NEED TO KNOW
- A woman shared in a viral online Reddit post that she left her friend’s baby shower after the expectant mom made a joke about her infertility
- The pal said the poster would lose a “trivia game about babies” because she wasn’t “exactly an expert” on the matter
- The Redditor noted that she had been struggling with infertility for years, which was something her friend had known about
A woman walked out of a friend’s baby shower after the expectant mom made an out-of-line joke at her expense.
The 35-year-old woman shared in a post on Reddit’s popular “Am I Overreacting” forum that she helped plan her 34-year-old friend Anna’s baby shower for her second child.
“I bought decorations, split costs, baked cupcakes, all the things,” she writes. “For context, I’ve been dealing with infertility for a few years. Anna knows this.”
During the shower, the guests were playing a “trivia game about babies,” when Anna made a pointed comment about the poster.
“Anna joked, ‘Well, [my name] will lose this one, obviously, she’s not exactly an expert on babies,'” the woman recalls.
The joke rubbed the woman the wrong way, as she had been struggling with infertility for years, which Anna was well aware of.
“Some people laughed awkwardly, and I just… froze,” the woman adds. “I excused myself and left without saying much.”
The woman did not say whether she returned to the party, but noted that Anna later texted her, saying she was “just kidding” and that the poster “made things weird” by leaving.
“Another mutual friend said I should’ve stayed and not made it about me,” the woman adds, asking other Reddit users if she was “overreacting by being hurt and walking out.”
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Nearly all of the commenters were on the poster’s side, noting that Anna “made it about” her “when she mentioned your name.”
They added that “if she was a good friend she would know that isn’t a topic to joke about.”
“… Referring to your lack of children is crossing a line,” another chimed in. “It’s a reasonable boundary that your friends shouldn’t even need to be asked not to cross. If she thinks that sticking by this boundary makes you difficult or weird, then she’s not a real friend. You deserve better friends…”
Others said that the woman’s apology also wasn’t up to snuff. One person said, “That was incredibly cruel and you deserve a sincere apology not that text.”
Someone else suggested that the woman give her friend a chance to “muster a sincere apology” and do “some reflection on why she chose to hurt you like that.” They also noted that if the woman’s friend doesn’t “demonstrate” this by the end of the week, they should move on from the friendship.
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