Who decides the worth of a gift - the one who receives it or the one who is offering it?
An exasperated husband recently posted about his wife's refusal to accept her stepson's thoughtful gift at her birthday party and how he reacted to the situation.
Read on to learn why the post received more than 3,000 comments.
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The husband gave a bit of background on his family. He was a 36 year old male who remarried two years ago after his first wife passed away.
He had a 15-year-old son from his previous marriage. The new mom and son got along well, though they did have a few disagreements from time to time.
His son used to assist his grandfather in woodworking, and had acquired skills in crafting handmade wooden objects.
For his wife's birthday, the husband planned a big celebration at a renowned restaurant.
A day before her birthday, she was cleaning her stepson's room when she came across the gift that he was going to give her. It was a wooden tree with the names of all three of them inscribed on it.
Unknown to her husband, she approached the son and told him, "While she thought it was a sweet gift, she asked that he don't bring it to the restaurant and give it to her there."
She didn't give an explanation why, and when his son told him what had happened, he confronted his wife.
Her reply was that she "thought the gift looked ridiculous, and she didn't want it to be seen in that prestigious restaurant, and in front of her guests.".
This made the husband furious. He told her that she should be ashamed for saying this about a thoughtful and sincere gift.
Her response was that she wasn't ashamed or embarrassed by the gift; her only concern was that she did not want to see it at the restaurant in front of others.
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Things escalated quickly from there, and the man told her that she didn't need to worry about her guests because there wasn't going to be any birthday party now.
Upon hearing this, the wife lost her cool and "went off on me, calling me unreasonable for outright canceling her birthday over such a trivial thing."
While he stopped arguing beyond a point, she kept telling him that he had ruined her birthday and that the whole thing "made her lose respect for me and my promises."
After that, she left the house. Later, his mother-in-law also got involved and called him an [expletive deleted] for treating her daughter like this.
Many readers felt that what the wife was doing was simply horrible.
One person commented, "Your wife doesn't sound like a very kind person at all but incredibly shallow and cruel. This calls for "What the hell is wrong with her?"
Another wrote, "If I had a step for 2 years and this was the gift I got I would be BAWLING it would be the best present I ever got. You want me to be a part of your family tree? After you lost your mum???
The only way that gifting me that present would ruin my birthday dinner is because I'd cry the makeup off my face into the filet mignon."
There were several comments congratulating the father for doing the right thing as well
"Good for you for standing up for him. He'll remember that you did that."
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But others thought that there might be more to the mom's rejection than the fact that she just hated it.
"(it) depends on the fanciness of the restaurant and the size of the gift. I'd be uncomfortable opening a massive gift in public."
However, they added "Yall should have talked this out. .You guys have communication problems for sure."
There were those who thought that the husband wasn't telling the complete story,
"I think if we heard her side of the story the votes would change.
"I gushed over his thoughtfulness for the gift and said he didn't need to bring it to the restaurant, as he was trying to figure out how to get it there. "
What's your take? Was the wife just being cruel, or was the husband overreacting to something simple like not wanting a huge unwieldy gift at a fancy birthday party?
Comment and let us know!