The original poster (OP), u/throwaway677433749, shared his story to the popular Reddit forum r/AmITheAhole, earning over 6,100 upvotes and 1,100 comments in 16 hours for his post, “[Am I the Ahole] for not leaving my brother alone after he called my girlfriend a dishwasher?”
The OP says that they’re looking after their brother while their parents are overseas, visiting a dying friend. Though things seemed to be going well between his girlfriend and his brother, the previous night things fell apart.
They were walking home from dinner after a fun night of bowling, and everyone was having a great time. On the walk back, conversation turned to the Netflix series Stranger Things, when his little brother got something wrong about the show, and OP’s girlfriend corrected him.
Annoyed, the 13-year-old fired back, “What do you even know? You are just a dishwasher,” OP said. Both OP and his girlfriend were enraged, and he started to apologize saying it was a just a “dumb joke that he didn’t mean.” But by this point, the OP’s girlfriend had walked off, so he went after her, apologizing for his brother.
“I knew that an apology wasn’t enough so I promised her I will give him a stern talk and ground him for the remaining time he’d be staying with us,” u/throwaway677433749 wrote. “She said that I didn’t have to apologize because it wasn’t my fault and that his apology wasn’t going to be sincere so she asked me to leave him alone to teach him a lesson about not disrespecting women and throwing sexist insults.”
OP balked at the request, as they were still 20 minutes away from home, and he wasn’t comfortable leaving his brother alone. He also rejected her suggestion of calling him an Uber, as he didn’t want to turn his brother over to a stranger.
“If something happens to him my parents would never forgive me,” he wrote.
This wasn’t enough for her, however, and she argued that his brother was a teen, and it’d be fine—but since he didn’t want to put his brother in one, she’d order an Uber for herself. With his girlfriend gone, he went back to his brother and chewed him out.
“During the walk back home I told my brother that if he insulted my gf or anyone else in my persence he could forget that I am his brother. He started crying but I was so angry that I told him to save his tears because he should’ve regretted what he said because it was disrespectful and not because I threatened cutting him off,” he wrote.
OP added that he had indeed made good on his threat to ground his brother until his parents return. But OP’s girlfriend was still upset and went off to her room and closed the door, leaving OP to sleep on the couch.
Though there are many stories of rideshare drivers going above and beyond for their passengers—including one who drove a teen home in a blizzard after putting her up in a hotel—there are also horror stories of drivers acting inappropriately or outright harming passengers.
In February, a woman gave birth prematurely after an Uber driver shot her repeatedly. The woman’s father told reporters that the shooting followed an argument after the driver picked her up in a different car than was on the app.
This May, another passenger alleged her driver drove her into a park—not her destination—behind a white car with tinted windows and its engine on. She ran away, and ended up having to walk home barefoot on the highway.
Reddit agreed with OP, that he shouldn’t have been asked to take that risk with his brother.
“[Not the Ahole]. Your 13 yr old brother is still very much a child. He overstepped but beyond a word of correction this doesn’t have to be ‘scorched earth’. He needs to apologize. Your gf however is supposed to be an adult. She was out of line expecting you to abandon your brother on the sidewalk. She’s [the ahole] for that. Now she is pouting in her room. Another childish act,” u/ParticularReview4129 wrote in the top-rated comment with over 16,000 upvotes.
“Also, OP your girlfriend is an ADULT. She shouldn’t be having arguments with your brother like this, she needs to learn to manage her emotions. It’s time for a sit down talk with her about expectations going forward,” u/Personal_Regular_569 wrote. “[Not the A**hole]”
“It is not OK to abandon your child in the street at night, regardless of what they did. Discipline is not neglect, and to make your sibling, who you are responsible for, take an Uber home while you side with your GF, who I assume is a grown woman, would be neglectful and dangerous. Ubering a child at home at night can not be completely safe, and abandoning your brother in the street to walk home alone teaches him nothing except that he can’t depend on you. I’m concerned that your GF thought that was a suitable punishment,” u/StringBean_GreenBean wrote.
“[Not the A**hole], but your brother has to apologize. Your girlfriend saying to leave him to teach him a lesson… is a red flag to be honest… who in the right mind would discipline someone that way? Especially if it’s a child and it’s late at night,” u/angelcasablancarose wrote.
Newsweek reached out to u/throwaway677433749 for comment.
