We’ve all had one of those moments where we made a mistake and needed to borrow something in a pinch, like a Kleenex or wipes or even a spare shirt. But when we need help, it’s pretty clear why we need the help, and it’s help that we’re asking for.
It’s not like we’re going through someone else’s belongings and borrowing something we need without asking, side-eyed the members of the “Am I Overreacting?” (AIO) subReddit.
Redditor SlimJiMorrison had just recently started seeing a woman and was weirded out one morning to discover after she left that one of his contact lenses was missing.
After confronting her and discovering that she took one contact lens, not even a pair, the Original Poster (OP) was weirded out and also wished that she had asked first.
They asked the sub:
“Am I overreacting by being annoyed that a girl I am seeing took one of my contact lenses?”
The OP shared a brief text message exchange they had with a woman they’d recently started seeing.
The OP asked:
“This is gonna sound really random? But did you throw away one of my contacts?”
The woman replied:
“No, not random, I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you.”
“I lost a contact while I was asleep, so I stole one of yours, so I could drive home.”
“Slightly concerned my contact is behind my eyeball.”
“Your eyes are way better than mine, ’cause I could still barely see, but something was better than nothing.”
The OP vented:
“I am a bit irritated by this. She unintentionally spent the night, and then I noticed a lens for my right contact was missing.”
“I bought a year’s supply in a bulk of monthlies. This sets everything off, as now I still have an extra right eye contact lens for I don’t know how long.”
“Not to mention, my lenses in particular run about $20 a lens.”
What really bothered the OP was the woman not asking first.
“She never asked if she could take them.”
“She literally took a brand new one out of my cabinet, put it in her eye, and threw the lens case in the trash.”
“I wouldn’t be as annoyed, but I have to go to the eye doctor to get a new pair ordered, since I haven’t had an appointment in over a year.”
“I’ve only been seeing this girl for a month. But I’m just like, what the f**k?”
“AIO?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NOR: Not Overreacting
- YOR: You’re Overreacting
Some agreed with the OP that this was incredibly weird behavior.
“Maybe if it were like a long-term thing, it would have been kind of different, but only a month is actually crazy ” – Lost-Student8161
“I keep thinking about it, and even in a long-term relationship, this would be so weird. Taking a single contact from someone, especially one that’s not even your prescription, WITHOUT ASKING is so strange.” – __poser
“This is crazy! I have been wearing contacts since I was 11, and I have never even considered doing something like that. In my 20s, there were plenty of times when I was low on money, I only had one contact, and that’s all I wore. My vision is crazy bad without them.”
“Moral of the story, I would have just worn one of mine home. I would never take something like that from someone without asking, especially.” – fantasy-library0710
“Not intentionally. But I use dailies for my fairly severe myopia, and my husband uses the same brand of dailies for his moderate myopia. I’m negative-five, and he’s negative-two.”
“So one morning in a rush, I got ready for work and did my normal routine on autopilot, drove my ten-minute commute, and it wasn’t until I was there and trying to function with novel inputs that I realized I was wearing his lenses. I had just thought during the drive that the coffee hadn’t kicked in yet.”
“He was a sweetie and brought me lenses to work. Now I keep spares with me and give years later still suspiciously scrutinize every lens that I open.”
“What this woman did was just plain… weird.” – Fancy-Statistician82
“This has got to be one of the weirdest things I have ever heard of someone doing.”
“I can’t imagine taking someone else’s prescription contact lens and putting it in my eye; that’s like putting on someone’s glasses and trying to drive when their script is more than likely nothing like yours.”
“I wouldn’t break up with someone over it, but eesh.” – shellycrash
“NOR, but I would probably be generous and assume she has daily disposables and assume yours were the same.”
“Once you’re less annoyed, I would bring it up and say, ‘Hey, so you probably didn’t know, but those were actually monthly contacts, and they cost me $20 each, and I was nearing the end of my Rx for them. If they’d been dailies or I’d gotten a new Rx recently, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but it’s a bit of a hassle now. I just figured better to let you know than to be secretly annoyed over it!’
“She should say, ‘Oh my god, sorry, that was really dumb of me not to ask you… I was kind of panicked. I hope I can make it up to you,’ and then you can say something cute (and that makes you feel better!) like, ‘Well, maybe you can buy me lunch next week?’ Win-win!” – NeverEnding2222
Others were particularly disgruntled and baffled by the woman’s carelessness.
“I HAVE done this, or well, something like this. I was wearing my glasses at the beach, and the surf took them away. Thankfully, someone had contact lenses that were close enough, and I used a set of theirs to drive home the next day.” – AggEnto
“It’s basically what all the people I know over 50 do. Get random glasses from the drug store. Wearing each other’s glasses all the time. Make a surprised Pikachu face when you can’t see.”
“Rinse and repeat. Medical roulette.”
“My MIL put on my glasses and was very surprised she couldn’t see. Ma’am, I have negative-five prescription glasses with prisms. Your eyes are what, maybe plus-two or plus-three?”
“They don’t know s**t about f**k and refuse to learn but keep the right to be mad because the stupid drug store sells ‘bad’ glasses.”
“I couldn’t stand to date someone who was this careless, especially for something as important as driving. She could have hurt herself or someone else while she could ‘barely see,’ f**k that.” – FluidPlate7505
“She should keep a spare pair of glasses in her car for driving, just for instances like this.” – Marinastar_
“I bring spare contacts with me most of the time for this reason, or my glasses, ESPECIALLY if I’m driving. I’d never wear someone else’s dailies and especially not without asking, but also if it was a longer-term relationship, I’d honestly just find it weird but funny.” – Ok-Struggle3367
“If her vision is bad enough that it would have been unsafe to drive with… but so was taking his contact and not even checking if it was okay with him (or checking how different the prescription was, I always think it’s so weird when people don’t know their prescriptions).” – Altruistic_Yellow387
Some even went so far as to say that they’d stop seeing the woman over this, no pun intended.
“I would end things with her over this. It’s dumb as f**k, and anyone who wears glasses or contacts would know that they likely wouldn’t be able to see properly and they’d be wasting the other person’s money.” – TheRealRoguePotato
“I would have the ick so bad that I couldn’t even look her in the eyes because I would know she stole one of my contacts to put in her eye.” – Beautiful_Reporter50
“I would break up with someone stupid enough to see this as a better option than… any number of others.” – curious-trex
“See if you can stretch out the use of the contacts of the side she took so your two sides eventually line up. Does that make sense?”
“So if you need to switch them weekly, then extend the missing side by say, two days, or whatever. And the next time two more days, etc.”
“Also…you can drive just fine with one contact, and her taking one is beyond weird. Major side eye to her choice here. That would 100% be it for me.” – Blue-Being22
“There should have been an exchange of words that allowed for the event to occur. They didn’t just go take someone’s contacts…”
“Y’know, where they can’t find the lens… so they ask the other person…”
“That girl OP is seeing is icky icky, and I can only imagine things would get weirder the longer the relationship goes on.” – FlapperFlap
The subReddit could understand being in a rush to get out the door and needing something important like contact lenses, but what would have solved all of the awkwardness and weirdness here would have been a quick conversation.
The woman could have said her contact was missing, and when they couldn’t find it, they could have worked out a solution, maybe even one that still involved the OP’s contact lenses.
This was a weird and surprising situation, but also a great example of the power of communication.