff up and learn what actual humor looks like. (Rant over…)” ~ Fiotes
“You reminded me of a “prank” these parents pulled on their preteen daughter a while back on Youtube. This was maybe a year or two ago.”
“The parents basically did this whole thing on a video for their channel where they were talking about how they, the parents, came to the decision they would be giving away their dog. The whole video you could tell how upset the daughter, who was obviously included in the video as she was the prank target, was. She hadn’t even said a word the whole video, but through body language alone it was blatantly obvious how upset the girl was the whole time.”
“Then the parents said how the daughter was going to have to choose who the dog was going to and that’s when the daughter busted into tears. Like actual crying, not acting.”
“And to make a bad situation worse, the parents kept going for a while longer before finally admitting it was a prank.”
“Pretty much everyone ended up (rightfully) calling the parents out for being massive AHs.” ~ ColossalKnight
OP should think about why her boyfriend would think this was funny.
“Reminds me of the term I’ve heard, ‘Schrodinger’s AH’, when a guy gets called out on saying something awful he turns around and says that he was just joking the entire time. BF wasn’t making a prank, just an excuse. NTA.” ~ DrWhoop87
“The GF of a friend used to pull emotional pranks like that on him a lot. So one night, while they were having sex, he very intentionally and uncharacteristically fake moaned another woman’s name. She was furious but he just calmly quoted her line ‘You can’t be mad, its just a prank’ back to her. After the initial fight, the penny finally dropped for her and she stopped her ‘pranks.’” ~ Beaumis
“And honestly, if the word you use to describe your relationship is ‘fine,’ that’s probably not a relationship you want to be in. You should be enthusiastic about your relationship. ‘Fine’ just makes the OP sound like she’s resigned to her fate.” ~ 0biterdicta
“I’m usually willing to give the other person the benefit of the doubt on here, but I agree this doesn’t sound like a prank. Her only pulled the ‘it’s just a prank’ after he realized his plan wasn’t going the way he wanted. This isn’t any different then the ‘it’s just a joke’ people who say rude shit and get mad when someone calls them out.”
“Even if it was a prank, It’s not funny. The whole idea behind a prank is the person being pranked will laugh once they realize it’s a prank.” ~ CallMeJessIGuess
“NTA. This wasn’t a prank, it was a manipulation. He wanted to see you get upset, maybe cry, maybe beg him to reconsider. Then he would still have claimed it was all a joke, but he’d have gotten what he was after: making you get upset and break down. As it is, you denied him that satisfaction, so he’s angry with you.”
“Take the hint – this guy’s not worth your time.” ~ moonebeam
Is it really a prank?