Redditor Sir-Working is a man who became disabled after a motorcycle accident.
He was recently watching the Super Bowl party at a close friend’s home, and there were a group of men there who he claimed were immature.
When one of the partygoers pulled a distressing prank at the Redditor’s expense, the resulting reaction led to awkward tension in the room.
Looking for a “tie-breaker” assessment online, he visited the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit and asked:
“AITA for threatening to call the cops at a party?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“8 years ago I wrecked my motorcycle and had my right leg amputated above the knee. I get around fine with a good quality prosthetic leg.”
“My friends helped me alot right after the accident when I was really depressed. They’re great guys, but they can be a little childish/frat bro types.”
“Love them to death and they literally saved my life, but I’ve definitely matured more than some of them.”
“One of my oldest friends, we’ll call him J, just bought a new house and wanted to host a Superbowl party. Two of the guests are guys I know well, the rest are distant acquaintances.”
“Well my stump is itching like crazy. By now we all had a few drinks and everyone is pretty into the game, so I discretely remove my prosthesis and prop it up on the couch next to me.”
“Later on one of the guys I don’t know well sees it. He asks if he can look at the prosthesis, I say sure. He messes with it a bit and then starts joking that he’s going to pawn it, how much do you think I can get for the cyborg leg, etc.”
“I’m laughing along until he moves it to the other side of the room. Without it or a mobility aid I’m a sitting duck so it makes me real nervous when it’s out of reach.”
“He says he’s not done looking at it and goes to get another drink. When he comes back I tell him it’s not funny, I need it back. He holds it out about 10 feet away and says ‘come get it.'”
“Now I’m not about to hop over and arm wrestle this guy for it, so I pull out my phone, make eye contact with J and say ‘either your friend gives my leg back or I’m calling the f**king cops.'”
“The room went dead quiet. The guy handed me my leg and said ‘Jesus man, I was just messing around.'”
“I left pretty shortly after, I was heated and the mood was awkward. Still I didn’t think I was the a**hole until J texted me today saying I overreacted. Now I feel like a dick because I know I did ruin his party and yelled at his friend in his house.”
“J pointed out I wasn’t going anywhere so I went off for no real reason. He’s right, I wasn’t going anywhere and didn’t need it for any reason except like I said I get anxious when I can’t get to it.”
“It’s part of my body at this point and I can’t walk without it so yeah I’m a little attached lol. Asked my other two friends, one said I was out of line, the other said I was justified. Looking for a tie breaker vote.”
Strangers online were asked to declare one of the following:
- NTA – Not the A**hole
- YTA – You’re the A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everybody Sucks Here
Many Redditors sided with the OP as not the a**hole here.
“Any person who saw that interaction and thinks YOU were in the wrong is not a friend. They should all be fucking ashamed of themselves.”
“NTA a thousand times over.” – calligrafiddler
“If I were J, I would have charged across the room, smacked him up side the back of his head and asked him WTF is wrong with you?!? How would anyone ever think something like this is okay?”
“NTA and your ‘friends’ should have stood up for you when you literally couldn’t stand up for yourself. NTA” – Wendilintheweird
“When a joke gets taken too far, there are essentially two types of people.”
“Some people realize their mistake, apologize, and cut it out because they have empathy. These are people worth being friends with.”
“Some people double down because they’re immature and don’t care if their laughs are coming at somebody else’s expense. These people are not worth being friends with because they never grew out of being ‘edgy’ and pushing people’s boundaries.”
“Nevermind that they’d fold like cheap suits if it was their boundaries being pushed.” – Vilnius_Nastavnik
“Dude was absolutely out of line. You don’t play ‘keep away’ with someone’s body part.”
“He pulled a sh**ty immature power move and it backfired when, instead of tripping, OP kept their cool and pulled a bigger power move.”
“Tables turned. He f’ked around and found out.”
“If OP chooses to hang out with these guys in the future, guess what they won’t try to pull again?”
“His leg. Ba Dum Tis. OP your peace is worth more than their comfort. NTA.” – formidable-opponent
“This. I have some old, close friends with mobility issues and we might trade jokes back and forth but I’m not ever, ever gonna leave them helpless by taking a medical aid. Thats not funny, its not teasing. Its bullying.”
“I’m all for teasing between good friends who know each other well enough to know where the line is (which this guy wasn’t even OP’s friend so wtf) but dont f’k with people’s medical equipment, ever.” – RickyNixon
“Especially the fact he told op ‘come and get it’ when op wanted his leg back! Did he just want to watch op hop across the room to try and get his leg? Or was op supposed to stop being an amputee real quick so he could go retrieve his leg?”
“This was just a weird power trip from somebody who revealed himself to be wildly, wildly ableist. He just wanted to bully op, I can’t fathom WHY but it’s obviously some weird power thing. NTA op and I would end friendships over a lot less.” – lackadaisicalghost
“100% NTA. In a similar story, I was at a party as a teen and a friend wanted to check out my new glasses. I get it, my lenses are kinda thick and no one ever sees me without my glasses (because I can’t f’king see without them).”
“I let him try them on and after laughing about how terrible they were…he got up and left the room saying he was going home with them!”
“I can’t see without glasses and they were expensive. I literally could be five feet away from my husband and without my glasses, I couldn’t tell you if he was a dude or a chick. And that a**hole just laughed and ran off with them.”
“I waited a minute, like haha very funny, but he didn’t come back. And I couldn’t chase him down because I couldn’t see him. Everyone is a vague pinkish blur. I texted the host and said if my glasses weren’t back on my face in one minute, I was calling the cops.”
“Those f’kers are $600, with insurance. Got told I was overreacting but as soon as I started to dial, bam, someone dragged the dick back in and gave me my glasses back and made him apologize.”
“F’king with people’s medical aids is one kf the biggest dick moves someone can pull. You are definitely not the asshole but you need better friends.” – flyin_high_flyin_bi
“Totally sympathize….I’ve (luckily) never had anyone snatch my glasses but have you ever dropped your glasses while putting them on? It’s a catch-22, can’t see to find the glasses you need so you can see and find the glasses you can’t see without.”
“Here I am first thing in the morning half awake and literally crawling on the floor mostly feeling by patting my way along and at the same time trying not to move me legs too much so I don’t kneel or step on them (afraid I’ll hear that telltale cracking noise). If someone actually took my glasses I’d go off too.”
“An aid is an aid, doesn’t matter if it’s glasses, dentures, glass eye, walker, wheelchair or prosthesis. Not a toy, not funny, do not touch. Don’t even get me started on the entitled’s who insist they be allowed to play with a service dog! OP is 1000% NTA.” – AliceReadsThis
“NTA, what kind of creep plays keepaway with a prosthetic limb? I would question whether any of these people are real friends to you because they should have been on your side, and stepped up before you had to threaten to call the police.” – cinnamngrl
“The ‘come and get it’ line is just f’ked up! NTA, you can’t say shit like. You did ask for it back before you escalated it so it’s not like you came out guns blazing.” – Chicagobeauty
Overall, Redditors thought the partygoer was the a**hole for being childish and disrespectful, and they also thought the OP’s “friend” was equally as guilty for not taking the initiative to intervene.
