Commenters were outraged after one 27-year-old lamented over his girlfriend's hobby and the ways she celebrates it.
In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/throwaway9384323 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said he discovered his 20-year-old partner baking a cake to honor one of her favorite fictional characters before his words and actions caused all hell to break loose.
Titled, "[Am I the a**hole] for telling my girlfriend that baking a cake to celebrate a hobby is embarrassing?" the post has received more than 6,000 upvotes and 3,000 comments in the last eight hours.
"My girlfriend is a pretty normal person, but there's this one fictional character she's extremely obsessed with," OP began. "She spends most of her free time writing fanfiction about the character and drawing art of her.
"Basically, nearly everything in her personal life except for me revolves around her," OP added.
Continuing to explain that his girlfriend likes to cook and bake, the original poster said that yesterday, she announced she was going to bake a cake to celebrate the year anniversary of the first time "she consumed any media with her favorite character."
"I kind of laughed a little and she said 'What's funny?' looking a little hurt," OP wrote. "I said, 'Don't you think you're taking this a little far? She's just a character.'
"[My girlfriend] said that she's not *just* a character, she's her favorite character," OP continued. "I said that I know that but it's kind of embarrassing that she cares enough about a hobby to bake a cake to celebrate it.
"She took the cake to her friend's house and ended up spending the night," OP added. "I feel like she's overreacting, it was just a little argument."
While individual qualities and interests can serve as equalizers, and provide balance within many romantic relationships, major personality discrepancies between romantic partners often lead to irreconcilable differences.
The opposite rings true, too.
When couples share interests—as well as the same engagement level with those interests—there is a much better chance for longterm romantic success, according to Psychology Today.
"Couples that have similar interests to a similar degree tend to have healthier relationships," Psychology Today contributor Stephen J. Betchen states. "These couples fight less because they generally agree how how to invest their energy and finances."
"Life is better in so many ways for couples who share interests," Betchen adds.
Although partners who don't share interests or hobbies are not entirely doomed, polarized partners who disrespect each other because of those differences are a different story.
Despite OP's assertion that his calling his girlfriend's hobby "embarassing" was "just a little argument," a majority of commenters responding to the viral post landed on the opposite end of the spectrum.
"[You're the a**hole]," Redditor u/Busybody2098 wrote in the post's top comment, which has received nearly 30,000 upvotes. "For being a miserable jerk and also for hooking up with a 19 year old when you were 26.
"Women your own age would have probably told you to stuff your judgemental opinions sooner, which is not a coincidence," they added.
Redditor u/Xellos1542, whose comment has received more than 11,000 upvotes, offered a similar response and slammed the original poster for unnecessarily singling out his girlfriend.
"[You're the a**hole]," they wrote. "Men have whole parties around their hobby like The Super Bowl. It is absolutely no different.
"She has a hobby she enjoys," they continued. "If you can't respect that, break up. You have no right to mock someone else's completely harmless hobby."
In a separate comment, which has received nearly 8,000 upvotes, Redditor u/InvestigatorLive1746 penned a simple assessment of the original poster's situation.
"[You're the a**hole]," they wrote. "There can be little enough joy to take in this world, don't take it away from someone else."
Newsweek reached out to u/throwaway9384323 for comment.
